Hawks, State Farm Arena hire new CFO
The Hawks and State Farm Arena hired former NBA executive Joel Browning as executive vice president and chief financial officer, the team announced Tuesday.
He will oversee the finance, accounting, information technology and analytics departments and will have a leadership role in future large-scale projects, the Hawks said. He’ll report to CEO Steve Koonin.
Browning previously was a vice president in the NBA’s team-marketing and business-operations department, working as a consultant to the Hawks and six other teams. Before joining the league office, he was the Detroit Pistons’ vice president of business operations and strategy.
With the Hawks, Browning will assume some of the duties of former chief operating officer Thad Sheely, who oversaw operations and finance before resigning last week to start a real-estate development company in Atlanta. Sheely was a key leader in the makeover of State Farm Arena and the building of the Hawks’ practice facility.
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
