NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When the Titans officially announced LP Field was transforming into Nissan Stadium last week, they didn’t roll out interim CEO/president Steve Underwood to represent the team.

Rather it was Kenneth Adams IV, one of the team’s owners and a member of the franchise's board of directors. He’s a grandson of the team's late founder and owner, Bud Adams. He is the lone person in the five-member ownership group who works for the team and who is a Nashvillian.

Kenneth Adams IV has the requisite Nashville ties to satisfy the fan base as the face of Titans ownership. Courtesy of Tennessee Titans

After Bud Adams died in October 2013, his son-in-law, Tommy Smith, worked as the head of the ownership group on behalf of his wife, Susan Adams.

That fell apart after fewer than two years, and Smith retired from the position citing health concerns and too much responsibility in running the family’s Houston company as well as the team.

But it became clear the rest of the ownership group was unhappy with his work. Amy Adams Strunk became the controlling owner and is the person from whom Underwood takes direction.

By all accounts, she doesn’t like the limelight. While she was at the draft and was at last week’s news conference, she has not spoken publicly.

Instead, it was Kenneth Adams.

I was on vacation and didn’t attend the news conference, but I watched the team’s video of it.

The event and Kenneth’s Adams role were strictly ceremonial. He may have been a bit nervous, but he was willing and able, and a lot of people were happy to see him doing that job.

In my eyes, having visible ownership is overrated. I’ve come to see that’s a minority opinion, however.

Readers who connect with me on Twitter, callers to my Nashville radio show, and people I meet often ask about the ownership. They express concerns about the group's competence based on the team’s failures and direction. Just as vocally they hammer away at the issue of Texas-based control.

In early March, the Titans parted ways with Don MacLachlan, the longtime head of the administrative side of the team. I suggested then it was time for us to see more of Kenneth Adams.

Maybe the Nissan Stadium event was the start of that.

Rumors continue to fly of the team ultimately being sold. Underwood has said repeatedly that the Titans are not for sale. All five owners have to sign off on all decisions.

My strong sense is that Kenneth Adams wants to remain an NFL owner. While some of his family might be more inclined to move on, he envisions a career with the team. At this point, he’s especially involved in community relations and the Tennessee Titans Foundation.

I don’t know him well, but I have chatted with him from time to time since 2006, when the team spent a couple weeks of training camp at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and he was joining the team fresh out of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

In his early years with the team, he moved from department to department to get a taste of all the facets of the franchise.

What I know of him personally and hear about him from others in team headquarters tells me he’s a smart and sensible guy with good people skills. The one thing hat likely prevents him from being the controlling owner at this time is his youth. He is 31.

Is he qualified to run the team? I can’t say. Underwood’s description of the executive the team will hire to replace him suggests it will be an older person.

"We need someone with NFL experience, someone who understands the stadium business, the media business, the entertainment business,” he said.

But Kenneth Adams is a Nashville guy who went to college in Tennessee and married a woman from Nashville.

For now, he can be the Nashville person most connected to the controlling owner, his aunt Amy Adams Strunk. And perhaps ultimately, he can inherit that role from her.

He’s certainly qualified to be the forward-facing member of ownership the team needs. And his news-conference presence last week suggests he will be.