On a cold winter day in January 2014, Mark Tatum sat nervously at NBA headquarters in New York. At the time, he was the league\u2019s executive vice president in charge of global marketing partnerships and for days he knew a big decision about his NBA career was coming. Adam Silver, who had just been named NBA Commissioner and chief executive of the league, told Tatum that he was being considered for the deputy commissioner role. And on January 31, the league\u2019s owners were casting their final votes.<\/p>\n
The final tally was 30-0 and 12 years later, Tatum remains the highest-ranking Black executive in sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was growing up in the business,\u201d Tatum tells Forbes, \u201cI never dreamed that becoming the deputy commissioner was an option. My dream was to become the head of corporate sponsorship in a league. So, for me, getting that phone call was a little bit of a pinch myself [moment]. I can’t believe this is actually happening. And from a representation standpoint, I knew the importance of the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tatum is tasked with growing the NBA\u2019s business and the affairs of its 30 franchises, which are worth more than $5.4 billion on average<\/a>, according to Forbes. Additionally, the NBA operates a league in China that\u2019s valued at more at a reported $5 billion, a league in Africa worth more than $1 billion, and is scheduled to start a league in Europe by October 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re looking at a $180 billion market cap company,\u201d Tatum says of the NBA. \u201cI think what you\u2019re seeing is people are very bullish on the prospects of the NBA. We\u2019re a global sport.\u201d<\/p>\n The son of a Jamaican father and Asian mother, Tatum was born in Vietnam and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He\u2019s the second Black executive to serve as the NBA\u2019s Deputy Commissioner. The first was Simon Gourdine<\/a>, who took the role in 1974 and passed away in 2012. \u201cIt\u2019s a critical part of the business world and oftentimes does not get the attention that it deserves,\u201d Tatum says of Black Business Month, which was launched in 2004 and celebrated each August. \u201cI think people underestimate the impact that Black businesses have on the economy and have on this country,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere needs to be more education on the importance and the contributions of Black businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Tatum spoke with The Enterprise Zone <\/a>podcast about what the Deputy Commissioner role means to him. He also shared the five Black business leaders who inspire him:<\/p>\n David Grain, Founder, Grain Management\t<\/p>\n In 2007, Grain started Grain Management, a private equity firm that invests in telecommunications infrastructure like fiber networks, wireless spectrum, and cellphone towers. Grain, 64, has a net worth of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes.<\/p>\n \t\u201cDavid is just so principled, so down to earth, so disciplined as an investor, but also very giving,\u201d Tatum says. \u201cHe gives a lot back to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. He’s also somebody who, in his hiring, makes sure that there’s great representation of African-Americans within his company.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheila Johnson<\/p>\n Getty Images for National Urban LeagueSheila Johnson, Cofounder, BET Network\t<\/p>\n Johnson, 77, is a ForbesBLK 50 <\/a>honoree and co-founded BET in 1980 with her then-husband, Robert Johnson. Viacom bought BET for $3 billion in 2001. Today, she is one of the few Black female billionaires and owns stakes in three professional sports teams: the NBA\u2019s Wizards, the WNBA\u2019s Mystics, and the NHL\u2019s Capitals. Johnson also founded the Salamander Collection, a hospitality company.<\/p>\n \t\u201cI learned from Sheila the power of relationships and the power of putting her money where her mouth is,\u201d Tatum says. \u201cShe was a believer in the WNBA when others were questioning and doubting the power of women’s sports.\u201d He adds, \u201cWhat I learned from her is really don’t give up on ideas; continue to invest if you believe in them, continue to market these things. Over time, people will come around to your way of thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Ed Lewis<\/p>\n Getty Images for OWNEd Lewis, Cofounder, Essence magazine\t<\/p>\n Lewis, 86, started his career as a financial analyst before founding Essence magazine in 1969. He built the publication for Black women into a major digital platform that now includes a popular music festival in New Orleans. <\/p>\n \t\u201cI think the thing that inspired me,\u201d says Tatum, \u201c[Lewis] took this idea, he took this opportunity, created a product around it to fill a gap, then he created a platform around it.\u201d<\/p>\n Reginald F. Lewis was featured on the cover of Forbes in December 1987.<\/p>\n Courtesy Reginald F. Lewis family<\/p>\n Reginald Lewis, Former CEO, TLC Beatrice International Holdings<\/p>\n Lewis, a former corporate lawyer, made history in 1987 as the first Black American to own and run a billion-dollar company. He led the $985 million<\/a> leveraged buyout of Beatrice International, a food conglomerate. In 1991, the Baltimore native joined The Forbes 400 with a net worth of $340 million.<\/p>\n \t\u201cIn terms of representation,\u201d Tatum says, \u201cgrowing up, when I first started getting into the business world, he was somebody that I admired from afar because here was this brother who was on the Forbes list. Up until that point, that hadn\u2019t been seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Vista Equity Partners, speaks onstage during the 2025 ForbesBLK Summit at Morehouse College in October 2025.<\/p>\n Getty Images<\/p>\n Robert Smith, Founder, Vista Equity Partners\t<\/p>\n Smith, 63, grew up in Colorado and founded Vista Equity Partners, the largest Black-owned private equity firm in the U.S., managing over $100 billion in assets. Today, Smith\u2019s net worth is estimated at $10 billion, making him the fifth richest among the world\u2019s 27 Black billionaires.<\/p>\n \t\u201cRobert gives back to young Black entrepreneurs,\u201d Tatum says. \u201cHe shows up. There are a handful of events that I’ve been to where there have been other senior Black executives; some that are aspiring executives. When Robert walks into the room, he talks to everybody. He shows up in those rooms. He shows up in those places, and he is passionate about creating more wealth in the Black community. I don’t think that gets a whole lot of (media attention).\u201dMORE FROM FORBESForbesForbesBLK 50: Money MastersBy Jabari Young<\/a>ForbesWhy Podcast Pioneer Joe Budden Will Never Sell OutBy Matt Craig<\/a>ForbesMeet Private Equity\u2019s Pop Culture QueenBy Jabari Young<\/a>ForbesThe World\u2019s 27 Black BillionairesBy Jabari Young<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a cold winter day in January 2014, Mark Tatum sat nervously at NBA headquarters in New York.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,410288,410289,47421,590,85],"class_list":["post-837869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black-american","tag-jabari-young","tag-national-black-business-month","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837869","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=837869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}