Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall, a transformative figure who reshaped and energized the franchise during one of its darkest periods, is retiring effective Dec. 31.
Marshall finalized her decision late Monday and informed Mavericks staff members Tuesday morning. Although she turns 65 on Dec. 15, her decision comes as a surprise, just three weeks before the start of the season.
A few days ago, according a person familiar with her thinking, Marshall was in contract-extension negotiations with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont, whose family last December purchased the franchise’s majority interest from Mark Cuban.
Marshall’s husband, Kenneth, has battled cancer for two years and Marshall herself is a stage 3 colon cancer survivor, but it’s unclear whether Kenneth’s health was a determining factor in her deciding to retire.
When Cuban hired Marshall in March of 2018 as the first Black female CEO in NBA history, the franchise was reeling from allegations of two decades of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within its business operations.
Here’s more to know about Marshall:
1. Upbringing
Born Dec. 15, 1959, Marshall got her start in Birmingham, Ala., where racially charged violence and the civil-rights movement were daily realities. Marshall’s family picked up three months later and moved west to the Easter Hill projects of Richmond, Calif.
Her father abused her mother and his six children, she told The Dallas Morning News in a 2018 profile.
“In the summer of 1975, when my parents divorced because it was so bad that my mother had to get out, we went to a relative’s house. That’s when my father broke my nose. I jumped in between him and my mother one time and it happened.
“It was sad, but my mother made it out and it was a clean break. She didn’t want her kids to live like that anymore.
“That’s why abuse of any sort is a cause that’s near and dear to my heart.”
Marshall, known as “Cynt the sprint” from her high school days running track, has cited that experience as part of her journey.
“Despite all the drama, I had a good childhood. My mother was serious about that,” Marshall told The News in 2022, when her book, You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected was released.
2. Family life
One of the most poignant parts of the book is about how Cynt and her husband, Kenny, endured four dangerous miscarriages before Cynt gave birth to a one-pound, two-ounce premature daughter in 1994. They named her Karolyn after Cynt’s mother but with a “K” for Kenny.
They nicknamed her “Special K” as she fought for her life for six months in the neonatal intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital Oakland.
“Cancer was the second-largest life trial of my life,” Marshall said. “The first was, of course, when my daughter passed away, which was 28 years ago last month.”
To fill the hole in their hearts, the Marshalls adopted two foster-care boys and two girls — one after the other — who’ve answered their prayers for children to dote on.
3. Decades at AT&T
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and human resources management from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was the first black cheerleader, Marshall began her 36-year connection to AT&T.
Former co-worker Tamika Pendleton-Clement told The News in 2018 that Marshall was “a rock star” at AT&T.
“Energetic, phenomenal, high-energy, super relatable,” is how she remembered Marshall.
“If she tells you you can jump off this building and fly, you’re going to believe it,” Pendleton-Clement said.
Marshall had retired from AT&T in 2017 and founded a consulting firm, nine months before Cuban tapped her to take over the Mavericks’ business operations.
4. Cancer diagnosis
Marshall’s first book was going to be an inspirational guide for people rocked by cancer.
But her Dallas literary agent, Jan Miller, and Mary Reynics, executive editor of Random House Publishing Group in New York, had more expansive ideas. They insisted that Marshall write about the underpinning experiences that — as Marshall calls it — “equipped” her to navigate through cancer and come out stronger than before.
She had been diagnosed with stage 3 invasive colon cancer — one lymph node away from stage 4 — just days after her 51st birthday. Her oncologist in North Carolina told her that without chemotherapy, she had only a 25% chance of making it to her 56th.
“I called my mom and I was crying,” Marshall said. “Mom said, ‘This is for God’s glory. God will get the glory out of this. You have a very high-profile job. A lot of people will hear this story and you will be healed and there would be a good story to tell.’”
When five years passed with no cancer detected in her scans, she was declared cancer-free. By then, she was in Dallas, months away from her 2017 retirement from AT&T.
5. Mavericks tenure
When Cuban introduced Marshall to the media as his fixer, the Mavericks organization was a sordid mess, rocked by scandalous headlines of sexual misconduct, domestic violence and a toxic locker-room environment inculcated over two decades.
Marshall promised swift, decisive and appropriate action.
The first black woman business leader of an NBA team gave herself 100 days to clean up the franchise with a no-tolerance mindset.
She didn’t disappoint — us or her boss.
“Cynt is amazing,” Cuban said in 2018, when The News nominated her for Texan of the Year. “I wish I could have hired her 20 years ago. She has done an incredible job with the Mavs and has become a leader and mentor for all of us.”
Forbes in 2021 named Marshall as one of its 15 most inspiring women leaders globally during Women’s History Month. A year later, Fortune named her one of the world’s 50 most powerful women business leaders.
Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
