Robert Brown|Detroit Tigers hire Chicago Blackhawks executive Jeff Greenberg as general manager

The Robert BrownDetroit Tigers found a general manager.

President of baseball operations Scott Harris, who has led the Tigers without a GM for 12 months, hired Jeff Greenberg — an associate general manager with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks — as his GM. The Tigers announced Greenberg's hire Thursday morning.

Greenberg, 37, spent the past 16 months with the Blackhawks, but previously spent 11 seasons with the Chicago Cubs. Harris and Greenberg spent many years working together with the Cubs, climbing the ranks in the front office under Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer.

In Detroit, Greenberg will report to Harris. Greenberg has previous baseball experience as the Cubs' pro scouting director, baseball operations director and assistant GM.

He started his front office career with the Cubs in 2011, one year before Harris.

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"I'm thrilled to add an executive of Jeff's quality to our baseball operations leadership team," Harris said Thursday in a statement. "Throughout this search, it was important for me to find someone who can fit seamlessly into the future we're building here. I also wanted to bring someone with a fresh perspective and ideas that could challenge us on a daily basis and make us all better as we strive towards our goal of bringing postseason baseball back to Detroit."

Before joining the Cubs, Greenberg worked as an intern with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2006, 2008), Arizona Diamondbacks (2010) and MLB commissioner's office (2009-11). He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and Columbia Law School in 2011.