Lisa Borders’ love of women’s basketball and the WNBA can be traced several years back to a luncheon in New York that featured former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
During her speech, Albright said something that stuck with Borders, something Albright recently repeated while stumping for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: “There’s a special place in hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.”
Borders, who fell in love with the game of basketball as a student at Duke, called some friends after that luncheon and said they were going to figure out a way to bring a women’s professional basketball team to Atlanta.
Which she did. Borders helped establish the Dream in 2008, has attended most of its home games ever since and now will have a chance to do a lot more. On Thursday, she was named president of the WNBA.
“Now, I get to cheer for all 12 teams,” she said. “I’m thrilled to have that opportunity.”
Borders brings more than 25 years of experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors to the job. She was most recently chair of the Coca-Cola Foundation and vice present of global affairs for the Coca-Cola Company. She previously served as president of the Atlanta City Council and president of the Grady Health Foundation.
At the WNBA, Borders will replace Laurel Richie, who resigned in November after four years as president. She will begin her duties on March 21.
“As a proven executive with a passion for the WNBA and the game of basketball, Lisa is the right leader at a pivotal time in the league’s history,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “She will be responsible for spearheading our efforts to strengthen the WNBA and accelerate its growth.”
Borders said she will not enter the job with a file of plans. As a long-time fan, she has ideas, but she first wants to meet with the different groups of stakeholders to discern trends among different data points she has gathered.
The WNBA, which begins its 20th season on May 14, faces challenges.
Richie said in October that 10 of the league's 12 teams secured "marquee" partnerships and that as many as five teams had reached profitability.
However, the league's average attendance of 7,318 last season was the lowest in WNBA history.
Borders recognizes those challenges but points out the league is just 20 years old, whereas the NBA is 70. She wants the league’s attendance to improve, merchandise sales to grow, online metrics to increase and to add corporate partnerships. But time is needed.
“We’ve done a lot of things right,” she said.”Now, it’s my turn to run with the baton and move to the next level. It’s a matter of time. Give us the time to get the work done.”
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