August 2022 - On the 50th anniversary of Title IX, I have been and will continue to shine a light on 50 women who have been amazing teachers, thereby affecting my sports career as well as the careers of other women and men in sport.
Buffy Fippel, Founder, TeamWorkOnline
Precious few women become team presidents. Rarer still are women who help nurture their female teammates - women helping women to rise to these top positions. Amy Brooks is one of those special women who excel while giving others a lift.
In 2010 Amy recruited Valerie Camillo, another management consultant, into TMBO. Val recognized the unique opportunity to work with Amy and the NBA. Side by side, Amy and Val crunched numbers and consulted with the teams. This laid the foundation for Val’s meteoric rise.
In 2013, with the
movement of Amy’s boss, Chris Granger, to the Sacramento
Kings, Amy herself was rewarded. She became one of the top women
in the NBA League Office, rising to Executive Vice President and heading the
Team Marketing and Business Operations department. In 2015, Forbes
voted her one of the most powerful women in sports. Two years
later, Amy was promoted to be the NBA’s Chief Innovation Officer and
President of TMBO, the first to hold such a role.
With four years
under Amy’s coaching, Val moved back to DC in 2014 to become Chief Revenue
Officer of the Washington Nationals, one of few women to achieve that role in
the MLB. She followed that to her current role as President of Business
Operations for Comcast Spectacor, which includes the role of President of
Business Operations of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo
Center.
Under Amy’s
influence, there are more women, and men, whose careers are blossoming in the
sports business. Amy is a great coach to the many she
cultivates for senior sports positions. She may not receive the
similar public acclaim of star athletes or legendary college coaches. But
through our work with Amy and the NBA, we have seen her make a positive
difference to more than she knows.Amy and
I met at one of Jessica Gelman and Daryl Morey’s MIT Sloan Sports Data
Analytics Conferences. She was a graduate of Stanford University
where she had played varsity basketball. Some may credit Amy’s
incredible “vision,” “assist,” and subsequent “coaching” skills to her Final
Four playing days for Stanford’s legendary coach, Tara VanDerveer.
After
graduation, Amy worked in Product Management for Sun Microsystems;
then she got her MBA at Stanford Business School. Amy moved to
Bain & Company, a world-renowned management consulting
firm.
Without any
previous work experience in the sports business, in 2005 Amy joined
the NBA league office in Global Partnerships. After she had gotten
her feet wet, the NBA moved her into Team Marketing and Business Operations
(TMBO), their internal consulting group helping all NBA, WNBA and G-League
teams’ business operations. With Amy’s background in
consulting, marketing and analytics, she helped enhance the NBA teams’ revenues
through data analytics, making it the model for the other
leagues. TeamWork Online has been a recruiting partner to the NBA
since 2000 in part because of Amy.
In
2010 Amy recruited Valerie Camillo, another management consultant,
into TMBO. Val recognized the unique opportunity to work
with Amy and the NBA. Side by side, Amy and Val
crunched numbers and consulted with the teams. This laid the
foundation for Val’s meteoric rise.
In 2013, with the
movement of Amy’s boss, Chris Granger, to the Sacramento
Kings, Amy herself was rewarded. She became one of the top women
in the NBA League Office, rising to Executive Vice President and heading the
Team Marketing and Business Operations department. In 2015, Forbes
voted her one of the most powerful women in sports. Two years
later, Amy was promoted to be the NBA’s Chief Innovation Officer and
President of TMBO, the first to hold such a role.
With four years
under Amy’s coaching, Val moved back to DC in 2014 to become Chief Revenue
Officer of the Washington Nationals, one of few women to achieve that role in
the MLB. She followed that to her current role as President of Business
Operations for Comcast Spectacor, which includes the role of President of
Business Operations of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo
Center.
Under Amy’s influence, there are more women, and men, whose careers are blossoming in the sports business. Amy is a great coach to the many she cultivates for senior sports positions. She may not receive the similar public acclaim of star athletes or legendary college coaches. But through our work with Amy and the NBA, we have seen her make a positive difference to more than she knows.
