Chris McGowan resigns from role as Trail Blazers president

Trail Blazers president and CEO Chris McGowan has informed the team that he’s resigning from his position, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). McGowan is also the CEO of Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, the group that oversees business operations for the Blazers and the Allen family’s other sports franchises.

A longtime sports business executive, McGowan had been in his role with the Blazers since October 2012. He’ll be replaced by Dewayne Hankins, who will be promoted to the position of president, tweets Haynes. Hankins had been the team’s COO and executive vice president.

The Blazers have issued a press release confirming the change in upper management.

“Since joining the Trail Blazers in 2013, Dewayne has been crucial to our success and growth,” team owner Jody Allen said in a statement. “Now in his ninth season with us, we’re thrilled to have him lead the organization.”

The reason for McGowan’s resignation remains unclear, but it comes shortly after word broke that the Blazers had launched an independent investigation into the workplace conduct of president of basketball operations Neil Olshey. While it seems likely that the two developments are related, we’ll have to wait for more details.

According to Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link), McGowan was in the final year of his contract, which had been set to expire next June.