The Los Angeles Lakers have named Yao Williams II Vice President and Head of Global Partnerships. Williams will lead the Lakers’ global partnerships team, which includes partnership sales, business solutions and partnership activation, driving revenue-generating opportunities and creating innovative programming and platforms to maximize brand value.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Yao Williams join the Lakers business and lead our global partnership team,” Lakers President of Business Operations Lon Rosen said in a statement. “Yao is an engaging leader with an appetite for innovation that will help drive performance and deliver best-in-class experiences for Lakers partners.”
Williams has been involved in global sales and brand partnerships within sports and entertainment for more than two decades with a ton of experience in numerous areas. In the past, he has worked with the National Basketball Association, as well as the Manchester City Football Club and most recently was the co-leader of global partnerships at Elevate Sports Ventures.
Throughout all of his stops throughout sports and elsewhere, Williams has proven the ability to secure both domestic and international large-scale deals while leading high-performing sales teams. Williams is also a graduate of Miami University in Ohio and earned his Master of Education in Sports Management at Cleveland State University.
This move is the latest as the franchise restructures their front office throughout numerous departments this offseason. The Lakers plan to expand different areas of the front office such as scouting and medical staff while also upgrading the team’s facilities under new owner Mark Walter. This has also led to the team laying off some employees as well, with the Lakers reorganizing in different areas.
Lakers hire Rohan Ramadas as assistant General Manager of Strategy and Data Systems
One of the big moves the Lakers plan to make this offseason in building out their front office staff is the hiring of two assistant general managers to work under Rob Pelinka. The team has already locked down one of those spots in hiring Rohan Ramadas as their new assistant general manager of strategy and data systems.
Ramadas was described as a “literal rocket scientist” who worked with The Aerospace Corporation, US Space Force and NASA as a rocket guidance, navigation, control and mission design engineer before beginning his journey into the NBA. Ramadas most recently served as vice president of strategy and basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, spending nine years total with the organization after serving as a draft analyst for the Miami Heat.
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