Executive Transactions - January 22, 2025

The PWHL Players Association named former OneTeam Partners interim CEO  MALAIKA UNDERWOOD  Exec Dir beginning March 3. She will replace veteran hockey exec  BRIAN BURKE , who signed a two-year contract to serve as the union's founding leader in 2023 ahead of the league’s launch. Underwood, a  2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree  and former USA Baseball women's national team player led OneTeam Partners through a transition from 2022-2023 following the departure of founding CEO AHMAD NASSAR . Underwood will continue to be based at home in Jacksonville, Fla., and travel regularly to the league’s six markets ( Alex Silverman, SBJ ).

Univ. of Cincinnati is set to hire Bengals Director of Corporate Partnerships  RYAN HOLMES  as the president of Cincy Sports Partners. Holmes has spent the past 15 seasons with the Bengals ( Ben Portnoy, SBJ ).

The Orioles named  MARK FINE  CMO and KAMAAL JONES Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel. Fine will lead marketing, communications and creative content departments, while Jones will head in-house legal and compliance operations. Finn served as the CMO for Professional Bull Riders since August 2023, overseeing all aspects of the organization's marketing. Jones previously worked at Monumental Sports & Entertainment as SVP and Associate General Counsel. Nolan Partners led the search (Orioles). Marquette Univ. has "promoted" Deputy AD  MIKE BROEKER  to take over as AD from  the retiring BILL SCHOLL . Marquette President  KIMO AH YUN  said that Broeker "would take over immediately" as VP & AD. Scholl, who had been Marquette’s AD for the last decade, had announced in May he would retire as soon as the school decided on his successor. Broeker has been at Marquette for the past 21 years and was in his 18th year as Deputy AD. His roles included "managing day-to-day operations with a directed focus on external operations and revenue generation." Before coming to Marquette, Broeker worked with communications groups for the NBA and WTA ( AP, 1/21 ).

Haas named  LAURA MULLER  as the race engineer for  ESTEBAN OCON , making her " F1's first female race engineer ." Muller joined Haas in 2022 and was previously working in the team's simulator before moving to the role of performance engineer. Muller's hiring came "alongside" the appointments of  RONAN O'HARE  as  OLIVER BEARMAN 's race engineer and the return of  MARK LOWE  as sporting dir ( MOTORSPORT, 1/21 ).

USL Super League club D.C. Power FC named STEVEN BIRNBAUM Sporting Dir. He will “oversee the roster and technical staff.” Those responsibilities were previously held by co-owner & President JORDAN STUART ( WASHINGTON POST, 1/21 ).

Hornets VP/Player Health & Performance TRENT SALO announced on social media that he will transition “to a consulting position and return to Michigan due to a family matter.” The Hornets’ health and performance department “will remain the same and no one is moving into Salo’s former position” ( CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/21 ).

USL Sporting JAX named SARA GARCIA-MALONE Senior Manager/Business Operations & Development, HENRY OLIVAS Ticket Operations Manager & CRM Analyst, and AJ KLIMEK Account Executive ( Sporting JAX ).

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