WNBA NEWS - Valkyries President Jess Smith wins inaugural WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award

NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets; Serbia) has won six Kia NBA MVP Awards - (Keith Allison photo)

Bill Walton played through pain and injuries. He was rewarded late in his career being a member of the 1986 NBA championship Boston Celtics team. It was his second NBA title - (Steve Lipofsky photo) BILL WALTON REMEMBERED

San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyamai is one of a record-tying 14 players from France - (NBA Photo) VICTOR WEMBANYAMA = THE REAL DEAL

Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics Larry Bird in Game two of the 1985 NBA Finals at Boston Garden Date 30 May 1985 - Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

Bill Russell is seen here in the green uniform guarding Wilt Chamberlain. They had some of the NBA's most classic battles. Russell sadly passed away Sunday at the age of 88 - (US Library of Congress image) ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

The new award recognizes a WNBA team president, nominated by their organization, who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation

NEW YORK, NY USA

Monday October 27, 2025

Golden State Valkyries president Jess Smith has been named the inaugural recipient of the WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award presented by Deloitte, the WNBA announced.

The new award recognizes a WNBA team president, nominated by their organization, who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation.

Teams submitted their business case for how the leader, and their team, excelled across four key business transformation categories including people and culture, revenue generation, stakeholder engagement, and innovation. All submissions were reviewed and voted upon by a committee of league leadership, led by Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison.

In Golden State's inaugural season, Smith assembled a full-time front office staff of more than 60 employees dedicated to elevating women's sports while fostering growth and retention opportunities across the organization.

On March 26, 2025, the Valkyries eclipsed the 10,000-season ticket mark for season ticket holders of the team's inaugural 2025 season, becoming the first WNBA team on record to hit this milestone.

The Valkyries closed their first season by setting all-time WNBA records for both average attendance (18,064) and total attendance (397,408), selling out all 22 of their home regular-season games at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Smith also helped establish a robust roster of founding partners, including CarMax, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, OLLY, PG&E, Sephora, United Airlines, Rakuten and Waymo. Additionally, the Valkyries sold merchandise in all 50 states and 70 countries.

Under Smith's leadership, the Valkyries launched impactful community engagement initiatives. including an innovative partnership with Kaiser Permanente that generated a $25 [matching] donation to the Golden State Community Foundation for every jersey purchased. This program will donate the funds to Bay Area youth and has transformed merchandise revenue into a vehicle for social impact, funding research-based initiatives and coaching workshops designed to keeping young girls active.

Smith also oversaw the team's local broadcast partnership, which introduced creative programming and community engagement activations, that gave fans unprecedented access throughout the season. The partnership extended the Valkyries' reach to more than four million fans across Northern California.

Capping off a historic inaugural season, the Valkyries became the first WNBA expansion franchise to earn a playoff berth and the winningest expansion team in league history with 23 wins.

THIS DAY IN THE NBA

October 27, 1956 Tom Heinsohn made his debut for the Boston Celtics at the New York Knicks. The Celtics won 115-112.

October 27, 1984 Hakeem Olajuwon made his debut for the Houston Rockets at the Dallas Mavericks. The Rockets won 122-111.

October 27, 1992 The Houston Rockets defeated the Dallas Mavericks 104-102 in a preseason game held in Mexico City, before a crowd of 19,527 at the Mexico City Sports Palace. It was the first NBA game ever played in Latin America.

NBA's ALL TIME BEST PLAYERS

NBA's 50 GREATEST PLAYERS of ALL TIME LIST

On October 29, 1996 In conjunction with the NBA’s 50th anniversary celebration, the list of The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History was announced. It included: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nate Archibald, Paul Arizin, Charles Barkley, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Cousy, Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Dave DeBusschere, Clyde Drexler, Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, George Gervin, Hal Greer, John Havlicek, Elvin Hayes, Earvin Johnson, Sam Jones, Michael Jordan, Jerry Lucas, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Pete Maravich, Kevin McHale, George Mikan, Earl Monroe, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Robert Parish, Bob Pettit, Scottie Pippen, Willis Reed, Oscar Robertson, David Robinson, Bill Russell, Dolph Schayes, Bill Sharman, John Stockton, Isiah Thomas, Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld, Bill Walton, Jerry West, Lenny Wilkens, and James Worthy

COMMING THE KARDASHIANS RAID THE NBA

National Radio text has been published in five languages, Thai, French, Russian, Khmer (Cambodian language) and English, Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns are legally available ONLY on our National Radio.com & National Radio World.com sites

Also our sports, entertainment and feature programming has been broadcast on over 1000 radio stations in America.

NationalRadio.com & NationalRadioWorld.com is not about one country, we are about… THE WORLD

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com All rights reserved.