Since the announcement earlier this year of a new women’s basketball program coming to the international athletic academy, SPIRE accepted numerous applications for the role of Director and Head Coach to lead the way. One application stood out from the rest; former Stanford Cardinal and WNBA champion, Candice Wiggins. The four-time All-American has joined SPIRE to help build and lead the women’s basketball academy in Geneva.
Wiggins is a well-recognized name in women’s basketball, boasting a decorated career on the court in both the college and professional ranks. A prominent scorer, Wiggins’ collegiate basketball experience at Stanford includes being ranked second in career points in school history and third in Pac-12 history. Alongside her impressive collegiate basketball career, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Stanford.
Wiggins went on to play in the WNBA for eight seasons, which included stints with the Tulsa Shock, New York Liberty, Los Angeles Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx. In 2008, she was named WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year and won a WNBA championship in 2011 with the Lynx.
She boasts international professional basketball experience as well, playing in Israel, Greece, Spain and Turkey. Wiggins has worked and coached in AAU and high school basketball since she retired from her professional basketball career.
What drew her to SPIRE was the opportunity to lead and create a new women’s basketball program that essentially revolutionizes an approach to both training and competition. Wiggins explains, “It is a position that allows me to serve a sport and a community that has given me so much on all levels, both domestically and internationally: high school, college and professionally.”
SPIRE’s Director of Basketball, Jeff Javorek, is looking forward to working with Wiggins. “Candice is a huge addition to the SPIRE family. She has a great vision and strategy to help launch and grow the SPIRE women’s basketball program. The success she has had in her high school, college and professional playing experience will help shape all of the young women that will come through our program.” Javorek adds, “We will be a top destination for young women who want to learn and develop from Candice. She is very passionate, intelligent and hard-working and is excited about giving back to the sport that has done so much for her.”
Wiggins sees big potential in SPIRE’s women’s basketball, saying, “I see the future of women’s basketball at SPIRE as a destination for women to become the most dynamic versions of themselves as student athletes, with the world class facilities and resources to enable injury prevention and mental health, in my opinion, the two biggest factors relating to player development. I see my program being home to a very healthy, competitive environment, with like-minded individuals who share a common passion for the beloved sport of basketball.”
The addition of Wiggins to the SPIRE coaching team is part of their commitment to placing more women in leadership roles within the academy. Along with recently hired Molly McColloch as Assistant Swim Coach and a soon-to-be-named Assistant Track & Field Coach, SPIRE continues to lead the way when it comes to having a diverse and inclusive leadership team.
Wiggins will host the first women’s basketball camp at SPIRE will be on Thursday, June 23rd, and is open to girls from ages 9 to 17. The clinic will cover the fundamental skills and competition drills that will highlight the teaching and instruction that will be available full-time for those who join the Academy. Click here for more information on the camp.
In 2017, during her freshman year at Stanford, the depression that had dogged Mikaela since childhood spiraled out of control, nearly costing her her life, basketball career, and all that she had worked so hard to achieve.
Today, Mikaela Brewer is a mental health advocate, using her writing abilities to bravely open a destigmatizing conversation about depression. Drawing directly from her personal experiences battling mental illness, she’s sharing stories of progress and hope aimed at helping those who might be struggling like she was in winter of 2017.
The act of writing has been a pivotal element of Mikaela’s recovery, allowing her to find her voice and confidence at a time when both were at low. All her growth has culminated in the publication of The Sifting Project, her debut ‘neuroscience fiction’ novel about two brothers, whose Second World War-era research into memory and the afterlife falls into the wrong hands.
We spoke with Mikaela on September 10th (World Suicide Prevention Day) to learn more about the many inspirations behind The Sifting Project, how writing helped her heal, and why she’s now planning a return to competitive basketball.
And then Joslyn Tinkle just keeps checking off more boxes. She played in three Final Fours during her Stanford career for Tara VanDerveer coached teams that went 137-10 before playing professionally in the WNBA, Hungary, Turkey and Australia.
“She played for one of the best coaches in the history of our game and has played in high-level games. It’s hard to beat that kind of experience,” said Holsinger.
And then there is the most obvious, the Montana connection. Tinkle grew up around the Lady Griz program and Grizzly athletics in general.
