Panelists

Brian Burke

President and General Manager, Toronto Maple Leafs

Brian Burke was named the President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 29, 2008. The 53-year-old Burke became the 13th General Manager in Maple Leafs history and brings over 20 years of National Hockey League experience in various roles to the franchise. Most recently, Burke served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks from 2005 to 2008. In just over three seasons in Anaheim, Burke guided the Ducks to their first Stanley Cup (2007), first Pacific Division title (2007), and first-two 100+ point seasons (2006-07 & 2007-08). The Ducks also qualified for post-season contention in all three seasons, winning six-of-eight playoff series over that span.

Burke received two outstanding honours in the summer of 2008. On June 6, he was chosen by USA Hockey as General Manager of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, and was named a recipient of the 2008 Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the United States on August 7.

Burke was ranked No. 1 by The Hockey News in the magazine’s Annual GM Rankings in March of 2008, and was a finalist for The Hockey News Executive of the Year in 2006. He was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year in 2001, and was a runner-up for the same award following the 2005-06 season.

Burke joined the Ducks after a six-year stint (1998-2004) as President and General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks where he revitalized the team and the community en route to consecutive 100+ point seasons and the 2004 Northwest Division title. Under Burke’s leadership, the Canucks improved their point total in four consecutive years from 1999-2003.

Since the 2000-01 season, Burke’s teams have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs all seven times, playing in 13 total postseason series. In addition, all seven of those clubs recorded at least 90+ points, including four 100-point seasons.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in Edina, Minnesota, Burke was named the Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations by the Vancouver Canucks in June of 1987. Burke left Vancouver to serve as General Manager of the Hartford Whalers for one season in 1992, before joining the NHL front office as Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations in September of 1993. Some of his duties with the NHL included acting as chief disciplinarian by ruling on violations for on-ice player conduct, and working closely with Commissioner Gary Bettman on league direction and collective bargaining matters. 

After earning his Bachelor of Arts in History from Providence College in 1977, Burke signed with the Philadelphia Flyers prior to the 1977-78 season and won a Calder Cup Championship with the Flyers’ American Hockey League affiliate the Maine Mariners. He then returned to school and graduated from Harvard Law in 1981. Burke practiced law in Boston for the next six years, representing professional hockey players until joining the Canucks in 1987. Brian resides with his wife Jennifer and has six children: Katie, Patrick, Brendan, Molly, Mairin and Gracie.

Steve Pagliuca

Managing Partner, Boston Celtics

Stephen Pagliuca is a Managing Partner and Executive Committee Member of the Boston Celtics. As a Managing Partner and Chairman of the Basketball Committee, Pagliuca has focused on enhancing the development and improvement of the Celtics basketball operations. Mr. Pagliuca also serves as a member of the NBA Board of Governors and the NBA Competition Committee.

Pagliuca currently is a Managing Director of Bain Capital. He has helped build Bain Capital into a leading global private equity firm with over $40 billion capital under management.

Pagliuca received a B.A. from Duke University where he also played freshman basketball, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

He is currently the Chairman of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Chairman of the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, and serves on the international board of The Right To Play, a worldwide children's development group that utilizes Olympic athletes to promote children's health and safety.

He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Gartner Group, Burger King, and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. He serves as Chairman on the Board of Trinity Advisors at Duke University and is also a trustee of Bain Capital Children's Charity.

Pagliuca has been active in youth basketball from kindergarten to the AAU level. He and his wife, Judy, with their four children are longtime Massachusetts residents.

Adam Silver

Deputy Commissioner & COO, NBA

Through his business and leadership skills, Adam Silver has helped to establish the NBA as the most popular sports league in the world, as a model for global sports marketing organizations, and as one of the largest providers of sports programming in the world.

Mr. Silver became NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer in July 2006 after his appointment was unanimously approved by the NBA Board of Governors. He assumed his role as the league’s second-in-command following more than eight years as President and COO, NBA Entertainment.

Mr. Silver has been instrumental in many league accomplishments, including playing a key role in the negotiations of the league’s last two television agreements, the last three collective bargaining agreements with the NBA Players Association, the development of the WNBA and NBA Development League, the partnership with Turner Broadcasting to jointly manage the NBA’s digital assets, the partnership with the NCAA on a wide-ranging initiative aimed at enhancing youth basketball programs in the U.S., and the creation of NBA China as a separately incorporated operating entity.

During Mr. Silver's tenure, the NBA has seen rapid expansion of its digital activities as NBA Entertainment launched NBA TV – the league’s 24-hour television channel – and developed the NBA.com network, which consists of more than 60 unique Web sites, including NBA.com, WNBA.com, NBADLeague.com, team sites for the three leagues, and nine international sections of NBA.com. Silver also oversees the NBA’s and WNBA’s game telecasts, which are carried in 215 countries in 41 languages.

NBA Entertainment’s Global Merchandising Group -- responsible for the product development, merchandising, licensing, sales development, e-commerce, retail and direct-to-consumer initiatives of the NBA and WNBA – has seen record growth during Mr. Silver’s tenure and sales of NBA and WNBA merchandise exceeded $3 billion at retail last year. Also under Mr. Silver’s supervision are the Global Media Properties and Marketing Partnerships divisions, as well as the advertising sales within the league’s extensive media inventory.

