The National Basketball Assn. has poached Kate Jhaveri — most recently chief marketing officer at Amazon’s Twitch who also has worked at Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft– as its new CMO.
Jhaveri starts at the NBA on Aug. 15, reporting to NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum. She replaces Pam El, who retired at the league’s chief marketing officer at the end of 2018.
“Kate is an industry leader who has an excellent record in creating successful marketing strategies for some of the most renowned companies in the world,” Tatum said in announcing her hire. “We are looking forward to adding Kate to our team and having her lead our marketing efforts to further reach and engage our global fanbase.”
At the NBA’s CMO, Jhaveri will be responsible for leading the global marketing operations for the NBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League, including the development of marketing campaigns and brand messaging across all platforms to connect with fans. Additionally, she will oversee the consumer insights and analytics departments to enhance the NBA’s consumer data strategy and implement new marketing programs.
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“The NBA has an incredibly passionate fan base, and I look forward to utilizing their perspectives to best drive our strategic direction,” Jhaveri said in a statement.
Prior to joining Twitch in 2017, Jhaveri led global consumer marketing at Twitter, where she was responsible for brand, growth and consumer marketing programs, channels and experiences.
Before that, Jhaveri worked at Facebook for three years and led consumer brand strategy and management as well as mobile product marketing. Before that she spent seven years at Microsoft, heading up consumer marketing and communications teams for products including Windows and Office. Jhaveri also led marketing teams at Dell, after she began her career as a management consultant with AT Kearney.
Jhaveri holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross. She currently serves as secretary of the national board for Planned Parenthood Action Fund. The Baltimore native — who will be relocating from the San Francisco Bay Area to New York City to be based at NBA’s headquarters — is married and has two children.