{"id":168703,"date":"2025-09-20T00:33:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T00:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/168703\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T00:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T00:33:06","slug":"in-exclusive-interview-with-katu-new-portland-fire-gm-shares-her-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/168703\/","title":{"rendered":"In exclusive interview with KATU, new Portland Fire GM shares her vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) \u2014 Portland Fire\u2019s new general manager, Vanja Cernivec<\/a>, is settling into her new role and into her new city.<\/p>\n

Cernivec, who joined the Fire after serving with the Golden State Valkyries, said Portland has welcomed her warmly. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s been helpful, supportive and welcoming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One of her first big tasks is hiring the team\u2019s head coach. The process has already begun, though Cernivec emphasized there\u2019s no timeline. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just focused on the right fit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Cernivec, building the Fire goes beyond wins and losses. She wants to establish a culture of trust, adaptability, and community connection. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want everybody on our staff and players to feel like they belong, that they\u2019re valued, and that they have agency with what we\u2019re building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Fire already has strong backing, with over 13,000 season ticket deposits secured. Cernivec credits the fan base for driving momentum and says community involvement will remain a priority. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be here without the fans,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope they enjoy the ride with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Portland prepares for its return to the WNBA, Cernivec\u2019s goal is to balance competitiveness with long-term growth. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom year one we want to be competitive, but culture comes first,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to attract not only talented players but high-character people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) \u2014 Portland Fire\u2019s new general manager, Vanja Cernivec, is settling into her new role and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[101415,59278,16898,12077,101417,99,101416,101414,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-168703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-community-connection","9":"tag-general-manager","10":"tag-head-coach","11":"tag-portland-fire","12":"tag-season-ticket-deposits","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-team-culture","15":"tag-vanja-cernivec","16":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}