Steve Mills (born October 6, 1959) is an American sports executive who last served as president of the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

Education

Mills attended the

Friends Academy Friends Academy is a Quaker, coeducational, independent, college preparatory school serving students from nursery school through the twelfth grade, located in Locust Valley, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1876 by 78-year-old G ...

in Locust Valley, and Princeton University where he graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Sociology.

Playing career

Mills played college basketball for the Princeton Tigers, where he was teammate of future NBA coach David Blatt, under the tutelage of

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Pete Carril from 1978 to 1981. During his senior season, Mills averaged 12.0 points and 1.5 steals. After going undrafted in the

1981 NBA draft The 1981 NBA draft was the 35th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 9, 1981, before the 1981–82 season. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network. In this draft, 23 NBA te ...

, he initially accepted a position as manager of new business development for

Chemical Bank Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

. After receiving an offer to play professionally in Ecuador, Chemical agreed to hold the position for Mills until he joined the bank in 1982.

Executive career

Mills worked for the National Basketball Association for sixteen years beginning in 1984 after having worked at

. Mills ascension while at the NBA was notable. He was an account executive in the corporate sponsorship department of NBA properties and program manager for NBA properties. He became vice-president of special events, after which he was senior vice-president of Basketball and Player Development,NBA Season Slipping
''nydailynews.com''. 11/18/98 Mills then became Chief operating officer and Sports Business President of

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in 2003.Smith, LaToya M
Most Powerful African Americans in Sports
, ''blackenterprise.com''. 7/30/08 His duties at MSG included supervising day-to-day operations, including finances, business strategies of the NBA's

, NHL's New York Rangers and the WNBA's

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

. All sports related activities were under his jurisdiction, including boxing, college basketball and track & field. In 2009, Mills left MSG and joined

Magic Johnson Enterprises Magic Johnson Enterprises is an American investment company owned by retired NBA Hall of Fame legend Magic Johnson. In 1995, after some criticism that he only invested with other people's money, Johnson took an equity stake along with what was the ...

where he helped create the Athletes & Entertainers Wealth Management Group, LLC (A&E).Steve Mills Leaving MSG For Role With Magic Johnson Enterprises
''sportsbusinessdaily.com''. Issue 161 5/8/09 of which he was a partner.Gati, Stephanie. "Reunions: Walters '67 moderates panel of former University athletes," ''The Daily Princetonian''. 5/30/2011 On September 26, 2013, the New York Knicks announced Mills would be the executive vice president and general manager of the organization. On July 14, 2017, after announcing that Scott Perry would become the Knicks' newest general manager, the Knicks also announced Mills would be the new president of the organization, replacing the role that was previously held by Phil Jackson. On February 4, 2020, Mills parted ways with the Knicks.

Memberships

Mills was on the Board of Trustees of

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympi ...

and the Board of Trustees of the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

. He currently is on the Board of Advisors for the

Hospital for Special Surgery Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a hospital in New York City that specializes in orthopedic surgery and the treatment of rheumatologic conditions. Founded in 1863 by James Knight, HSS is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the United State ...

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of Harlem Junior Tennis, Board of Trustees of Ariel Investments and Board of Directors Princeton University ''Varsity Club''. He also Co-Chairs the Princeton University ''Connect Initiative Task Force''.

Achievements

Mills was named '' Black Enterprise''s Corporate Executive of the Year in 2003, and was listed as one of the Top Front Office Team Executives on ''Black Enterprise''s 50 Most Powerful Blacks in Sports in 2005.

Personal life

Mills was born on October 6, 1959 in Roosevelt, New York. His father, Ollie Mills was a teacher and a basketball coach. His mother was a social worker. He grew up as a Knicks fan and lived around the corner from NBA legend Julius Erving. Mills and his wife Beverly reside on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in addition to a home In

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

, and have two daughters and a dog.

References

External links

College statistics
at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC, is an American company which operates several sports-related websites, including Sports-Reference.com, Baseball-Reference.com for baseball, Basketball-Reference.com for basketball, Hockey-Reference.com for ice hockey, Pro- ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Steve 1959 births Living people African-American sports executives and administrators American chief executives American chief operating officers American men's basketball players American sports executives and administrators Basketball players from New York (state) National Basketball Association general managers National Basketball Association league office executives New York Knicks executives People from Locust Valley, New York People from Roosevelt, New York People from South Orange, New Jersey Princeton Tigers men's basketball players Princeton University alumni Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople