Josiah Wear Ellis (born November 16, 1957) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive who was the president and CEO of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He is the nephew of former US president

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

and first cousin to former president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

College

Ellis received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors a ...

in 1980. He attended graduate school at the L. Kellogg School of Management at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

to obtain his

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

. Joe graduated from Northwestern in 1988.

Career

Ellis began his career in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

with the

as their director of marketing from 1983 to 1985. After obtaining his master's degree, he served the league as vice president of club administration and stadium management until rejoining the Broncos in 1998 as their executive vice president of business operations. Joe acted in this capacity for 10 years. In 2008, Joe became the team's chief operating officer. He maintained this position for three seasons, until January 5, 2011. After 13 years with the organization, he was promoted to team president. After owner and previous president

Pat Bowlen Patrick Dennis Bowlen (February 18, 1944 – June 13, 2019) was an American lawyer, executive and the majority owner of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL), winning three Super Bowls. He was inducted in the Pro Football Hall ...

was diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

, Ellis took control of the team. In August 2022, Ellis stepped down from his position after the Walton Penner group was approved as the new owners of the Broncos.

Personal life

Ellis lives in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, with his wife, Ann. They have three children: two sons, Si and Zander, and a daughter, Catherine. He is also a member of the

Bush family The Bush family is an American political family that has played a prominent role in American politics since the 1950s, foremost as the first family of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2009, during the respective preside ...

through his mother Nancy Walker Bush Ellis, respectively making him the nephew of former U.S. president

and cousin of former U.S. president

Awards and honors

*Two-time Super Bowl champion ( XXXIII, 50) - as an executive with the

*Named ColoradoBiz's CEO of the Year in 2017 *Inducted into the Denver and Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame in 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Joe 1958 births Living people Bush family Businesspeople from Colorado Colorado College alumni Denver Broncos executives Kellogg School of Management alumni NFL team presidents