Her mom, Lisa (McLeod) Tinkle, has a spot in the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame, recognition for her distinguished Lady Griz career. Her dad, Wayne, coached the Montana men’s basketball team for eight seasons, taking the Grizzlies to three NCAA tournaments.
You may have seen him on national television a few months back, coaching his Oregon State team to within a few plays of the Final Four.
While the sport may have scattered the Tinkles over the years, Missoula has always been the common bond for the five of them, the place that feels like home even when it hasn’t been.
Now Joslyn Tinkle returns to a place that she makes sound like sacred ground.
“I came on the plane (on Wednesday), and I was like a kid in a candy store,” said Tinkle, the 2008 and 2009 Gatorade Montana player of the year at Big Sky High School. “It’s still a little surreal because this place means so much to me. It’s a special, special place, and that’s a feeling that’s never left me. This program has always meant an incredible amount to me and Missoula has always held a big place in my heart. To be able to come back, I couldn’t be more excited.”
She completes Holsinger’s staff that started with retaining Jordan Sullivan. Holsinger then added Nate Harris, now Tinkle, a trio of Montanans who love the state, who want to get the Lady Griz back to a place of prominence.
“There is already a cohesiveness with the three assistants, and that’s really important to me,” said Holsinger. “They know each other really well and will work well together.
“I’m excited to give Joslyn her first opportunity in coaching and a chance to learn and grow.”
It’s a hire that will surprise many, mostly because they didn’t know Tinkle had the interest. After her playing days were over, she settled into a sales and marketing job in Portland.
It was a career, but more than that it gave her proximity to watch her younger brother, Tres, finish out his own collegiate career at Oregon State. She’d missed a lot, of Elle’s days at Gonzaga, of Tres’s as a Beaver. She wanted to soak it all up before time stole it away.
“I wanted to make it a priority after missing out on my siblings’ seasons while I was playing abroad,” she said. “I wanted to be present for that.”
That love of family is what her dad has taken into his coaching career, of replicating that feeling within a team, of taking many and making them one. He’s done it so well and so successfully that Oregon State signed him to an extension in April that will keep him in Corvallis through the 2026-27 season.
That same thing is in his oldest daughter’s blood, and she always knew it.
“It’s something I’ve thought about, back to when I graduated. I love this sport and this game. There was this passion inside me, this fire, that this is what I want to do,” she says. “This is what I was meant to be doing.”
But she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play professionally. And she didn’t want a coaching career getting in the way of enjoying her siblings’ successes.
Finally, the timing was right, to get into coaching, to return to Montana.
“I interviewed a ton of people and kept coming back to her for a lot of different reasons,” said Holsinger, who coached at Oregon State himself the last five seasons. “She’s dynamic, and her interpersonal skills and ability to connect with people are elite.
“And she has a connection to this place and knows what this program is about. She made it clear that this is where she wanted to be.”
She’s been around the game her entire life. It’s why she was born in Sweden, during her dad’s 10-year playing career in Europe after he’d wrapped up his time as a Grizzly student-athlete.
She is a full-time coach for the first time and she admits there is going to be a big learning curve, but she’s been around the profession nearly as long as she’s been around the game, first in her own home growing up, then playing for VanDerveer, who led the Cardinal to the national championship in April.
“I was really, really lucky to play for Tara. She was extremely smart and always well prepared. That’s something I’ll take on,” said Tinkle. “I’ve talked to her about coaching every year since I graduated. She’s been a great source of knowledge and advice for me. I’m lucky to have her in my life.”
VanDerveer knows plenty about the Lady Griz program. She interviewed to be Montana’s head coach back in the spring of 1978, but ultimately the job went to a guy named Robin Selvig who did okay over the next 38 years.
VanDerveer took her third Stanford team, the one that would win her first national championship two years later, to Missoula for the NCAA tournament in March 1988. The Cardinal escaped with a 74-72 overtime win in front of a crowd of 8,709.
In March 1994, Montana and Stanford met up again, this time on the Cardinal’s home floor. Stanford won 66-62 in a second-round game on its way to the Elite Eight.
