The Architect
Structured and legacy-driven; builds the systems and institutions that last.
Cathy Engelbert did not simply manage the WNBA, she redesigned it, which is why she reads as The Architect. Since taking the commissioner role in 2019, she has constructed a new collective bargaining agreement, rebuilt the league's marketing infrastructure, and secured landmark media rights deals that gave the WNBA institutional durability it had never previously enjoyed.
“Yeah, I don't think one of the things when I came in, I assessed kind of the strategy and the quality of the game and the importance of the brand. And the one thing that when I looked at the game, there's not much to tweak about the game.”
“It's a hard game. I took it up when I became the CEO of Deloitte. So I was 50 when I took it up. And it was because I would be in CEO's offices and they would be talking golf or they'd have golf decorations in their office. I'd ask them about it. Do you play?”
“We've got players from Germany, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Africa. Yeah, so we're starting to globalize our ranks, but they're not quite where the NBA has been, again, the NBA being 50 plus years older than us, but it's starting to increase.”
“Well, actually, it all dates back to sophomore year when I was a computer science major, and I had to take a programming course in Fortran, and I said, I have no idea what that professor's talking about. Someone said, there's this thing called the business school, Kathy. You should transfer to it. And there's something called accounting.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Cathy Engelbert”
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