The longtime business exec and counsel now occupies the No. 3 position in the San Diego Padres organization — let’s get acquainted with Caroline Perry.
The San Diego Padres have promoted Caroline Perry from Executive Vice President of Business and Administration to Chief Operating Officer, the third-highest-ranking position at the MLB club and one of just two women ever to achieve such a position around the league.
Perry’s promotion is just the latest example of teams expanding women’s leadership roles in Major League Baseball, coming on the heels of some notable, much-needed momentum regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion across baseball. In Nov. 2020, the Miami Marlins elevated Kim Ng as the first woman to serve as a GM in the history of major professional North American men’s team sports. Catie Griggs was named President of Business Operations for the Seattle Mariners in July 2021, the first woman to hold a top executive position with an MLB team. And most recently in Nov. 2022, the Marlins promoted Caroline O’Connor to President of Business Operations.
Perry has two daughters, an eight-year-old and six-year-old, whom she hopes to inspire one day. “The idea that they’re going to grow up thinking they can do anything… I love the fact they can view things that way,” she told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Perry, a San Diego native, has worked with the Padres in several different capacities over the past 11 seasons. She reportedly played a major role in helping sell the team to owner Peter Seidler, who has since invested an impressively huge sum of money to help bring a championship to the city. Additionally, she helped lead the charge to bring the 2016 MLB All-Star Game to Petco Park.
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“She is greatly respected by all her colleagues and all who report to her,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said of Perry. “Her promotion is well-deserved, regardless of the fact she is a woman. But that is sort of the icing on the cake. That one of the most senior executives in our organization is a female, I think that sends an important message to all the females in our organization that there is an opportunity in our organization to rise.”
Assuming the role on Jan. 1, the future is bright for both Caroline Perry and the Padres. Let’s take a look at how she got here.
Professional Background
She has served in several roles with the Padres over the past 11 years. This includes a start as Associate General Counsel (2011-16), Deputy General Counsel (2016), Vice President General Counsel (2016-19), Senior Vice President General Counsel (2019-21), and Senior VP of Business Administration and General Counsel (2021-22).
Pre-Padres Resumé
- Associate at David Polk & Wardwell LLP (2008-11).
- Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (2007-08).
- Associate at BlackRock Financial Management (2001-04).
Education
- BA in Human Biology, Stanford University
- JD, Columbia Law School
Caroline Perry recalls the day she got the call for the Associate General Counsel job in 2011, which she has since called “one of the most exciting days” of her life. The feeling is clearly mutual around the organization and the community as she’s ascended over the past decade-plus.
“She was my first hire,” Greupner said. “She’s just done an outstanding job over the last decade. That makes her historic promotion even more meaningful to the Padres and to me.”
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