On Friday September 4, the same day the Women’s FIBA World Cup began in Berlin, Germany, the WNBA announced major news that sent shockwaves through the entire women’s sports ecosystem: league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is going to retire at the end of the calendar year.
In an interview that Engelbert did with The IX Sports about her retirement, she said she’d preparing for her retirement for the past few years. She prepared two lists of candidates to replace her — external and internal.
While Engelbert knows that she won’t be the one who makes the final call — that’s the job of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the WNBA’s board of governors — she wants to have an impact in not only the succession process but also in the new leader’s transition.
“I love women’s basketball and am not going anywhere yet,” she told the Associated Press. “We’ll run a real succession process in the remaining four months. If we don’t find someone I’ll stay on. I had no transition. I walked in the door and I was by myself as no one transitioned me into this role. Hopefully I can help this next leader transition in especially considering the elevation of this league.”
Engelbert said she believes that the next leader needs to be more comfortable with being more front-facing and have a high understanding of how to keep a successful business stable, in addition to building relationships with a variety of stakeholders and shareholders. Below are eight candidates that the league could target to replace Engelbert that are both internal and external.
Compelling Internal Candidates
On Tuesday, ESPN reported that there’s “recognition” within the league that there are advantages to “a leader without a traditional” corporate background.
Could that be a translation for the fact that the WNBA — and its brother league, the NBA — are ready to move away from outsiders coming in to lead? All previous WNBA leaders were outsiders, excluding the first league President Val Ackerman who worked for the NBA prior to the launch of the league.
The following candidates have extensive internal experience within the NBA and WNBA pipelines. All three are former basketball players with one playing in the WNBA, and the other two playing in college.
Amy Brooks (NBA’s President, Global Business Development)
Brooks has worked within the NBA’s ecosystem for over 20 years. She’s served in a variety of roles beginning as a director of global marketing partnerships, all the way up to serving as the league’s Chief Innovation officer of Team Marketing & Business Operations and now is the President of Global Business Development. Before the NBA, she worked in global management consulting, and played college basketball at Stanford. She was on one of the teams that made it to the Final Four.
Brooks has institutional knowledge and was leading initiatives to help the WNBA prior and during Engelbert’s tenure. With the WNBA looking to continue to expand globally in its future and Brook’s understanding of the WNBA and NBA ecosystem, she has a background in what the league’s owners might want.
Bethany Donaphin (Head of WNBA league operations)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 15: (L-R) Bethany Donaphin, Head of WNBA League Operations speaks onstage during “The WNBA Boom & the Growth of Women’s Sports” at AT&T Innovation Exchange at Wynn Las Vegas on July 15, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for AT&T)
Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for AT&T
Donaphin is a former player (New York Liberty 2003-2004) who has many of the qualifications needed for the role of Commissioner. Donaphin has been with the NBA and WNBA since 2016 and currently serves in a role that oversees all on-court operations. This includes rule changes, conduct standards, officiating, and analytics and game innovation.
Donaphin also led the league’s social justice platform and worked to expand the pipeline to get more former players and diverse candidates in the WNBA’s coaching ranks.
“She listens,” New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart told Andscape about Donaphin. “She lets us know what’s possible and what’s not. Obviously she’s working on the W side, but, as a former player, understanding the things that we’re wanting and asking for, then being able to communicate that to both sides. … She is the bridge between the players and the league.”
That seems to be exactly what the WNBA is looking for in its next leader, someone who has built relationships with players. It’s worth noting that Donaphin was on hand during multiple moments during the 2026 marathon CBA negotiations that were held in New York City.
Keia Clarke (CEO of the New York Liberty)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Keia Clarke, CEO of the New York Liberty, speaks to the fans during the Championship ticker tape parade and victory rally celebrating winning the 2024 WNBA Finals on October 24, 2024 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
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Clarke is currently the CEO of the Liberty, and has moved up through the organization during her almost 16 years with the franchise. She began as a marketing manager and then moved up to be on the team business development side which then led her being the team’s COO and now the CEO.
Prior to the Liberty, she worked for NBA on the team business development side and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Clarke is a WNBA nerd. She wrote her masters’ thesis at NYU on the league and its marketing approach.
“I had never been to a game,” she said on the Her Playbook podcast. “I felt like the target marketing was missing me. So I wrote this advanced, special project 30-page paper on the league.”
Clark also played basketball during her undergraduate years for Buffalo based Canisius University.
External Business Executives
According to a source close to the league,
Engelbert specifically valued business leaders of multi-national corporations — and in particular companies that already have relationships with the WNBA and the NBA — on her external list.
