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

Education

Mills attended the Friends Academy in

Locust Valley Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census. History The rollin ...

, and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

where he graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

Playing career

Mills played college basketball for the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in ...

, where he was teammate of future NBA coach

David Blatt David Michael Blatt ( he, דוד מיכאל בלאט; born May 22, 1959), is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player. Blatt played point guard at Princeton University from 1977 to 1981 and p ...

, under the tutelage of coach

Pete Carril Peter Joseph Carril (July 10, 1930 – August 15, 2022) was an American basketball coach. He is best known as head coach of Princeton University for 30 years and for his use of the "Princeton offense". He also coached at Lehigh University an ...

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 t ...

, he initially accepted a position as manager of new business development for Chemical Bank. After receiving an offer to play professionally in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, Chemical agreed to hold the position for Mills until he joined the bank in 1982.

Executive career

Mills worked for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

for sixteen years beginning in 1984 after having worked at Chemical Bank. Mills ascension while at the NBA was notable. He was an

account executive Account executive is a role in sales, advertising, marketing, and finance involving intimate understanding of a client company's objectives and products and a professional capability to provide effective advice toward creation of successful promot ...

in the

corporate sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

department of NBA properties and

program manager Program Manager is the shell of Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x operating systems. This shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface (GUI), consisting of ''icons'' ( shortcuts for programs) arranged into ''program groups''. It replaced ...

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 A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

and Sports Business President of Madison Square Garden 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 New York Knicks, NHL's

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and the WNBA's New York Liberty. All sports related activities were under his jurisdiction, including

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

and

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. In 2009, Mills left MSG and joined Magic Johnson Enterprises 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 Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive. A power forward, Jackson played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning NBA championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 and ...

. On February 4, 2020, Mills parted ways with the Knicks.

Memberships

Mills was on the Board of Trustees of USA Basketball and the Board of Trustees of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He currently is on the Board of Advisors for the Hospital for Special Surgery, Board of Directors 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 ''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...

''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 Roosevelt (historically known as Greenwich and Rum Point) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,066 at the 2 ...

. 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 Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

. Mills and his wife Beverly reside on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in addition to a home In South Orange, New Jersey, and have two daughters and a dog.

References

External links

College statistics
at Sports Reference {{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