The pieces are all coming together for the impending WNBA team in Toronto.
Ahead of the league making an official announcement on Thursday morning, Rachel Brady of the Globe and Mail reported that former Toronto Raptors VP Teresa Resch will be introduced as the president of the expansion team.
CBC's Shireen Ahmed reported earlier in May that the franchise would likely be headed by Resch.
"I'm glad we got it to the finish line and we will officially be able to announce it to the world," Resch said to the Globe and Mail. "We've been working so much on the details and now we finally get to centre on how historic it is, how exciting that this is really happening."
Resch had worked as the Raptors' VP of basketball operations and player development since 2013 and was part of the team's front office during their championship run in 2019.
She left the job in March of 2024 and Sportsnet's Michael Grange reported that Resch was expected to stay in Toronto following her departure.
Resch was with the NBA head office for five years before joining the Raptors.
“She’s got the passion and that’s what you truly need to inspire people. She’s very detail oriented and she was with the Raptors for over a decade, with the NBA office before that, and the NBA has told me numerous times that they were very sad to lose her,” MLSE chairman and Toronto's WNBA franchise owner Larry Tanenbaum told The Globe. “I only employ the best and she stood out as a great individual to lead this team.”
Tanenbaum, also the head of Kilmer Sports Ventures, the group that is set to purchase the franchise, had reportedly told Resch that he was interested in purchasing a team and wanted her to be president.
He did so prior to actually putting in a formal offer for a team, convincing her to leave her job with the Raptors without any guarantee that the city would get a team.
“I said absolutely, but I also want to be part of it before and I want to help shape it,” Resch said to The Globe. “He was open to that. I appreciate the opportunity he’s given me.”
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported in 2022 that the Chicago Blackhawks had interest in Resch as a GM candidate. They eventually moved interim GM Kyle Davidson into the full-time role.
Resch met Raptors president Masai Ujiri when she worked for the NBA head office with a focus on the league’s Basketball Without Borders program. She was the first of 14 women hired by Ujiri who were still working for the organization when the Raptors won the league title in 2019.
Resch took a lead role in building the Raptors' practice facility on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.
She also converted a 65,000-square-foot ballroom in a still under-construction hotel in downtown Tampa, Fla. as a world-class practice facility in the space of one month in late 2020 after it was determined the Raptors would have to temporarily relocate due to the pandemic.
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