Cathy Engelbert Hopes WNBA Hires Next Commissioner Before Dec. 31

Cathy Engelbert said Thursday that the search for the next commissioner of the WNBA is “ongoing,” ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported. Engelbert said she hopes the hire will be made before Dec. 31.

She spoke to a small group of reporters in Manhattan. The update came after the league’s annual competition committee meeting.

“Nothing to report, a normal process, a search firm interviewing people,” Engelbert said.

Engelbert still expects to retire at the end of the calendar year, The Associated Press’ Doug Feinberg reported. NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced her retirement on Sept. 4.

If the league has not found a replacement by then, Engelbert will stay on, she told the AP in September. In that interview, she said the league would run a succession process over the remaining four months of her tenure.

Excel is the search firm.

Engelbert submitted names to Excel but did not say whom she recommended, Sportico reported.

Multiple sources told ESPN in September that the search would begin later that month, if not sooner. Before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals in San Francisco on Oct. 17, Engelbert said she had met with the firm. Excel was sending her periodic updates as it reached out to potential candidates, according to the AP.

Silver will make the final decision, according to Front Office Sports. The next commissioner will report to him. Engelbert has reported to Silver since 2019.

Engelbert told the AP in September that the league had candidates inside and outside its office. She had been working on a succession plan for the last few years, she said.

Engelbert joined the WNBA on July 17, 2019, nine months after Lisa Borders resigned as league president. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum had been running the league in the meantime.

There was nobody to take her through a transition when she arrived, Engelbert told the AP in September. She wants her replacement to have that help.

She was the first person to hold the title of WNBA commissioner. Val Ackerman, Donna Orender, Laurel Richie, and Borders served as presidents. Only Ackerman, who led the league from its 1996 launch into 2005, served longer than Engelbert.

Engelbert told the AP the decision to retire was hers. She said no one at the NBA or among WNBA stakeholders pressured her. She also said she had been thinking about retirement for months.

When she left Deloitte, where she had been chief executive since 2015, Engelbert planned to serve three and a half years. She has been at the WNBA for more than seven years.

The next commissioner will take over a league with 15 teams. Cleveland is scheduled to join in 2028, Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030.