NBA Hires Silicon Valley Veteran Kate Jhaveri as Marketing Chief

(Bloomberg) -- The National Basketball Association burnished its tech-friendly reputation with the hiring of Kate Jhaveri as chief marketing officer, entrusting the league’s image to an executive with extensive digital experience.

Jhaveri, who starts Aug. 15, heads marketing at Amazon.com Inc.’s video-game-viewing platform Twitch and has worked at Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

The executive will lead global marketing for the NBA, as well as its development and esports leagues. Jhaveri will also oversee the consumer insights and analytics departments, charged with enhancing the league’s consumer data strategy. She’ll report to Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum and replaces Pam El, who retired at the end of last year.

“The NBA has an incredibly passionate fan base, and I look forward to utilizing their perspectives to best drive our strategic direction,” Jhaveri said in a statement.

The NBA’s development league, sponsored by PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade and called the G League, streams its games on Twitch. Like other sports leagues, the NBA is using streaming platforms to reach younger audiences around the world.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III, Rob Golum

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.