Kevin Warren has emerged as a top candidate to be the new president and CEO of the Chicago Bears, sources tell Pete Thamel of ESPN. Warren has interviewed in person for the job and is considered among the final candidates, with the process expecting to wrap up “in the upcoming weeks.”

Bears current president and CEO Ted Phillips is set to retire at the end of this season after four decades at the helm of the team, and the lengthy process to find his replacement has been in progress since late summer.

The search has been run by Nolan Partners, and involved a round of Zoom meetings with a host of initial candidates. Kevin Warren emerged as the front runner among the final group, and has had multiple in-person interviews with the Bears in recent weeks.

Warren has experience as an executive with the Minnesota Vikings, most notably as the franchise's chief operating officer, playing a role in helping the team build U.S. Bank Stadium. The Bears will be in a similar spot in the next few years after purchasing 326 acres in Arlington Heights.

Warren is currently the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, a position he was appointed to in Jun. 2019 and has held since 2020. He has worked in the NFL as both an agent and team executive, and was the highest-ranking NFL executive working on the business side when he left the Vikings, per ESPN.

The Big Ten put out this statement in response to the report:

Kevin Warren has helped the Big Ten expand into a 16-team league, and both No. 2 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State qualified for the College Football Playoff this season. Overall, he has 21 years of NFL experience, including other NFL gigs with the then St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions.