Erik Neander (born May 25, 1983) is an American front office executive in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

. He has worked for the Rays since 2007, and became the team's president of baseball operations in September 2021.

Career

Neander was raised in

Oneonta, New York Oneonta ( ) is a city in southern Otsego County, New York, United States. It is one of the northernmost cities of the Appalachian Region. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Oneonta had a population of 13,079. Its nickname is "City of the Hil ...

, and attended the local high school, where he played baseball. Neander graduated from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

and started working for Baseball Info Solutions, joining the

as an intern in 2007. Neander was promoted to vice president of baseball operations in October 2014. He succeeded Matthew Silverman as senior vice president and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all ...

of the Rays in November 2016. He was named recipient of the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' Executive of the Year Award for 2019. He also received the

MLB Executive of the Year Award The MLB Executive of the Year Award was established by Major League Baseball (MLB) at the conclusion of the season. The award is given annually to one executive, including general manager (baseball), general managers, in MLB. It is voted on by al ...

the same year. On September 8, 2021, Neander signed a multi-year extension with the Rays and was promoted to president of baseball operations.

Personal life

Neander is married and has three children.

References

1980s births Living people People from Oneonta, New York Tampa Bay Rays executives Major League Baseball general managers Sportspeople from New York (state) Virginia Tech alumni {{US-baseball-business-bio-stub