Jeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.
Haley Carter is the Washington Spirit’s new president of soccer operations, joining from the Orlando Pride where, in a similar role, she guided that team to its first NWSL trophies last year.
For Carter, the move to the Spirit resonates with a message that United States women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes shared on a panel earlier this year: “If it ain’t broke, break it, because the only way it’s going to get better is if we’re constantly pushing the envelope.”
That, Carter said, is how Spirit owner Michele Kang has approached innovation.
Carter considers herself a disruptor like Kang, and she sees the Spirit — and Kang’s growing portfolio of clubs — as the perfect vehicle to affect change in women’s soccer.
“What Michele is doing is unprecedented in women’s soccer,” Carter told ESPN. “The investment in a global ecosystem is incredible … That kind of transformational investment and leadership is what our sport needs. To have the opportunity to be part of that vision, it really stood out to me.”
The Spirit also announced Nathan Minion as full-time general manager, removing the interim tag. Minion was the interim GM since March, when former president of soccer operations and GM Mark Krikorian’s contract ended.
Carter officially started in her new role with Washington on Monday.
She joins the Spirit after leading the Orlando Pride to the 2024 NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship crown; the Spirit were runners-up for both trophies, as they were again in 2025.
In Orlando, Carter built a championship winning culture and team from a club that had long been the doormat of the NWSL.
She was in the day-to-day operations and transactions like a traditional general manager.
Carter said Orlando will “always hold a special place in my heart” as “a team that showed the world what the Pride could be.”
This opportunity with Washington, however, was one she couldn’t turn down. She has a robust support network of family and friends in the area, having attended the U.S. Naval Academy. And the Spirit job also allows Carter, 41, to grow professionally.
Carter will lead a large technical staff including Minion, sporting director James Hocken and head coach Adrian Gonzalez.
That will allow Carter to focus on the “strategic level” of the Spirit and Kynisca, Kang’s multi-club umbrella that includes London City Lionesses in England’s top flight and eight-time European champions OL Lyonnes.
“For me, that’s where the magic happens, is being able to lead other leaders and finding success,” Carter said.
Kang cited Carter’s transformation of Orlando, in addition to her experience as a former NWSL player and as a Marine, as a reason she “very quickly” stood out for the role.
“We need that level of not only expertise, but leadership, to propel the club to the next level,” Kang told ESPN. “So, it took us a long time because we looked at a lot of people both in the U.S. and in Europe, and she was by far the best person to take that role.”
Orlando announced her departure as VP of soccer operations in November after the team’s NWSL semifinal loss. Carter did not specify the timelines of her conversations with the Spirit but said that Pride owner Mark Wilf granted permission to have those conversations.
Carter immediately steps into the center of the ongoing saga over the future of forward Trinity Rodman, a moment that is likely to be an inflection point for the entire NWSL.
Rodman, a 2024 Olympic gold medalist with the United Sates and arguably the NWSL’s biggest star, is out of contract at the end of the month. She has major offers from Europe, as ESPN previously reported, and the NWSL cannot financially match those offers under the limitations of the salary cap.
“There’s conversations ongoing hourly,” Carter said. “Trin is a top priority, not just for me, not just for Michele and the Spirit, but for the entire league. Michele knows it, you know it, we know it.
“Michele’s made it absolutely clear that we will do everything in our power to retain and keep Trin in a Spirit kit. We are actively working with the league on solutions that allow us to retain Trin, while obviously balancing that competitive piece. Trin is in asset; it’s bigger than one team. This is about the NWSL’s ability to keep its best players.”
This week, Kang echoed what she has said all year, that “we are doing everything and more to keep Trin in D.C. — and I also have to say that we are doing this in partnership with the league.”
A resolution could come in a matter of days. Whether Rodman stays in Washington will heavily influence the Spirit’s next moves, which will be some of Carter’s first in the new role.
For now, though, Carter is gathering information to plot her long-term plan in Washington. She wants to push the envelope for a team that has been second best for two straight years and lost back-to-back NWSL Championship games. There is a balance to that disruption, however, which Carter knows from her time in Orlando.
“The responsible way to come into this position is, I’m not looking to be operationally or culturally disruptive,” Carter said. “I’ve got to come in and listen and learn and partner with the staff that are here.
“The Spirit have a talented group of staff and an incredible roster of athletes, so my role isn’t to just come in and start overhauling things, it’s to partner with the people who are here, who understand what’s working. We collectively can identify where we need support, align resources toward shared priorities, and go through things.”