Mr. Silver was also instrumental in the formation of NBA China, an entity that conducts all of the league’s businesses in Greater China, and he serves on the entity’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Silver has consistently been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports by BusinessWeek, the Sporting News and the SportsBusiness Journal. He has also been recognized by Time Magazine and CNN on their list of Global Business Influentials, which features 20 of the world’s leading corporate executives.

Mr. Silver joined the NBA in 1992 and previously served under Commissioner Stern as Special Assistant to the Commissioner; NBA Chief of Staff; Senior Vice President and COO, NBA Entertainment; and President and COO, NBA Entertainment. Prior to joining the NBA, Mr. Silver was a litigation associate at the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he concentrated on media and antitrust cases. He also served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood in New York City.

In addition to serving on the boards of PENCIL (an organization focused on developing civic involvement in the New York City public schools), the “Hands On Network” Corporate Service Council, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Duke University Library, Mr. Silver was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York City Sports Development Corporation. He is also a member of the Special Presidential Council on Campus Life and Culture at Duke University and of the University of Chicago Law School Visiting Committee.

Mr. Silver graduated from Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School. He resides in New York City.

Matt Silverman

President, Tampa Bay Rays

One of the youngest team presidents in the history of Major League Baseball, Matt Silverman's leadership and steady hand have positioned the Tampa Bay Rays as one of baseball's most celebrated turnaround stories.

Silverman, 33, took over the team's day-to-day operations in October 2005, and, under his guidance, the Rays are now considered one of baseball's best-run organizations. Home attendance has increased every season and the team's 2009 attendance mark of 1,874,962 was the second highest in franchise history behind the Rays' 1998 inaugural season. The team's rebranding efforts prior to the 2008 season which included a new team name, colors and uniforms have produced the major leagues' largest increase in retail sales. And by all possible measurements, from all-time high television and radio ratings to a surge in team website traffic, the organization's objective to expand its regional reach and become a regional standard bearer is being realized.

To build this regional presence, Silverman decided early on to do things a little differently both on and off the field.

On the field, in the 2007 and 2008 regular seasons, he relocated a series of games to the Disney Sports Complex in Orlando, expanding the team's reach across Central Florida. And in 2009, the team opened its first spring training camp at Charlotte Sports Park, a state-of-the-art facility giving the Rays a year-round presence in the southern part of its region along Florida's Gulf Coast. 

Off the field, Silverman's emphasis on improving customer service and the fan experience have reinforced with even the casual fan that things have changed. Major capital improvements to Tropicana Field and a refreshed commitment to improving staff preparation and training has greatly enhanced the Rays game day experience. And the team's charitable work through the Rays Baseball Foundation has brought the team and the community even closer together.

Silverman also serves as the president of Sunburst Entertainment Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tampa Bay Rays, which serves as a vehicle to attract events to Tropicana Field, to provide consulting services to industry partners and through which the organization makes investments in other sports and entertainment-related business opportunities. 

Prior to joining the Rays, Silverman worked closely with Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg at Goldman Sachs and orchestrated Sternberg's purchase of controlling interest in the franchise. That partnership and friendship that first developed on Wall Street, has now found its way to Tampa Bay and directed the Rays triumphant last place to World Series season in 2008.

In January 2009, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal named him to its 2009 "Forty Under 40" list honoring accomplished and promising sports executives under age 40.

A lifelong baseball fan, Silverman also enjoys running and writing.  The Dallas native holds a bachelor of economics degree from Harvard University. He is a member of the board of the Rays Baseball Foundation, the Hillsborough Education Foundation, and Starting Right, Now.  He also serves as the Chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership's Council of Governors.

Randy Vataha

President, Game Plan LLC

Randy Vataha is President of Game Plan LLC, a firm specializing in the buying and selling of pro sports teams. 

Randy played seven seasons in the NFL after graduating Stanford University, six of which were spent here in Boston with the Patriots (1971-1976).  His 1977 season was spent with the Green Bay Packers.  Following his NFL career, Randy went on to found the United States Football League, serve on the NFL and NBA Players Associations, and to lead Bob Woolf Associates as CEO until 1994, a firm specializing in contracts negotiation in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL as well as Media for high profile athletes and clients.

 

Moderator

Bob Ryan

Columnist, Boston Globe

Bob Ryan is a longtime columnist for the Boston Globe sports section.  He is a regular panelist on ESPN's Sunday morning roundtable, The Sports Reporters, and is host of Globe 10.0 on the New England Sports Network.

Often described as Boston’s basketball guru, Ryan got his start as Celtics beat reporter after graduating from Boston College, quickly becoming a Boston favorite.  He has been writing for the Globe since the 1970s, covering all of the Boston sports teams and covering numerous NBA Finals, Final Fours, World Series, Super Bowls and Olympics.  His writing and passion for sports has earned this New England Basketball Hall of Fame writer many accolades, including the recent 2006 Dick Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism and 2008 NSSA National Sportswriter of the Year.