OAKLAND, Calif. – Rick Welts has found the ideal fit: a new gig in the Bay Area with the Golden State Warriors.
Welts was hired as Golden State’s president and chief operating officer Monday and will report to owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber while handling the franchise’s business operations.
The team planned to introduce Welts on Tuesday at the team’s practice facility. He replaces Robert Rowell, who resigned in June as the club’s top executive for business operations.
Welts left a position as president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns earlier this month for personal reasons, four months after he became the first senior sports executive to openly acknowledge he was gay.
Welts said at the time he would relocate to Northern California to be with his partner.
“It’s an opportunity probably for the first time for me to align my personal and professional lives,” he said.
The 58-year-old former NBA front office executive — he was third in command when he left in 1999 — said he hoped to return to work for a professional sports franchise in the Bay Area. He didn’t have to wait long for that opportunity.
“His track record in all facets of the business — sponsorship, marketing, public relations,
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