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Shelly Wilkes’ eighth grade peers were onto something when they declared her most likely to succeed back in the early 1990s.
In 2017, Wilkes became the G League’s first female team president when she took the helm of the expansion team Lakeland Magic.
President, Lakeland Magic
Age: 39
Born: Oklahoma City
Education: University of Central Florida, B.S., business administration, and MBA/Master of Sport Business Management
Family: Husband, Dallas; children, Quinn (3); Addison (9 months)
I get fired up … : Seeing one of my girls figure out how to do something new after trying repeatedly!
Profession I’d most like to attempt: Author and speaker a la Rachel Hollis!
Could not go a day without: Peloton App.
Causes supported: Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Charity: Water
Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: Megan Rapinoe.
Sports industry needs to do a better job of … : Supporting women. The sports industry and media has to do a better job of covering female sports, athletes and coaches to encourage more sponsorship dollars and general viewership/attendance of women’s sports.
Most adventurous thing I’ve done: Skydiving. I distinctly remember landing and saying to myself, “Well, I definitely could have just died and I will never do that again.”
She’s helped build the Orlando Magic affiliate from scratch, including two lucrative facilities moves. She worked with the city of Lakeland to score a new naming-rights deal for the team’s home venue — the only naming-rights deal in the G League — and partnered with nearby Winter Haven to build a new practice facility there. The team was named the sales and marketing agency for the Winter Haven facility, creating a new revenue stream for the club.
Wilkes has two daughters, ages 3 and 9 months, and becoming a mother while running a pro sports team has shown her one area where she wants to be a positive example to young business women: keeping family first. “The family dynamic has to be our highest priority,” she said. “And I think becoming a mom made me a better leader. It’s made me much more empathetic to our staff and it’s also made me much more efficient.”
The Orlando Magic set a precedent by offering Wilkes the Lakeland president’s post when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant with her first child. She was out on maternity leave for the first three months of the team’s existence.
Wilkes tries to accept all speaking requests to show that it’s possible for someone like her — a woman, a mom — to reach sports business’ highest roles.
“It’s really important for women in these roles, and men, to be advocates for, to continue to change that dynamic and tell the story,” she said.
