FanDuel has appointed two new executives to senior policy positions as it looks to continue to leverage its status as the U.S. market-leading sportsbook in legislative and regulatory discussions.
Shailagh Murray, a former senior advisor in the Barack Obama administration, has been appointed senior vice president of public affairs and former NFL policy and legislative chief Jonathan Nabavi has been named vice president of federal affairs.
FanDuel said the pair will bring their extensive experience to FanDuel as the company “leads the development of a regulated gaming industry that protects customers and delivers meaningful, tax revenue to states.”
The appointments come midway through a year in which sports betting tax rates, online casino expansion, daily fantasy sports’ legal status and the rise in prominence of sweepstakes casinos and prediction markets’ sports contracts have all been major issues at the federal and state levels.
“As we look to the future, we understand the important role FanDuel must play in policy discussions that will address how we build and shape the online gaming industry over the long term,” said FanDuel President Christian Genetski.
“Shailagh and Jon bring decades of experience navigating difficult policy issues in a thoughtful, collaborative manner. We are confident they are the right leaders to work alongside key stakeholders to grow our industry responsibly and sustainably.”
Murray was most recently the executive vice president of public affairs at Columbia University. Before that, she spent six years in the Obama White House, serving as first then-Vice President Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff and communications director and subsequently as senior advisor to then-President Obama from 2015 to 2017.
Nabavi has been the NFL’s vice president of public policy and government affairs for the last eight years, frequently representing the league before Congress, in the White House and in various other federal and local government agencies as well as internationally. He played a significant role in shaping the league’s policy approach to sports betting. Nabavi is a former majority counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary and has served in several other roles in the federal legislature.
