Karen Bryant (born August 24, 1967) is the Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager of the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

of the WNBA. Before joining the Sparks, Bryant started her professional sports career in the American Basketball League from 1996 to 1998. Bryant started out as the director of basketball operations for the

Seattle Reign OL Reign is an American professional Women's association football, women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's S ...

in 1996 before being named general manager in 1998. After the ABL closed in 1998, Bryant joined the WNBA as part of the newly formed

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

in 1999. With the Storm, Bryant held multiple executive positions between 1999 and 2014. Her executive roles with the Storm included chief operating officer from 2003 to 2008 and chief executive officer between 2008 and 2014.

Early life and education

In the late 1960s, Bryant was born in

Edmonds, Washington Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located no ...

. As a child, Bryant played

wiffle ball Wiffle ball, a team sport developed in 1953 in Fairfield, Connecticut, is a scaled back variation of baseball designed for playing in a confined space. The sport is played using a perforated light-weight plastic ball and a long hollow plastic b ...

and association football before deciding on basketball in elementary school. From the 1980s to 1990s, Bryant continued to play basketball while completing her high school and post-secondary education. Bryant attended

Green River Community College Green River College is a public community college with its main campus in Auburn, Washington. It has a student body of approximately 10,000. The college primarily awards associates degrees but also offers 9 bachelor's degrees. History Green Ri ...

and

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

for two years each before moving to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1990. A year later, Bryant received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from Washington and specialized in communications.

Career

After completing her post-secondary education, Bryant coached the girls basketball team at

Woodinville High School Woodinville High School is a public secondary school located in Woodinville, Washington, a suburb northeast of Seattle. A senior high school serving grades 9 through 12, it educates the eastern portion of the Northshore School District and is a me ...

between 1993 and 1996. Bryant then worked in project management before joining the American Basketball League in 1996. While in the ABL, Bryant started out as the director of basketball operations for the

. After becoming an assistant general manager for the Reign, Bryant was named their general manager in February 1998 after Jim Weyermann stepped down from his position. In December 1998, Bryant ended her general manager position with the Reign upon the closure of the ABL. In 1999, Bryant joined the newly formed

in the WNBA as their vice president. She remained as the Storm's vice president until she was named chief operating officer in November 2003. While adding an executive position in communications in 2006, Bryant continued to work as chief operating officer until becoming the Storm's chief executive officer in 2008. Bryant remained as CEO until she left the Storm in 2014 and was replaced by Alisha Valavanis. After ending her basketball position, Bryant switched to football safety after she joined Atavus Sports in 2017 as their chief operating officer. In 2021, Bryant began working in

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

when she helped create KB2 Sports. The following year, Bryant became a co-owner of the

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

. On January 3, 2023, Bryant was named the new Chief Administrative Officer and General Manager of the

in the WNBA.

Personal life

Bryant has one child.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Karen 1967 births Washington Huskies women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association executives Living people American LGBT sportspeople Women's National Basketball Association general managers