In the last 10 seasons, the highest number of minority team presidents in the league peaked at four (2015, 2018)Getty Images
The WNBA's top five seeds in the postseason "share a promising trend in the league -- Black executives in their front offices," according to Sean Hurd of the ANDSCAPE. The WNBA has been a league that has "led the way in the area of diversity," but recent activity "appears to demonstrate a new chapter for front-office hires." The 2023 season began with three Black GMs "at the helm of franchises," while the 2021 and 2022 WNBA Finals marked the first time in eight years that a Black GM "led a Finals participant in back-to-back seasons." Those in the league hope that the "successes of front-office personnel this season can continue to drive that change." Sun GM Darius Taylor said that despite the hiring progress being made in WNBA front offices, there is "still more work to be done." While the GM position has "experienced a shift," Taylor "still wants to see that shift extended to ownership and board of governor positions, whose decision-making steers their franchises and the league." Hurd noted in the last 10 years, there also has been a "dramatic shift in hiring at the team governor level." In 2013, there were just "seven people of color who held ownership-level positions in WNBA teams," but in 2022, it "was 18." In 2023, Liberty CEO Keia Clarke and Aces President Nikki Fargas are the "only two Black people at the CEO or team president level" in the WNBA. In the last 10 seasons, the highest number of minority team presidents in the league "peaked at four (2015, 2018)." Clarke said that to increase that number, it was "important for organizations to commit to 'building a bench' where future candidates can run their own departments" (ANDSCAPE, 9/12).
