Falcons Promote Ex Bears GM Ryan Pace to New Role Amid Front Office Shuffles

The Atlanta Falcons' personnel department saw seven promotions and three new hires.

The Atlanta Falcons have promoted former Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace to vice president of football operations. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Falcons' roster has undergone significant change in recent weeks, and now, their front office is, too.

Atlanta announced seven promotions and three hirings Monday evening, including former Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace, who's going from senior personnel executive to vice president of football operations/personnel.

Pace was the Bears' general manager from 2015-21 and joined Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot's staff in 2022.

Atlanta also made the following promotions, according to a press release: Tokunbo “Tumbo” Abanikanda to director of college scouting, Michael Ross to assistant director of college scouting, Hakeem Smith to pro scout, Stephanie Gutierrez to senior director of football systems, Danny Leskin to manager of football data science and Nathan Ellis to scouting coordinator.

Additionally, the Falcons announced three new hires: Harrison Ritcher as a national scout and Cami Pasqualoni and Kevin Weisman as scouting assistants.

Abanikanda has been with the Falcons since 2012, working his way from scouting assistant to area scout and, ultimately, national scout in 2021 before his latest promotion.

Ross has enjoyed similar longevity with the organization, joining Atlanta in 2008 as a player personnel intern. He had been promoted six times prior, including stints as a regional scout, area scout, pro scout and national scout.

Much newer on the scene, Smith was hired by the Falcons in 2022 as a scouting assistant and became an assistant pro scout the year after. Elliss is similarly new, as 2023 was his first year with the team. He spent the season as a scouting assistant and now becomes a scouting coordinator.

Gutierrez and Leskin each joined the Falcons in 2018.

In her role, Gutierrez will work on, "the development and management of internal football operation applications, working closely with football operations departments to ensure the effective integration of technology in operational strategies," according to the release.

Leskin, meanwhile, started as a football analyst before moving into a new role on the analytical side, where he helped several sects of the Falcons' football operations departments make decisions with data and analytics.

As for the new additions, Richter, the son of 16-year NFL veteran and former Falcons guard Jim Richter, spent the last six years in various scouting roles with the Washington Commanders.

Pasqualoni spent the past two years as a recruiting for Syracuse University's football team, aiding the director of on-campus recruiting with visits and campus recruiting activities.

Weisman graduated from the University of Georgia in 2022 and was a player personnel assistant on the Bulldogs' National Championship-winning team in 2021. Since leaving Athens, he's interned and served as an advocate for a variety of organizations in New York City while working toward his Juris Doctorate at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.