Hannah Gordon is entering her 12th season with the 49ers and currently serves as chief legal & administrative officer. In her role, Gordon oversees Legal, Risk Management, Fan Engagement, the 49ers Museum, Community Relations, Varsity (a revenue line of youth sports offerings), and the 49ers Foundation. Under her guidance, the 49ers have been named the ESPN Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year, Pop Warner Little Scholars Team of the Year, and Silicon Valley Business Journal Community Impact Award winner.
Gordon advises on all legal issues involving both the football team and Levi's® Stadium. She has seen Levi's Stadium through its financing, construction, and operation and helped close deals to host events such as Super Bowl 50, WrestleMania 31, Beyoncé's Formation World Tour, the Copa America Centenario, and the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship.
Under her leadership, the 49ers launched the first fan engagement community for LGBTQ+ fans and allies in professional sports to national acclaim. In 2021, Gordon designed the all-gender retail line that was first of its kind in the NFL resulting in the 49ers 2021 PRIDE Campaign being shortlisted as a best-practice by the Leaders Sports Awards.
In her tenure, the 49ers Foundation doubled in income, allowing it to invest in the half a million young people impacted through its award-winning, free 49ers EDU STEAM education and 49ers PREP youth football programming.
Gordon has received prestigious awards, including several 40 Under 40 recognitions: Sports Business Journal (2021), The Athletic (2021), Leaders Sports Awards (2021), Silicon Valley Business Journal (2020). Also in 2021, ICA Cristo Rey honored her with the Leader in Mission Award. Gordon is a member of the 2020 Class of Presidential Leadership Scholars, co-selected by the Clinton Foundation and the George W. Bush Presidential Center. In 2020, she was named to PureWow's "20 in '20 Up-and-Coming Leaders Working to Better Our World. In 2019, Gordon was named to the Silicon Valley Business Journal's 100 Women of Influence. In 2017, she received the Silicon Valley Business Journal and San Francisco Business Times' Corporate Counsel Diversity Champion of the Year award for the work she did alongside 49ers ownership making the 49ers the first team in the NFL to implement a diverse slate interviewing policy. In 2015, Gordon was recognized on the Legal 500's GC Powerlist – U.S. Rising Stars.
Gordon joined the 49ers in 2011 as director of legal affairs, a role she held for four seasons, before becoming the vice president of legal and government affairs in 2015, then general counsel from 2016-17, and Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel from 2018-21. Gordon came to the 49ers from the NFL Management Council where she worked on NFL player contracts, salary cap compliance, the 2011 NFL collective bargaining agreement, and labor issues, including the 2011 lockout. Prior to the NFL, Gordon practiced at Latham & Watkins LLP and earlier in her career worked for the athletic department at the University of California at Berkeley.
Gordon earned her B.A. summa cum laude from UCLA where she was the first female football beat writer for The Daily Bruin. She holds a J.D. from Stanford, where she previously served as a Lecturer In Law. Gordon has served on the boards of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation, San Jose State's Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change, and the Santa Clara University Institute for Sports Law and Ethics. A native of Oakland, California, Gordon and her family live in the Bay Area.
