Seattle Sounders FC and SEA 2026 today announced that Sounders FC President of Business Operations Peter Tomozawa is transitioning to the top leadership position with Seattle 2026, the local organizing committee that is charged with readying the Emerald City for FIFA World Cup 2026™. After four successful seasons with Sounders FC, Tomozawa departs to become SEA 2026 Chief Executive Officer, assuming oversight of all administrative, commercial and operational elements of SEA 2026, as the world’s biggest sporting event comes to Seattle in just over three years’ time.
While he is remaining part of the club as Sounders FC owner, Tomozawa is moving on from his day-to-day duties as the team’s President of Business Operations. Alongside wife Donna LeDuc, Tomozawa originally came aboard Sounders FC in 2019 as part of 12 new families that joined the club’s ownership group. In the intervening years he oversaw all business operations for the organization during an unprecedented run of success, including lifting MLS Cup (2019) and the Concacaf Champions League trophy (2022) on home turf, in addition to playing a central role in bringing the FIFA World Cup to Seattle.
“Firstly, I want to thank Adrian Hanauer and everyone across the Sounders community for their trust over the past four years,” said Tomozawa. “While I’m remaining with the organization in an ownership capacity, I will miss the day-to-day interactions with our staff, players, fans, partners and many others. Looking to the future, I’m very excited to be taking on a new role in our soccer community as I begin my position at SEA 2026. There is simply no other event like the FIFA World Cup, and my goal is to make sure that the legacy of the globe’s biggest sporting event positively impacts generations of Washingtonians. We plan on hosting the best World Cup ever. While the world is coming to Seattle and Washington State, we look forward to bringing our great city and state to the world.”
“I’d like to sincerely thank Peter Tomozawa for his time serving as our first President of Business Operations,” said Sounders FC Owner and SEA 2026 Board Member Adrian Hanauer. “Peter invigorated the club and helped us take new steps forward, setting us up for this crucial next period in period in club history. He’ll remain an important part of Sounders FC at the ownership level, and I continue to value his counsel and influence. We are fortunate to have him taking the helm of SEA 2026. There is no one better to work with the many constituents across our region that will play a role in bringing the FIFA World Cup to our city.”
“Since 2017, numerous community leaders have invested time and talent to secure the FIFA World Cup bid. Now we shift into intense planning and execution mode,” said SEA 2026 Co-Board Chair and Seattle Sports Commission President & CEO Beth Knox. “The SEA 2026 Board of Directors is fortunate to have the knowledge and expertise of Peter Tomozawa to lead our host city planning group in the coming years, ensuring that we deliver an extraordinary experience for the global audience visiting Seattle.”
As part of the overall effort to bring the FIFA World Cup 2026™ to Seattle – the globe’s biggest sporting event that crowns an international champion of the world’s game every four years – Seattle’s successful bid was led by SEA 2026 and announced in June of last year. This local organizing committee is a multi-agency organization that represents years of hard work behind the scenes on behalf of several public and private entities that acted to ensure the Emerald City’s participation in this generational event. Co-Chaired by Knox and Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, the SEA 2026 Executive Committee guided the organization in executing its vision for hosting the FIFA World Cup 2026™ in Seattle, while also serving as ambassadors for the City of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
“We have just started an exciting new chapter in Seattle’s history, one filled with tremendous infrastructure advancements on the cusp of hosting some of the world’s most celebrated sporting events,” said Tammy Canavan, President & CEO of Visit Seattle. “Strong leadership is crucial as we set our sights on the FIFA World Cup in 2026, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the announcement of Peter Tomozawa.”
Alongside fellow SEA 2026 leaders Mendoza-Exstrom (Sounders FC COO) and David Young (Seattle Seahawks COO), Tomozawa recently took part in preparatory meetings at FIFA World Cup 2022™ in Qatar and he is no stranger to major international events. In 2016, he was selected by the LA 2024 / LA 2028 Exploratory Committee as Vice President & Executive Director of Partnerships and Board Relations, where he managed relationships with institutional partners and board members as the bid committee put forth its low-risk, high-tech and sustainable Olympic Games plan. The work of Tomozawa and his colleagues came to fruition, as Los Angeles was ultimately selected to host the 2028 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympics.
In addition to his work with Sounders FC and the Los Angeles’ Olympic bid, Tomozawa is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the National Hockey League and Welsh club Swansea City of the English Football League. Additionally, Tomozawa previously served as a partner and Global Head of Foreign Exchange Sales at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for 17 years, before transitioning into civic affairs for the state of Hawaii. In the latter role, Tomozawa served as Executive Director of Business Development & Advisor to the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, in addition to working as Vice Chair & Commissioner of Charter Schools for the State of Hawaii Department of Education.
