{"id":496774,"date":"2026-02-22T12:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496774\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T12:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T12:41:09","slug":"three-leaders-ready-to-tackle-new-roles-across-the-nbpa-ny-giants-and-bay-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496774\/","title":{"rendered":"Three leaders ready to tackle new roles across the NBPA, NY Giants and Bay FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

There haven\u2019t been a ton of positive stories when it comes to the leadership ranks of players unions these days. But a good story that may have been overlooked was David Kelly becoming the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association<\/a>. Kelly was voted in over All-Star Weekend to succeed Andre Iguodala, who served so admirably in his two-year interim stint after taking over for Tamika Tremaglio. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you should know about Kelly: He was a rap artist in the late 1990s in Chicago before going to law school at the University of Illinois. He was hired by Rick Welts at the Golden State Warriors in 2012 as the team\u2019s chief legal counsel and later helped develop the organization\u2019s Golden State Entertainment division in 2022, which was a pioneer at the nexus of sports, culture and music. A year ago, he joined the NBPA as managing director and general counsel, as he and Iguodala have a close relationship from when Iguodala played for the Warriors. It was obvious when he joined that Kelly was being groomed to lead the union at some point, as he is whip-smart and respected in league, team and player circles. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always felt it would be a positive to have someone at a union who has an intimate understanding of the team business. There will be plenty of issues facing Kelly as he looks to partner with Commissioner Adam Silver on the league\u2019s future \u2014 from expansion; to a changing media landscape; to looking to create long-term equity opportunities for its members, including possible investment in NBA Europe franchises. But Kelly brings a smart, strategic and enthusiastic personality to this important role. <\/p>\n

Two SBJ Game Changers are in the news and will be important executives to watch.<\/p>\n

First, Dawn Aponte<\/a>, Class of 2012, leaves the NFL to become senior vice president of football operations and strategy at the New York Giants<\/a>, giving her great influence on the future of that franchise, as she has become one of the most powerful female leaders on the football side of the NFL. She started as an accounting intern at the New York Jets and earned the respect of Bill Parcells, who moved her to a role in football administration. She\u2019s also worked for the Dolphins, Browns and the league office along the way. I admire how she\u2019s taken advantage of the tremendous opportunities presented to her over the years. She fully admits she never thought she would work in sports. She went to law school while working for the Jets, then was able to get experience in so many areas, whether it was starting in accounting, going to the football side, working at the team level and then a league job. Aponte also has competed against men who have desperately wanted the jobs she has held or is qualified for. Here\u2019s what else you should know: She brings a quiet authority, and colleagues have unquestionable trust in her and in her integrity. She possesses street smarts and a willingness to compromise; yet she\u2019s no pushover. Now, she\u2019s back where she began, working for an NFL team in New York, and her biggest professional job with the Giants. My guess? She will quickly earn the respect of Giants employees by how hard she works and the experience she has. If the Giants indeed are working to create a new culture, she will, in her quiet way, play a leading role.<\/p>\n

Second, Stacy Johns<\/a>, Class of 2023, was named CEO of Bay FC <\/a>after serving the past year as chief business officer for LAFC, which she joined in 2020 as CFO. The longtime Indianapolis Colts executive moved to Los Angeles six years ago and worked under team Co-President Larry Freedman on various high-profile roles, including building the relationship with LAFC\u2019s new tenant, Angel City FC. From my interactions and those who know her, she has displayed great intellectual curiosity while understanding the art of listening. One longtime colleague stressed her ability to build a team and an innate talent to connect with people, whether it be staff, sponsors, players or managing up or down. I\u2019ve admired her humility, but like most top executives, Johns has an incredible work ethic. Bay FC owner Sixth Street had been in the market looking for a CEO, and it\u2019s fair to say that it is demanding in its expectations. The 3-year-old franchise has had some bright spots, but also some struggles and growing pains. While Johns\u2019 task won\u2019t be easy, I look for her to follow her pattern of getting up every day focused on making the organization and those around her better. <\/p>\n

Bottom line, you have three talented leaders taking on interesting, important roles in the business. <\/p>\n

Next week, I\u2019ll have a full recap on what was seen and heard, and the new ideas that I took away from the 30th anniversary of SBJ\u2019s National Sports Forum.<\/p>\n

Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There haven\u2019t been a ton of positive stories when it comes to the leadership ranks of players unions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,116010,590,48702,85],"class_list":["post-496774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-forum","tag-nba","tag-print","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}