After 36 years with AT&T, Marshall — the NBA’s first Black female CEO — was tasked with turning around a toxic front office culture exposed in the #MeToo movement.
DALLAS — On Friday, the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars held a joint event previewing the new concessions they’ll be serving at the American Airlines Center for the 2024-2025 season.
In attendance was Cynt Marshall, the Mavs CEO since February 2018, who announced her retirement earlier this week. With a few days’ worth of perspective on her side, Marshall broke her silence at the event as to why she came to this decision now.
“It’s time,” Marshall said in a one-on-one with WFAA. “I’ve had this vision for a long time. Y’know, I’m turning 65 on December 15, and I said, from 65 to 75, I want to run hard for 10 years, focused on kids and focused on saving kids. All four of my children are adopted out of foster care, and that’s truly where I want to spend my time. We have kids in college around the country. I want to go and visit them, so I need to free up more time for that. Then I just think it’s time because we’re into what I call ‘Phase Three’ at the Mavs. We have built a great business plan, and we are in great shape. We have wonderful people, and now it’s time for a new level of leadership. So it’s just time.”
After a 36-year career with AT&T, Marshall stepped in during challenging times for the Mavs. The first Black female CEO in NBA history, Marshall was hired to help turn around a toxic front office culture that was exposed during the #MeToo movement.
Now that she’s stepping down, will her role even still exist?
“We don’t know yet,” Marshall said Friday. “My boss [new Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont] is working through that. The first thing we wanted to do is make my announcement on Tuesday. My boss was sad about it. He kept telling me no all of last season. I said, ‘No, this is time.'”
Marshall said the organization has plenty of time to figure out what to do in her absence.
“You announce it first, then you start thinking about what does the organization need?” she said. “So, that’s what we’re working through right now. I’ll be around, at least on the payroll, until the end of the year. Then I’ll be consulting all of next year. Part of that is to make sure we have a very smooth transition.”
Before Friday’s formal event kicked off, there was rousing applause as Marshall was introduced. It’s clear Marshall is well-regarded in this community.
But what does she hope the legacy is that she’ll leave behind with the Mavericks?
“That I left it better than I found it,” she said. “That I was able to bring together a wonderful group of people — because no man or woman is an island; we need each other. That I was able to do what I always call the three levels of leadership — listen to people, learn from people and love the people. So, I hope my legacy is that I was truly able to love people in the building — and outside of the building — and I left it better.”