{"id":156744,"date":"2026-03-08T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156744\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T09:01:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T09:01:00","slug":"hornets-shelly-cayette-weston-named-queens-commencement-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/156744\/","title":{"rendered":"Hornets\u2019 Shelly Cayette-Weston Named Queens Commencement Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Mar 05, 2026
\n By Queens University Communications\n <\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Queens University of Charlotte is pleased to announce that Shelly Cayette-Weston, president of business operations for Hornets Sports & Entertainment (HSE), will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2026 during the university\u2019s 167th commencement ceremony. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 9 at 10 a.m. in Curry Arena, located in the Levine Center for Wellness and Recreation on the Queens University campus.<\/p>\n

\"Shelly<\/p>\n

Since stepping into her role at HSE in 2024, Cayette-Weston has been a driving force, steering the strategic success of the Charlotte Hornets, the Greensboro Swarm, and Spectrum Center. Her career spans nearly 20 years, including a transformative 12-year tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where she rose to executive vice president and chief commercial officer.<\/p>\n

Under Cayette-Weston\u2019s leadership in Cleveland, the Cavaliers became one of the NBA\u2019s top-performing revenue franchises. Her influence extends far beyond the front office; she is deeply committed to community service, having served on the boards of the Cuyahoga Community College, the College Now Board, and the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are honored to welcome Mrs. Shelly Cayette-Weston as our keynote speaker,\u201d said Queens University President Jesse Cureton, \u201902. \u201cShe is a testament to the power of vision, resilience, and community commitment. As a leader who has consistently broken barriers in the NBA and beyond, she represents the courageous leadership and excellence we challenge our graduates to carry into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond this year\u2019s ceremony, Queens and the Charlotte Hornets share a recent history of collaboration. In the summer of 2025, Queens hosted the team in Curry Arena while Spectrum Center underwent renovations, providing them with a home-away-from-home on the Myers Park campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueens University of Charlotte plays a vital role in shaping the leaders who strengthen our city and our region,\u201d said Cayette Weston. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to celebrate this year\u2019s graduates and the impact they will make as they carry forward the university\u2019s commitment to service, purpose, and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of New Orleans, Cayette-Weston began her NBA career with the New Orleans Hornets after a successful start at Caesars Entertainment. She is a graduate of Tulane University, where she was a standout member of the women\u2019s basketball team and was recently inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame. Her professional excellence has been recognized nationally, including being named to \u201cCrain\u2019s Cleveland Business Forty Under 40\u201d and as a \u201cSports Business Journal Game Changer\u201d in 2019 and \u201cSports Business Journal\u2019s Forty Under 40\u201d in 2021.<\/p>\n

For more information regarding the 167th Commencement, please visit our Commencement website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mar 05, 2026 By Queens University Communications Queens University of Charlotte is pleased to announce that Shelly Cayette-Weston,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-156744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}