Game On

Kathy Behrens ’85

leads pro basketball’s drive for social change

While Kathy Behrens ’85 was a multi-sport athlete at the University of Hartford, she never thought her time in sports would go beyond college. But she was wrong. Today, instead of swinging a tennis racket and hitting free throws, she’s helping current and former basketball players make a difference in communities around the world. In almost 20 years with the National Basketball Association (NBA), Behrens has had the chance to travel the globe, see countless games up close, and interact with the game’s greatest stars.

The job is a dream come true for a girl who grew up playing basketball in the Bronx. Some of Behrens’ earliest memories are playing sports with her large extended family, who lived in the same neighborhood. The sport Behrens liked best was basketball, so she played as often as she could. And a few times a year, her dad would take her to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Knicks—she loved everything about the atmosphere and experience of being at an NBA game.

When the time came to look at schools, Behrens knew she wanted to play college sports. Her guidance counselor thought the University of Hartford might be a good fit, and sure enough, during a tour, Behrens fell in love with the campus. She played basketball for two years and tennis for three, before getting involved with student government her junior year. She ran for president as a senior—and as someone who was shy and introverted, it was a move outside her comfort zone.

“Athletics had always been a foundation for me,” Behrens explains, “but the chance to get involved in other things and have different experiences, as well as build relationships with people outside of sports, was a huge benefit. Those opportunities helped me grow, and I felt like I left Hartford better prepared for my career because I pushed myself.”

Behrens wasn’t even thinking of a career in sports when she left Hartford— she wanted to work in politics. At graduation, she had the opportunity to talk with former Congresswoman Barbara Kennelly, the University’s Commencement speaker in 1985. Kennelly told Behrens if she wanted to enter politics, she should learn how to raise money. Behrens took the advice— her first job out of college was a fundraiser position with the United Way. She would go on to serve in the administration of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and was the executive director of the Friends of Cuomo Campaign Committee during the 1994 governor’s race. In 1995, Behrens became the executive director of New York Cares, a nonprofit that mobilizes volunteers to help New York City’s neediest residents.

When the NBA All-Star Game came to New York in 1998, New York Cares partnered with the league, giving Behrens the chance to see the potential of a job with the NBA—an opportunity to combine community building and social impact with her love of basketball. So when the organization recruited her, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. Behrens began her career with the NBA in September 2000 as vice president of community relations, overseeing all of the league’s public service initiatives, community outreach, and employee volunteer programs.

“Now I’ve been with them for almost 20 years, and they can’t get rid of me,” she jokes.

In 2009, Behrens was named the executive vice president of social responsibility and player programs for the NBA, before becoming that department’s president in 2015. Her promotion places her among the highest-ranking female executives in sports. But according to Behrens, women in the NBA is nothing new. By the time she had joined the league in 2000, the WNBA had already been launched. There were women in the league office and women who held senior positions with the organization’s teams. In her role, Behrens oversees all off-the court player activities. This includes the league’s global philanthropy program, NBA Cares, which builds on the NBA’s mission of addressing important social issues in the United States and around the world. Through partnerships with organizations like the Special Olympics, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, NBA Cares has provided more than 5 million hours of hands-on service; created more than 1,300 places where kids and their families can live, learn, or play; and engaged more than 51 million youth in basketball programs in communities all over the world.

Behrens also oversees player marketing and player development programs that help athletes with the transition to the NBA (such as moving to a new city or facing increased demands on their time with practice and playing schedules) and any transitions that players may go through while they’re in the league (getting traded or handling an injury). The program also prepares them for life after their playing days are over.

“Professional sports careers are unique,” Behrens says. “They don’t last as long as other careers, and players, like professional athletes in any sport, end up making more money in the early part of their lives. These players have sudden wealth

and are under a bright spotlight, so we think it’s important to give them all the tools they need to prepare for successful careers representing themselves in the NBA, and then to transition successfully to life off the court.”

Creating career opportunities for women is something the NBA has always done, even before people started paying attention to it. But lately, I have loved to see more opportunities for women on the basketball side, as well as on the business side. We currently have 10 former WNBA players who are in assistant coaching positions in the NBA. We’re breaking lots of glass ceilings here.

—KATHY BEHRENS

Behrens spends much of her time in meetings with colleagues, teams, and players, and dealing with hundreds of emails. Since games are played at night, some of that emailing goes on until the West Coast games end. In addition to a few business trips a month for games or meetings in team markets, Behrens usually travels internationally a few times a year; since October, she’s traveled to India, China, and Paris on NBA business.

While traveling the world in the name of basketball is a dream gig, the job has its challenges, just like any other. Behrens says people like to focus on the negative when it comes to professional athletes, when the truth is the majority of NBA players are generous and engaged in the community. And sometimes, she has to say “no” to an organization to prioritize where the league can have the most impact. But the rewards more than make up for the challenges.

“Every day, our teams and players and my colleagues are making a difference,” Behrens says. “I’ve traveled the world with the NBA, and I’ve seen the effect that our players can have in all these different communities. I’m always amazed at the power of the platform we have and the good we can do with it.”

Behrens lives in Irvington, N.Y., where she says her life revolves around the sporting events of her 12-year-old twins. (Her daughter is a gymnast and plays lacrosse, and her son plays basketball.) She was inducted into the University of Hartford’s Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. Behrens currently serves as vice chair on UHart’s Board of Regents as part of its first-ever all-alumni executive board, and is on the board of directors of New York Cares. She is also a trustee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. But no matter the extracurricular activity, basketball seems to be at the heart of it.

“I think that the lessons I’ve learned from succeeding and failing in basketball have stayed with me,” Behrens says. “The values you learn from the game—teamwork, hard work, communication—can always be applied off the court.”

Behrens with Stephen (left) and Dell Curry (right) at an NBA Cares event at NBA All-Star 2016 in Toronto.

Photo credit: NBA Photos

UPPING ITS GAME DURING A TIME OF NEED

The NBA clearly has shown its adeptness in mobilizing during challenging times.

The league’s response to COVID-19 was swift and powerful. Almost immediately after the pandemic turned off the lights in arenas from coast to coast, the NBA was developing ways to help individuals and communities.

Through its NBA Cares program, the league introduced a wide range of programs and initiatives that encompassed mental health support, helping kids stay active and healthy, and even included players and teams donating money to assist arena workers who abruptly found themselves without jobs when the coronavirus took hold.

The league’s NBA Together campaign reached out globally with public service announcements from players on health and social distancing as well as an effort aimed to inspire one million acts of kindness big and small.

When the call for racial justice and equality sounded later in the spring, the league was able to leverage its NBA Voices initiative. It aims to address social injustice, promote inclusion, amplify voices, and bridge divides in communities. It represents another step in the league’s ongoing work to bring people together and use the game of basketball to demonstrate the importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

A weekly NBA Together Virtual Roundtable has brought together players, league officials, and community leaders for in-depth discussions on topics including systematic racism, the root causes of health inequality, and keeping the focus on issues of race and SUMMER 2020 justice. The full series can be viewed in the video section at nba.com.