IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys executive vice president Charlotte Anderson was named the chairwoman of the newly-formed NFL Foundation on Wednesday.

The NFL Foundation will focus on youth football, health and safety and community programs. With the Cowboys, Anderson manages the year-round community service program and played lead role in the team’s partnership with the Salvation Army as part of the Red Kettle Campaign.

“It is an extreme honor to be in this position," Anderson said after the owners meetings concluded Wednesday. "But to the chance to be able to really make a difference in the community, to make a difference in youth football. I do have two sons who play the game. Obviously, I'm very passionate about the game. I'm passionate about it means to my children, their experience involved in the game and how it develops them as young kids and to be able to use that and to help others be able to experience the same process is exciting. Obviously, community is a very important thing for all of us. You know it is for the Cowboys. It certainly is for the league as a whole. For us to be able to take that approach and now to have the resources to really make an impact is very significant."

In 2013 the NFL Foundation will award more than $23 million in grants to support youth and high school football, health and safety efforts as well as other initiatives, like the NFL Play 60 program.

She is the first woman to serve in this capacity for an NFL charitable institution.

"She really has a great perspective on what the NFL stands for and what we want to do with the NFL Foundation going forward,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said.