Front Office Shake Up in Buffalo as Bills and Sabres Executives Sacked Over Workplace Romance
Unexpected results and changes to the front office followed the Buffalo Bills’ trip to London.
According to The Athletic, Kathryn D’Angelo, the Bills’ general counsel and senior vice president of business administration, and John Roth, who was recently named chief operating officer of both the Bills and Buffalo Sabres, both of which are owned by Terry Pegula, was fired as a result of their engagement in a romantic relationship at work.
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Although the precise specifics of what happened are unknown, a source claims that Roth and D’Angelo’s relationship “got too brazen” in London.
Sunday’s 25-20 loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the Bills “became an issue that had to be addressed.”
Roth received a complaint from D’Angelo, which, according to the website, led to “an unethical circumstance” in the front office.
Roth and his wife, Sandra, have two children, Abigail and Alexander, according to a news release from the Sabres from when they first named Roth as the COO of PSE.
Is D’Angelo married? That is unknown.
In a Wednesday joint phone conversation with The Associated Press, Roth and D’Angelo acknowledged that they had been let go, but they offered no other details.
Both Terry and Kim Pegula, the owners of the teams, as well as Terry’s daughter Laura, were praised by the two.
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“Both Kathryn and I wish the Pegulas the best of luck and we think the world of Terry, Kim and Laura, and the rest of the team,” Roth stated with reference to his employees. “And we will be cheering the Bills and Sabres on from afar.”
Following the resignation of Ron Raccuia, the team’s former executive vice president and COO, the Bills announced in July the formation of a new management group made up of Roth, D’Angelo, and Josh Dziurlikowski.
Raccuia’s duties, in addition to his own, were taken on by Roth, who had recently been appointed COO of the Buffalo Sabres and Pegula Sports and Entertainment. These included managing the team’s ticketing, business development, and media and content divisions.
D’Angelo managed the team’s marketing, security, and human resources divisions in addition to her responsibilities as general counsel after joining the Bills organization in April 2016.
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As the Bills’ vice president of finance, Dziurlikowski’s responsibilities were broadened to include managing the team’s operations, information technology, and community relations divisions.
While an external search is being done to replace the positions, Jim Overdorf, a longstanding football operations advisor, will act as general counsel and Dziurlikowski will serve as temporary COO.
Before starting in January with the Sabres and PSE, Roth spent 24 years as a portfolio manager and investor with Fidelity Investments.
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Roth, who had no prior sports experience before joining the Sabres and PSE, apparently got to know Pegula while working at Fidelity.
Pegula has managed a number of staff reorganizations in the past.
Russ Brandon resigned from his position as the Bills and Sabres president in May 2018 amid rumours that he was the subject of an internal inquiry into whether or not he had an inappropriate relationship at work.
