
More than three decades later, the bulk of which Howell spent climbing the ranks at Booz Allen Hamilton - a D.C.-based defense contractor and consulting firm with expertise in cybersecurity, engineering and espionage - he’s been tasked with navigating some of the choppiest waters in professional sports. “We would throw everything in the mix, and the value was that we would start thinking about how to navigate waters,” Howell said years later at the Wharton School. The idea was to ready themselves for the curveballs that would come.

“Do you raise your hand or not raise your hand?”

“What if a big merger and acquisition comes along?”
