Peter Tomozawa named Chief Executive Officer for SEA 2026

Mazvita Maraire, SeattleFWC26 Writer

The SEA 2026 Board has announced that Peter Tomozawa, current Sounders FC President of Business Operations, will be the organizations new Chief Executive Officer while keeping his ownership stake in the club. The appointment of Tomozawa to spearhead this region’s biggest sporting event was a natural and obvious choice. Tomozawa has spent a lifetime being a change agent for business, non-profits, and community empowerment.

After his retirement from Goldman Sachs, where he served as Global Head of Foreign Exchange Sales for 17 years, Tomozawa and his family moved to Honolulu. Tomozawa where he worked for the State of Hawaii Department of Education as the Commissioner of Charter Schools and Executive Director for Business Development for the City of Honolulu.

Tomozawa was also an instrumental member of the Los Angeles Olympic Bid Committee, successfully securing the 2028 LA Paralympic and Olympics games to the greater LA area before moving to Seattle fulltime. Upon his move to the Pacific Northwest, Tomozawa met with Sounders FC majority owner Adrian Hanauer. That meeting led to part ownership of the club and appointment as its first President of Business Operations. After four years with the Sounders the SEA 2026 Organizing Committee’s offer for Tomozawa to assume oversight of all administrative, commercial and operational element of Seattle’s World Cup event was the chance of a lifetime.

“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.”

With SEA 2026 and Sounders FC committed to working collaboratively in the coming months and years, Tomozawa’s existing relationship with the Sounders organization will ensure a strong and willing partner in SEA 2026 bid to bring an unprecedented event.

“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.”

Bringing an inclusive global event that will leave a positive impact on the community is one of the main goals for SEA 2026.

“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.”

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.

SEA 2026 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

The 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.