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'She has absolutely changed my life': Kevin Warren, Bears celebrate retirement of longtime executive assistant Mai Davis

Story by Gabby Hajduk

After 36 years working with Bears President & CEO Kevin Warren, executive assistant Mai Davis announced her retirement. Davis, a Kansas City native, started working with Warren in 1990 when they met at a law firm in Overland Park, Kansas, and recently finished her career with him in Chicago. In honor of Women's History Month, Warren and the Bears gave Davis her flowers by honoring her service through a heartfelt moment at Halas Hall on her last day.

"I would not be standing here today, if not for her always being there."

Bears President & CEO Kevin Warren spoke from the heart and through tears to his longtime executive Mai Davis on a recent Friday morning, when she was welcomed to the Halas Hall lobby on her final day before retirement.

Davis walked up to the doors of Halas Hall expecting to go through the typical security scan and be greeted by receptionist Liz Wallace. Instead, she was met by a group of Bears staff members and of course, Warren and his wife, Greta, in celebration of her three years of service at the NFL's charter franchise, or as Davis calls it, her "favorite place I have worked."

Yet Warren's "tears of joy" as he called them that morning, are a result of much more than only the past three seasons, and rather 36 years of working alongside Davis, who now feels like family.

"I am grateful to God for Mai Davis," Warren said.

The pair first met in May of 1990. Davis was working as an executive assistant at Linde Thomson in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, when Warren arrived at the firm as a recent law graduate from Notre Dame. They were introduced during one of Warren's first days of work, and became fast friends.

Davis, a single mother to her daughter Melonie, was working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Warren, who was still studying for the bar exam, worked endless hours at the firm. He routinely traveled for depositions, recording each on Dictaphones. After being on the road for up to 10 days at a time, Warren would return to the office carrying a plastic bag with upwards of 40 Dictaphone tapes.

Warren quickly realized that Davis' EQ and IQ were "off the charts," and the pair developed a mutual trust and understanding with one another. When Warren worked on those depositions, they developed a routine that not only benefited Warren's process, but also created enough overtime and time-and-a-half pay for Davis to solely focus on her work at the law firm.

"When I would return to the office from being on the road, I would place the dictaphone tapes on Mai's desk, and she would look at me and just smile," Warren said. "A lot of people could have been grumpy, but she was looking for work. We had a routine. She would dictate these drafts, get them back to me and I could red line them and turn them out. I would do that for two or three days in office, and then I would go back on the road and just work on these cases.

"There was something special about her."

Warren grew to learn that something special was Davis' heart of gold. It is why Warren has brought Davis with him through his winding and interesting career.

"She is everything that you could hope for in a friend, a colleague, an advisor," Warren said. "I listen to her. I know she truly wants the best for me and my family. She is always there and she is straight, blunt. I mean, we do not agree on everything, but she will tell me what she thinks and how she feels.

"She has an impeccable character, integrity. Honestly, she has absolutely changed my life. I would not be sitting here today without her. What she has done for me, my family — I can never repay her."

Davis is even partially to credit for Warren meeting his wife, Greta. When Warren was just starting out at Linde Thomson, he knew his mother would soon call him and ask if he had found a church to attend. So, he asked Davis for a local's recommendation. She referred him to St. James United Methodist Church.

"That is the church I went to based upon Mai's recommendation and that is where I met Greta," Warren shared. "We met there. And when we had both of our kids, Peri and Powers, the only people who were in the birthing room with us were Greta's mom, my mom and Mai."

Davis still remembers those earlier years with Warren. What always stood out to her was his sense of humor and his work ethic. The overtime they worked together fostered a family-like bond between the pair.

While working together at Linde Thomson in Overland Park, Davis can recall Warren often telling her he had dreams of being a sports agent, and when he achieved that goal, he would bring Davis with him. She did not entirely believe him.

Eventually, the law firm dissolved and the pair went their separate ways for a brief period. But then in 1993, Davis received a seemingly random call from Warren, who had just started Kevin Warren & Associates.

"He called me and said, 'I am starting my business. Do you want to come with me?'" Davis recalled. "I said, 'So you have any clients? I am a single mother. I need insurance.' He said, 'Yeah,' So, I took the chance and did it. And we did that for about four-and-a-half, five years. And I tell you, it was so much fun. We had a lot of fun."

From then on, Warren went everywhere with Davis alongside him except at the St. Louis Rams — where his position did not have an executive assistant. From the Detroit Lions to the Vikings to the Big Ten Conference to the NFL's charter franchise, Davis stuck by Warren's side, despite trying to retire a couple of times prior to now.

"Number one, Kevin, he has such a great heart," Davis said. "I enjoyed working with him. We developed like a brother-sister relationship. And we could trust each other. I just saw he had a lot of ambition. I met his mom and dad, and then after that sisters and brothers. And he just has a great heart, great family and he took care of me, very good care of me. He really did."

While Davis was only with the Bears for three years, her time spent in Chicago was unforgettable. The 2025 season in particular will go down as the most memorable year of her career.

Warren always hoped to send Davis out as a Super Bowl champion, but being a part of the 2025 Bears was just as meaningful for her.

Between witnessing the thrilling last-minute wins by cardiac Bears, which often kept her up well into the night due to adrenaline, to hosting Warren's suite at each home game and getting to meet guests like Spike Lee, Common, Jennifer Hudson, Chance the Rapper, and multiple Fortune 500 CEOs, Davis could not have asked for a better season to end an incredible career.

"This year has been the best season of my career," Davis said. "I was with teams that have gone to the playoffs, but never won a playoff game. And so this was just so exciting. It was was the best. It was just wonderful going out like this. And I love our team, our locker room, our players, because this is my 22nd year in the league, and this is a wonderful locker room. Ben is a wonderful coach. I have truly enjoyed my time here."

Davis isn't shying away from the fact that retiring will bring a monumental change to her life — one that will be simultaneously odd and joyful. At 70 years young, she still absolutely loves her job and working with Warren, but she has a deeper desire to spend more time with her husband, daughter, two step-children and grandchildren.

She will start retirement with a weekend trip to Detroit to visit her daughter, son-in-law and their two teenage kids. She and her husband will follow that up a vacation to Cancun. The rest, then, is fully up to Davis.

"I will not so much be slowing down," she said. "I will just be taking my time."