Inspirational Women
Lonnie Murray
CEO OF SPORTS MANAGEMENT PARTNERS By Judith A. Habert
Photos by Dawn Nicoli/Nicoli Productions
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HEN YOU MEET Lonnie Murray, CEO of Sports Management Partners, you know right off the bat that she is a dynamic woman who is beautiful, loving, protective, and tough when necessary. Perhaps an unusual combination for the CEO of a company, but the perfect mix for one of the few Female Sports Agents in the industry. Although this is a
job predominantly held by males, make no mistake Lonnie Murray has made a mark in this industry managing to approach it in her own unique and impressive way. When you consider the game of baseball it is clear that it is not one that is open to women in most aspects of the field. Consider the fact that there has never been a female MLB player in its 149-year history. We came close in 2015 when a 16-year-old girl from France, Melissa Mayeux, a shortstop on the French U-18 junior national team became the first known female baseball player to be added to the MLB’s international registration list. This meant that she would be eligible to be signed by a Major League club. Sadly, this never happened. So how did Lonnie break that ceiling and find her way into the Sports Agent business? Born in Camden New Jersey and raised in Washington state, Lonnie had no initial desire to be a part of the baseball industry. At the age of 17 she married her high school sweetheart, and due to the request of the U.S. Navy, she and her new husband were relocated to San Diego. The marriage was short-lived, but they both realized they were too young to make a major life decision like marriage. “He went to work one day, and I packed my jeep up and drove to the Bay Area where my girlfriend
lived because I was just done. We were both young, and we realized it just wasn’t forever.” Lonnie obtained a position working for a nonprofit and spent 15 years in this arena, “I loved working for nonprofits, I think it bleeds over to what I am doing now because I’m still helping families and kids. It is important to me that I am honest about what I’m doing, and that everything I do, is for the right reason.” With convictions such as these, it is easy to see why Lonnie would be a success in whatever industry she tackled. While working in the nonprofit industry, she would come to meet her current husband, former Major League player and past General Manager of the Arizona Diamond Backs, Dave Stewart. “I was working for a nonprofit ‘Team Up for Youth,’ and Dave was a member of the board of directors. I had been introduced when he came into the office for a board meeting, but it was just that, a business introduction.” It would be some time before they had their next encounter and this one almost lost Lonnie her job. “I was given the task of emailing all of the board members to get a consensus on a project we were putting together. All of the members responded swiftly, except for Dave, he had been out of the country and didn’t get back to me for several weeks.” When he did call, he told Lonnie that he could not open the files she had sent, so she resent the email, and he still had a problem. “I have to admit that this irritated me and I responded in a way I probably shouldn’t have.” Since Dave was an admired baseball Icon, particularly in the Oakland area, after a stellar career with
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