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Christin Hedgpeth promoted to WNBA Chief Operating Officer

By Carly Grenfell

Christin Hedgpeth. (photo courtesy of WNBA)
Christin Hedgpeth. (photo courtesy of WNBA) /
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An executive vacuum, partially addressed.

Between Maya Moore deciding to sit out the 2019 season and another promotion in the front office, it’s been a busy news cycle for the WNBA.

In March of last year, the WNBA’s Chief Operating Officer, Jay Parry, stepped down from her duties. The following October, Christin Hedgpeth filled in as interim COO to oversee WNBA strategy, business development and marketing. Now, Hedgpeth can remove interim from her title as she was recently promoted to COO, the WNBA announced.

With quite a bit of turnover in the WNBA front office over the last year, including the departure of its leader and president Lisa Borders, keeping the COO hire in-house was a no-brainer. Hedgpeth’s recent successes as the Vice President, Team Marketing and Business Operations (TMBO) for the NBA also helped her earn the permanent title.

As TMBO, she worked with WNBA and NBA teams, providing WNBA teams with support in ticket sales, sponsorship and marketing, and consulting NBA teams on their youth basketball and branding initiatives. Under Hedgpeth’s leadership, WNBA team sponsorships grew close to 30 percent.

She’s held various other leadership positions before joining the league five years ago. Working in similar marketing and branding roles, Hedgpeth has also worked for Under Armour, Spalding and Russell Athletic. For a league that continues to seek appropriate avenues of growth and support in the marketing space, these connections, and what she was exposed to on the NBA side, are very positive.

WNBA Interim President Mark Tatum sees Hedgpeth as the right leader and with the right experiences “to build more corporate partnerships, expand our fan base and grow the WNBA business.” And for Hedgpeth herself, it’s an opportunity “to continue to evolve the WNBA brand together with our players, teams, and corporate partners.”

With a few more months to settle in before the 2019 WNBA season tips off, Hedgpeth’s work in growing the league’s fanbase and corporate partners will be put to the test. It’s no small task, but one that many fans remain hopeful will happen with time.

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