In the midst of its free agent feeding frenzy, the NBA has managed to satisfy its hunger for a new CMO.

The league said that it has signed Kate Jhaveri, who has been head of marketing for Amazon-owned Twitch since 2017, to take over the position, which has been vacant since the end of 2018 when Pam El after four years.

Jhaveri, who also has held marketing positions with Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft, officially joins the NBA on Aug. 15.

She will report to Mark Tatum, the league’s deputy commissioner and COO.

The NBA today also unveiled what it called a strategic partnership and equity stake with NEX Team Inc., San Francisco-Based mobile artificial intelligence company and the developer of "Homecourt."

NEX Team described Homecourt as a mobile basketball training application that uses advanced machine learning and computer vision to unlock potential in every player. 

 According to the league, the partnership would “leverage HomeCourt’s technology to develop and train players at all skill levels and will be an integral part of the NBA’s youth basketball development initiatives around the world.

“By giving players everywhere access to HomeCourt’s technology, the NBA has the opportunity to identify and discover basketball talent globally with just a mobile phone.”

Regarding its new CMO, the NBA said Jhaveri would be responsible for leading the global marketing operations for the NBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League.

That would include the “development of innovative marketing campaigns and brand messaging across all platforms to connect with fans and grow the game of basketball around the world.”

In addition, she will oversee the consumer insights and analytics departments to enhance the NBA’s consumer data strategy and implement new marketing programs.

While at Twitch, Jhaveri led a global team responsible for growing, engaging and retaining the brand’s core audiences of more than 15 million daily active viewers and more than three million unique content creators each month.

The NBA has been at the forefront of social media integration with fans and brands. The league has more than 37 million followers on its official Facebook account, nearly 39 million on Instagram and some 30 million on Twitter.

“Kate is an industry leader who has an excellent record in creating successful marketing strategies for some of the most renowned companies in the world,” Tatum said via the league.

“We are looking forward to adding Kate to our team and having her lead our marketing efforts to further reach and engage our global fan base.”

Prior to Twitch, Jhaveri was head of consumer marketing forTwitter, where she managed all consumer-facing campaigns that drove increased user growth, engagement and brand relevance with consumers worldwide.

Jhaveri also previously served as head of brand marketing fort Facebook and spent seven years at Microsoft overseeing the worldwide Marketing Communications team for Windows, Internet Explorer and bing.com.

According to Jhaveri, “I am thrilled to join the NBA and bring my experiences in both digital and traditional marketing to develop new and innovative ways to continue the global growth of the league.

“The NBA has an incredibly passionate fan base, and I look forward to utilizing their perspectives to best drive our strategic direction.”

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