Veteran marketing executive Laurel J. Richie appointed as the new President of the Women’s National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner David Stern has appointed Laurel J. Richie as the new President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
Richie is considered by many as the best in the business. She is a veteran marketing executive and possesses an experience of more than three decades in customer marketing, corporate branding, public affairs and corporate administration.
Appreciating Laurel’s credentials at the time of her appointment Stern said, “Laurel combines extraordinary marketing and brand management skills, with a tremendous enthusiasm to help evolve young women
into leaders. She joins the WNBA at such an exciting time in its history and we know her expertise will be key to continuing the growth and success of the league.”
Richie has a won several awards on her business development campaigns, which later transformed into brands and attained good business profits. Prior to joining WNBA, she
was the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Girl Scouts of the United States of America (USA).
Laurel did her graduation from Dartmouth College and obtained a BA Policy Studies degree. She started her career with a Chicago based advertising agency Leo Burnett Worldwide,
where she worked on a number of Procter and Gamble products from 1981-1983. In 1984, she joined Ogilvy and Mather, where she created brands for the top clients including American Express, Unilever and Pepperidge Farm along with many others. Richie spent more
than two decades at Ogilvy, where she guided her team to help Huggies became a multi-billion dollar product.
She carried on working with Ogilvy and became one of the founding members of the Diversity Advisory Board. The objective of this board was to support the efforts in attracting
and retaining the most excellent talent. Her vast experience in this facet of human resource development, made her the ideal candidate for the WNBA job.
Richie has won many laurels and awards during her illustrious career. Apart from winning the prestigious YMCA Black Achiever's Award, Ebony magazine also named her the Outstanding Women in Marketing
and Communications. In addition to that, the Network Journal has recently included her in the elite list of 25 Influential Black Women in Business.
Sharing her thoughts on the appointment Richie said, “The WNBA is comprised of the best female basketball players in the world and I’m looking forward to working with these
talented women as they strive to achieve their professional goals both on and off the court. I am fortunate to have worked with an organization as inspiring as Girl Scouts, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to build upon the successes of the WNBA and
help grow this league into a world-class business.”
In WNBA Richie’s responsibilities will include, every day operations of the world’s premier women’s sports league. Richie has joined WNBA at a very important time, when
the league is on the verge of tipping off its 15th season this summer. She will join her new job from 16 May, 2011and will be reporting directly to NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Adam Silver.
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