The Philadelphia Eagles have hired Canada's Catherine Raiche as their football operations co-ordinator.
It's the latest step up the football ladder for the 30-year-old Raiche, who left a law career to start working with the Montreal Alouettes as an intern in 2015.
The Montreal native was named assistant general manager of the Alouettes in 2017, making her the first female assistant GM in the CFL in almost 30 years. She left the Alouettes to join the Toronto Argonauts as director of football administration in 2018, working for Jim Popp, the GM who hired her with the Als.
Raiche left Toronto this past off-season to take a front-office role with the XFL's Tampa Bay franchise, which hired former Argos coach Marc Trestman as its coach.
"Catherine has worked really hard for this opportunity and she's done it the right way," Popp said. "This has been her goal and she's continued to work hard to get an opportunity in the NFL. I am very proud of her. Her work ethic is unbelievable and Catherine has a real shot here."
Montreal's Samantha Rapoport, a senior director with the NFL in charge of "broadening the diverse talent pipeline in football operations for the (league)," tweeted her support of the hire.
"@CatherineRaiche was the first female Asst. GM in the @CFL. We are incredibly fortunate to land her here. #progress," Rapoport wrote.
The Canadian Press
