Engelbert took the job on July 17, 2019, after Lisa Borders resigned as league president the previous October. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum ran the league on an interim basis in between. Engelbert was the first person to hold the commissioner title. Borders and the three leaders before her, Val Ackerman, Donna Orender, and Laurel Richie, were presidents. Only Ackerman, who ran the league from its 1996 launch into 2005, served longer.
