The Falcons have promoted Ryan Pace to vice president of football operations/player personnel, the team announced Monday.
Pace joined the organization in 2022 as a senior personnel executive before being promoted to director of player personnel in 2023. He previously spent seven seasons (2015-21) as the General Manager of the Bears and served as a member of the Saints’ personnel department from 2001-14.
The Falcons also announced the promotions of 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.
In addition to the seven promotions, the Falcons have hired Harrison Ritcher as a national scout as well as Cami Pasqualoni and Kevin Weisman as scouting assistants.
Abanikanda joined the Falcons in 2012 as a scouting assistant before taking the role as an area scout where he was responsible for the southeast region of the country in 2013. He became a national scout in 2021.
Ross joined the Falcons in 2008 as a player personnel intern and now has his seventh promotion within the organization.
Smith joined the Atlanta staff in 2022 as a scouting assistant on the personnel staff before being promoted to assistant pro scout in 2023.
Gutierrez joined the Falcons in 2018, and in her position, she oversees the development and management of internal football operation applications. Gutierrez works closely with the football operations department to ensure the effective integration of technology in operational strategies.
Leskin joined the Falcons in 2018 as a football analyst before elevating to senior coordinator of football analytics, assisting all football operations departments in aiding decision making using data and analytics before his latest promotion.
Ellis served as a scouting assistant for the Falcons in 2023 after two years as a recruiting assistant/coordinator at the University of South Carolina.