When Stacey Allaster surprised the tennis world Sept. 22 by announcing her resignation from running the WTA Tour, conventional wisdom was that it would take several months, at least, to find a replacement.
But within 36 hours of her announcement, the seven-member board of directors focused on one of their own members, BNP Paribas Open tournament director Steve Simon. And when Simon, who had long said he would not leave his beloved California, budged from that sentiment, all outreach to other potential candidates ceased and negotiations began with the man who oversaw the biggest tournament outside of the four Grand Slams.
STEVE SIMON
■ Age: 60
■ Born: Arcadia, Calif.
■ Played on the Satellite Tour
■ WTA board member (Tournament Class Director)
■ ATP Media board member
■ Joined the Indian Wells tournament (the Newsweek Champions Cup) in 1989
■ Became tournament director and chief operating officer of the Pacific Life Open (now the BNP Paribas Open) in 2004
It took only two weeks for the WTA to announce Simon as the new CEO, which it did on Oct. 5, shortly after Allaster’s last day. Speaking to reporters the day of the announcement, he said he had already started and plans to split his time for the next three months with his previous job running the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., and WTA headquarters in Florida.
“I have never before seen unanimous consensus among every single person on the board,” said Lisa Grattan, a board member. “The staff felt like there was a void when Stacey left, and finding someone who knew the business, quickly, was important.”
Spurning a thorough executive search might seem unusual, but it’s not when boards are confronted with the sudden loss of a leader.
“Had she, or anyone, announced she would leave within six months, then you could have a fairly orderly search process,” said Harvey Schiller, a longtime sports executive who is president of sports, media and entertainment at Diversified Search. “When someone leaves quickly, for good or bad reasons, the board turns quickly to a known.”
Jorge Salkeld, the Octagon tennis agent who is also on the WTA board of directors, said speed was a major consideration in making the choice.
“The plan was to try to go quickly,” he said.
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When Steve Simon (right) expressed willingness to leave California, the WTA moved quickly.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Len Perna, who handles executive searches for his Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, expressed surprise on the expedited hire and lack of a comprehensive search, writing in an email, “[A] professionally run search delivers options, market intel, compensation info and even new business opportunities. Executive search is misunderstood and undervalued as a competitive weapon.”
Simon is very well-regarded within tennis. After being at Adidas, he joined the Indian Wells event in sales in 1989 and worked his way up to running the event by 2004. He proved crucial in attracting investors in 2006 to keep the event in the U.S. when overseas buyers were circling.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison bought the event in 2009, and Simon has been his right-hand man running the expansion of the tournament, which has seen attendance grow 70 percent in a decade to 456,000 earlier this year. The event has positioned itself as one of the most popular and successful events in tennis.
In addition to his knowledge of tennis and business acumen, Grattan points to Simon’s human side as another factor in why the board targeted him. Citing an anecdote, she pointed to a volunteer who runs transportation at Indian Wells. Grattan recalled asking the volunteer, a regular at the event, why she gave up her vacations to manage cars at the event.
“She said, ‘I love Steve Simon, I would work for Steve Simon any time,’” Grattan recounted.
