Organization: New York Liberty
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Industry: Culture, media, entertainment and sports
Hometown:Â Meriden, Connecticut
Notable in 2023: Lifted WNBA attendance, viewership, setting a league record for single-game ticket sales.
The popularity of the WNBA is reaching new heights after arguably the most successful season of the league yet in 2023. Right at the center of that was the New York Liberty, with a star-studded lineup bringing the team back to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2002 and an off-court business led by CEO Keia Clarke that was equally acclaimed.
Perhaps the highlight of the season for Clarke and the Liberty was the third game of the WNBA Finals, where the team set a new WNBA record with 17,143 fans in attendance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Across the 2023 season, the Liberty saw attendance increase by 45% year-over-year while its sponsorship portfolio nearly doubled.
While much of that can be traced to the stars on the team like Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, Clarke's work off the court to set the Liberty up for success has been critical. Now in her 14th season with the team and fifth as CEO, Clarke leads all business aspects of the organization and plays a key role in growing the fan base.
[My grandmother] would always say to me, 'use your brain and not your hands to earn a living.' And that's literally in the back of my mind every single day. Whenever I leave a meeting and know I crushed it, when I negotiate a major or first-of-its-kind deal, or accept an award like the CNBC Changemakers, I say to myself 'Gram, I'm doing it, just like you told me to.'Keia ClarkeChief Executive Officer, New York Liberty
Clarke has also been passionate about expanding the Liberty's reach into the intersection of sports and social justice, an area where the WNBA and its players have been leaders. Serving as a conduit for the players and the organization to help them use their voices to speak out about important causes, Clarke also fostered a partnership with Nike to release one of the first-ever social justice-inspired jerseys for on-court play, the Liberty's "Equality" jerseys.
"Brooklyn is very well suited for this brand," Clarke told the Sports Business Journal. "Brooklyn feels like home. This is the gathering place of people who care about things that matter. And if I could describe the people who support the WNBA or the Liberty, they are people who care about things that matter. They care about equality. They care about diversity. They care about inclusion. They care about human beings."
Changemakers is an annual list spotlighting women whose accomplishments have left an indelible mark on the business world. Click here to view the full list and continuing coverage.