Some of these candidates come from the WNBA’s changemaker collective that Engelbert founded following the ratification of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement (CBA), while others comes from companies that have deep relationships with some of the biggest stars in the sport.
Kristyn Cook (Executive Vice President and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer at State Farm)
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - MAY 09: Kristyn Cook, EVP and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer, State Farm speaks during the 2024 espnW New York Summit at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge on May 09, 2024 in Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Cook has worked for longtime WNBA and NBA partner Statefarm for over 16 years, beginning as an agency executive assistant and moving all the way up to become the Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing officer. Over the years, Cook has built relationships with WNBA athletes over the years who have starred in the company’s commercials including Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ioenscu, Kelsey Plum and Caitlin Clark.
Cook also has a deep background in basketball, playing Division I for Syracuse University for all four seasons in college. She was a guard who averaged 10.6 points while playing. She was asked at a business summit this past December about how she approaches challenges in her position of leadership. She noted that for her leadership is both an art and a science.
“It’s the never stop learning and you can’t know everything at the end of the day,” she said. “You have to be really curious about life and people and things because you bring that into looking at problems differently and how you might want to collaborate with people differently, or how you want to lead your teams differently too.”
Kellyn Smith Kenny (Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at AT&T)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 10: The winner of AT&T Untold Stories is announced by Kelly Smith Kenny - Chief Marketing & Growth officer to “Smoking Tigers” with one million dollar award at the Spring Studios during 2022 Tribeca Festival in New York City, United States on June 10, 2022. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
AT&T is one of the WNBA’s seven changemaker partners. It often powers some of the programming that is featured during WNBA All-Star weekend during “WNBA Live,” the league’s interactive fan fest throughout the weekend.
Smith Kenney has worked on many of these initiatives alongside the WNBA and has an understanding of what the brand has become over the past few years. Her bio on AT&T’s website includes that she’s known for how she builds “meaningful” and “long-lasting connections” with the people she serves.
Amy Montagne (President of Nike)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 11: Amy Montagne attends 2024 A Year in TIME dinner at Current at Chelsea Piers on December 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME)
Noam Galai/Getty Images for TIME
Before serving as the official President of Nike, another WNBA changemaker partner, Montagne was the Vice President of the Global women’s branch. She has worked very closely with WNBA athletes including A’ja Wilson, Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and college star Juju Watkins.
She revealed in a feature piece in Nike magazine that collaborating with those women’s basketball athletes is “one of the most fulfilling parts of her job.”
“We want to learn, listen and meet them where they are,” she said. “And keep doing that as they succeed.”
Montagne was featured front and center recently in a video where she and Clark were playing golf at Nike HQ. Like Cook, Montagne clearly understands how to relationship building with athletes and an understanding of how to run a global business.
Candidates with a legal and sports background
Something Engelbert often dealt with, according to multiple league insiders, was the balancing act of leading a league alongside legal counsel whose responsibilities extend beyond the WNBA to the NBA as well. At times, that deference led to a less proactive communications and public relations strategy, especially when stronger statements from Engelbert herself could have helped build trust among her different stakeholders.
Does the league want someone with a legal background who might have a better understanding of how to navigate that type of relationship?
Jessica Berman (Commissioner of the NWSL)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 05: NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman speaks during a press conference at the National Women’s Soccer League’s office on August 05, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Jordan Bank/NWSL via Getty Images)
Jordan Bank/NWSL via Getty Images
Berman has accomplished a lot of what Engelbert has but in a different women’s sports league, the NWSL. She oversaw historic media rights deals, league expansion across the country and a historic CBA that eliminated its first year player draft. What makes Berman appealing is how similar her path is to Silver’s. Previously, she was the Deputy Commissioner at the National Lacrosse League after spending time at the NHL. She came into sports with a focus in labor law and worked for Proskauer Rose LLP.
The shoe fits, but there’s one major problem and there should be an asterisk next to this one. Berman signed a multi-year extension this past November to lead the NWSL through the 2028 season. Has there ever been a Commissioner that’s been poached from one league to another?
Anastasia Danias Schmidt (Executive VP and CLO of MLS)
Danias Schmidt currently oversees all of the legal and business affairs within the US men’s pro soccer league. She’s been involved with league expansion, compliance, litigation, labor and intellectual property and commercial transactions.
Previously she was at the NFL for 18 years where she specifically worked on the league’s legal strategy. She provided guidance on trademarks, licensing and other commercial rights, as well as legislation that could affect the league and its teams.