“I’m really excited for Joslyn,” said VerDerveer this week. “She will be an outstanding addition to the Montana women’s basketball staff and to the Missoula community.
“The Lady Griz have a tradition of excellence, and Joslyn has been part of championship teams and a championship culture, so this is a great fit.”
The toughest sell may have been her dad. Wayne Tinkle has made a successful career out of coaching, but he also knows the challenges and the hidden tolls the profession requires be paid in full before it will give up its rewards.
“As a dad, you don’t want to deter your kids from their dreams, but I wanted her to understand that a lot more goes into this than people think,” he said. “But then I reminded myself that she’s well-traveled, very experienced, so she knows all this. Then it turned to encouragement. The thing that sold me was when she said she wanted to make a difference in these young women’s lives. When she said that, it made total sense. She’s going to be awesome.
“I’m very excited for her and excited for my alma mater and the Lady Griz program. We’re excited for Brian and his entire staff. It’s a pretty neat deal for our family.”
When Holsinger was hired in April, he quickly locked up Sullivan as the first member of his staff. He added Harris soon thereafter.
He said the third hire would take a while. He wanted to make sure it was just the right fit, with the staff, with the Lady Griz program, with Missoula, with Montana.
It was worth the wait.
“I couldn’t be happier to be back home and joining what they have here. Brian is the perfect fit for Montana, and I was excited about the staff he already had in place,” Tinkle said. “This is what I want to do. This is what I was meant to be doing.
“Basketball has taken me to a lot of incredible places and given me some incredible opportunities. I want to share all that with these young women and make this the most incredible experience for them.”
The main thing that we have had to focus on is the fundraising strategy for our portfolio companies. We’ve had to bootstrap more because there was a lot of uncertainty and unexpected delays, and we felt that in our early conversations with angel investors as well.
This year, two portfolio companies will be launching new products—Agitated Solutions will be launching its first technology, and Visura Technologies will be launching its 2nd generation product. I am also looking forward to continued expansion of our team.
The beauty of running a startup is that you have a lot of flexibility in how you do things. I try to build as much structure as possible, but you always have to be flexible—and I really like that.
I am also incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing support system at home. My fiancé, Matt, understands and embraces the craziness that comes from me running a startup and is really flexible and willing to pick up the slack when I have to flex my time.
I think one misconception I had was the source of stress. I always thought that stress mainly came from negative situations, where now I am seeing positive stress more often — stress from fast growth and from working on revolutionary technologies. The stress comes from when you want to get everything done in the fastest and best route possible so that you can provide these solutions to patients and providers as quickly possible. It is an incredible feeling.
The best advice that I received is to strive to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. You don’t want “yes-men or women,” but rather people that push you and that you can learn from, and that is the exact philosophy I employ when building out my team. I never want to be the smartest person in the room. The worst advice I ever received was that experience is the main decider of advancement — you need to just put your head down and work more and eventually you will advance. If I had taken that advice, I would not have seen the gap that existed in the market for a firm like HCI, and I would not have taken the leap to build it.
A personal goal of mine this year is to finally get married! COVID-19 forced us to reschedule our wedding, as we would have been unable to celebrate with family and friends.
I have played basketball my whole life, and now that I’m older I greatly enjoy coaching basketball. Currently I volunteer with the Minnehaha Academy varsity girls basketball team and am coaching a 6th grade girls AAU team. I also enjoy taking boxing classes with my fiancé, and spending time with our two dogs, Todd and Kylo.
Medical Alley has an incredible community of people that believe that “together, all boats rise.” They recognize that this industry is tough enough, so they provide the selfless support and connections. It is a great community to be a part of — one that embodies this philosophy.
Few WNBA athletes can make seven figures, but they typically play year-round and supplement their WNBA salary with overseas salary.
Chinenye "Chiney" Ogwumike, a Nigerian-American professional women's basketball player, came into the WNBA to become an All-Star, which she has accomplished twice. In between, she had two serious injuries in her first two seasons overseas and had to change her game plan.
That was a blessing in disguise for the current forward for the Los Angeles Sparks. Overcoming adversity on the court was accomplished in parallel with pursuing and creating unique opportunities with her business that has expanded far beyond playing the game.
