PBA prepares for future

MANILA, Philippines - PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio said yesterday that as the pro league is on its 40th season, the time has come for a reorganization to prepare for the future and the Board of Governors unanimously chose current Commissioner Chito Salud as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the new corporate-type structure.

“The entire Board was involved in making this bold move,” said Gregorio. “We realized with Commissioner Chito’s resignation, it was time to rethink our organizational structure. We had valuable inputs from everyone, especially Ginia Domingo of Kia, Dioceldo Sy of Blackwater, Atty. Mamerto Mondragon of Rain Or Shine and Rene Pardo of Purefoods. We reviewed roles and functions. Instead of looking for Commissioner Chito’s replacement, we studied how to make the league stronger with a more efficient organization as a first step.”

Gregorio said the NBA’s table of organization was a point of reference. “We looked at the NBA’s organization,” he added. “Commissioner Adam Silver is actually the President and Chief Executive Officer. The Board felt it was time to appoint our own CEO in charge of strategic growth and setting the direction for the future. He would be the policy-maker under whom will report department heads or managers with different functions like finance, league management, marketing and administration.”

In the NBA, the first head Maurice Podoloff was known as President from 1946 to 1963 and his successor Walter Kennedy was President from 1963 to 1967 then his title was changed to Commissioner from 1967 to 1975. Larry O’Brien continued as Commissioner from 1975 to 1984 and David Stern from 1984-2014. Silver became the Commissioner last February. The league employs 9 Presidents, 7 Executive Vice Presidents and 43 Senior Vice Presidents in a world-wide organization that includes 13 overseas offices. Mark Tatum is the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer. The Presidents under the Commissioner and CEO are involved in global operations and merchandising, social responsibility and player programs, administration, global media distribution, league operations, production content, WNBA, basketball operations and NBA D-League. Rod Thorn is President of basketball operations and Kiki Vandeweghe is Senior Vice President of basketball operations. Both Thorn and Vandeweghe are NBA veterans.

Gregorio said the Board offered Salud the position of CEO during its meeting last Feb. 26 and Salud accepted it at the next meeting in Boracay last March 7. “It was not a reconsideration on Commissioner Chito’s part, it was a brand-new decision over a brand-new position,” explained Gregorio. “He embraced the new exciting role of a CEO. The Board is happy that he accepted and Commissioner Chito will remain with the league to direct its growth.  When the job was offered to Commissioner Chito, he asked for time to study it, to consult his family. He never expected it. The Board cleared the new direction with our team owners, namely, Mr. Ramon Ang, Mr. Manny Pangilinan, Mr. Mikee Romero, Mr. George Chua, Mr. Terry Que, Mr. Raymond Yu, Mr. Fred Uytengsu, Mr. Dioceldo Sy and Mr. Jose Alvarez. It was a unanimous vote for one vision. We felt it was the right time for change. We didn’t dilly-dally. We acted quickly.”

Gregorio said under the new organization, there will be a league commissioner to be on top of game-related matters, including officiating, scheduling, sanctions and player transactions. The league commissioner will report to the CEO along with the heads of finance, marketing and administration. The head of communications will concurrently be the special assistant of the CEO.

Gregorio noted that the position of CEO was initially broached by former PBA governor Lito Alvarez when Sonny Barrios was the interim Commissioner. “The Board considered it then but there was no implementation,” he said. “Maybe, the time was not right. When Commissioner Chito tendered his resignation, the Board realized the next step shouldn’t just be to find a successor. Commissioner Chito was burned out and we knew every Commissioner after him wouldn’t be able to stay under the same circumstances. It’s too stressful, time-consuming and pressure-packed. Upon his resignation, Commissioner Chito had nothing in mind for his future, he only wanted to make the last two conferences of the season the best ever. We felt the league needed a new direction, a new organization and no better man could lead it to the new era than Commissioner Chito as CEO.”

The Board nominated operations director Rickie Santos and media bureau chief and assistant to the Commissioner Willie Marcial as early candidates for league commissioner but Marcial has declined to remain Salud’s assistant and head of communications. Global Executive Solutions, a head-hunting specialist headed by Rey Canilao, has been tapped by the Board to nominate five candidates for the job. The Board will trim the candidates to three before conducting individual interviews.

“There are no applicants, only nominees,” said Gregorio. “Obviously, there is now a change in the profile of the league commissioner from how it was before with Commissioner Chito.”