Rick Welts new W's President, COO

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PROGRAMMING ALERT: Tune to Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and CSNBayArea.com to watch the Warriors' live press conference, introducing Rick Welts as President and CEO.

Rick Welts, who spent the last two seasons as the President and CEO for the Phoenix Suns, has been named the Warriors' President and Chief Operating Officer, the team announced Monday evening.

Welts was with Phoenix for nine seasons, where he was apart of five 50-plus win teams, three of which advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Prior to Phoenix, Welts spent 17 years as a high-ranking official at the NBA league office in New York.

Peter Guber and I have made it quite clear since we assumed control of this team in November that were looking to build a world class organization from top to bottom, said Warriors owner Joe Lacob.

We feel that weve taken a quantum leap in that direction today with the addition of Rick Welts as our President and COO. Rick is simply one of the most highly-regarded executives in the NBA and his accomplishments at both the team and league levels are extremely impressive. Hes been an integral part of every organization that hes worked for in the NBA, including the league office in New York, where he earned the respect and admiration of David Stern, as well as with the Super Sonics in Seattle and the Suns in Phoenix.

His track record in all facets of the businesssponsorship, marketing, public relations, event management, team services, merchandisingand his ability to be strategically creative and cutting-edge make him the ideal candidate to lead our organization. Quite honestly, Im convinced that we could not have found a better candidate for the job.

Welts also served as Director of Public Relations for the Sonics when the team made back-to-back NBA Finals appearances, falling to the Washington Bullets in 1978 and winning the rematch in 1979.

In May of this year, Welt's became the highest ranking executive in men's team sports to announce he is gay.

The Warriors will formally introduce Welts at a press conference on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m.

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