Fast forward almost seven years from her being the top pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, and Chiney has built a diversified business across broadcast, WNBA, endorsements, speaking engagements and social advocacy. Her career is quickly turning into an empire, strategically built to empower those that come after her.
"Once I was in the door, I loved it," she shared. "It was the closest thing to playing a game. Millions of people are watching. You have to be prepared, and most importantly, you have to be yourself."
While many know that Ogwumike is a professionally trained basketball player, few are aware that she is also Stanford educated graduate mentored by Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This prepared her to be an NBA analyst for ESPN and CBA negotiations as a vice-president in the WNBPA.
She is also expanding her scope by talking about all sports (not just basketball) on various platforms. When she made the tough decision to opt-out of the 2020 WNBA season, she used her ingenuity to put together a plan of action regarding the future of her career.
"I approached a contact at ESPN Films," Ogwumike said. "And after some discussion, I'm proud to be the executive producer of an upcoming ESPN Films documentary on the 2020 WNBA season."
The documentary will explore social justice and cover how some in the WNBA took a stand against Atlanta Dream co-owner and Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was critical of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Loeffler owns 49% of the team. Her stance on BLM and her support of Donald Trump prompted players to campaign against their owner openly. Loeffler went on to lose to Rev. Raphael Warnock.
Proving you can have transversal skills, Ogwumike shared that certain lessons from playing basketball can be applied to business. "Shoot your shot and keep shooting! Be prepared and take calculated risks," she stated. "This is especially true the first time I was officially was co-hosting His & Hers and First Take. I literally shot my shot without any real experience. I controlled what I could control and prepped as much as possible. And it went awesome!"
Paving A New Path and Paying it Forward
In 2020, a record 37 women were leading Fortune 500 firms, increasing from last year's record high of 33. Of these women, just three are women of color, and none are Black or Latina. Of C-suite leaders today, 21% are women, and only 1% are Black women.
Considering this data, I asked what it was like to break new ground with ESPN and change perceptions of women of color in leadership roles. "I was grateful to be given a mic, knowing how much representation matters to young girls, especially Black girls, who dream of doing the same,” Ogwumike answered. “I frequently say, 'You cannot see what you cannot be;' as I continue to attain success and stand in positions that a black woman has not often filled, I know I'm changing the perception for future generations. But at the same time, it was a huge reminder of how much work we still have to do."
Adding to the problem is, according to U.S. government data, that the country lost 140,000 jobs last month. Per an analysis by the National Women's Law Center, all of them belonged to women. I asked what advice Ogwumike would have for women looking to change their careers, similar to how she changed hers.
"We have to create our opportunities for each other because we cannot expect that others will," Ogwumike said. "We have to be our own heroes. We also have to think about hiring differently and be more inclusive. My own team includes diversity from my Black woman business manager, Black woman brand strategist, first-generation Mexican-American assistant, Nigerian American makeup artist, and black hairstylist."
Ogwumike also makes sure she finds ways to give back. "In every endorsement contract I sign, I make sure a social advocacy or other give-back components,” she said. “It’s also not just about giving money, but more so about showing up and doing work on the ground.”
In 2014, she launched a fundraising competition open to participation by girls' middle and high school basketball teams across the country. The competition raised money for UNICEF programs focusing on girls' education and empowerment, such as the Girls' Education Project, which aims to give 1 million girls in Nigeria access to quality learning, provide scholarships for female teachers and establish safe spaces for girls. And in 2020, she took a trip with her dad, Peter Ogwumike, to Lagos, Nigeria, to help give athletic apparel and basketballs to local schools, working with Adidas and other partners to help facilitate the donated goods.
"My goal is to open up doors for others that look like me to pursue in the future," Ogwumike added. "And create direct opportunities for those who look like me."
As we concluded our conversation, Ogwumike shared some final insight. "I have had to play the long game," she said. "Knowing that we have different challenges in showing our value in a male-dominated industry, I chose 'opportunity' over 'compensation' to get in the door. Crush the job and build more significant relationships and authentic brand partnerships. And now, with more teammates than ever before, I am excited for the future and our collective mission to empower each other now—no more waiting!"
