David Rubenstein interviewed the new ownership of the Washington Commanders including Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales on September 6, 2023.
Josh Harris is the Managing Partner of the Washington Commanders and the Founder and Managing General Partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE). He is the Managing Partner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Co-Managing Partner of the New Jersey Devils. Under his leadership, the HBSE platform has grown to include Top-10 venue, the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.; the $82 million mixed-use Training Complex in Camden, NJ; the Delaware Blue Coats; the Utica Comets; esports franchise Dignitas; and HBSEv. Additionally, Harris is a General Partner of the Crystal Palace Football Club in the Premier League.
Harris founded 26North, a next-generation alternatives platform. Prior to its establishment, Josh was a co-founder of Apollo Global Management. He serves on the Boards of Mount Sinai Medical Center, Harvard Business School, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the NBA, and the NHL.
Mitchell Rales is a Limited Partner of the Washington Commanders and Co-Founder & Chairman of the Executive Committee of Danaher Corporation, a global science and technology innovator with more than 20 operating companies and 85,000 associates worldwide. Additionally, Rales is Co-Founder & Chairman of ESAB Corporation, a world leader in fabrication and specialty gas control technology.
Rales and his wife Emily Wei Rales are Co-Founders of Glenstone, a museum and foundation that integrates art, architecture, and nature on a nearly 300-acre property in Potomac, Maryland. Rales also serves as President of the National Gallery of Art and has been a trustee since 2006. In addition, he serves as a trustee of the Ruth and Norman Rales Foundation. Along with his brother Steven, Rales started WTEM in 1992, bringing the first entertainment-based 24-hour-a-day, all-sports radio station to the Washington market. He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio.
