New NBPA head Tamika Tremaglio: 'Next generation leader' for a complicated time

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Michele Roberts, near the end of 2019, let coworkers know that she planned to retire and to start looking for her replacement as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.

Roberts had led the union in her seven-plus years through relatively quiet labor peace with the league, and expertly guided the players through a 2020 season that was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. Games were restarted under less-than-ideal conditions in the bubble in Orlando, and Roberts partnered with the league to further social justice platforms after the murder of George Floyd.

The pandemic made the process of finding Roberts’ replacement a challenge. That didn’t mean, of course, the NBPA wasn’t going to try.

"We had people from the highest echelons of politics, business, sports, labor" apply for the position, said Ron Klempner, Senior Counsel of the NBPA.

"But then when you add in the social justice component and everything that had been done," he said, "forget about it. Everyone wanted in."

It turns out the union didn’t have to look far to choose its next leader.

Last September, the NBPA announced it hired 51-year-old Tamika Tremaglio, who for

the past 11 years was a managing principal at Deloitte, a London headquartered professional services firm with more than 14,000 employees in the Washington, D.C. area.

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Familiarity with the league’s inner workings was crucial to her landing the job. Tremaglio, a 1992 graduate of Mount St. Mary's, has law degrees from University of Maryland and an MBA from University of Baltimore. She had a hand in the WNBA’s labor discussions and also worked on a team that probed the union’s practices and possible business improprieties under then-director Billy Hunter. She also has more than a quarter century of consulting experience, including the NBPA for the past 10 years.

It was clear what the union was looking for in Tremaglio: a person savvy enough to get business deals done, but also someone with a forensic mindset to keep the money flowing and an awareness to capitalize on the opportunity of future revenues.

"Tamika has been by our side for many years, advising us on the best practices and policies needed for our organization to operate more like a successful business," New Orleans Pelicans guard and NBPA President CJ McCollum said at the time of her hiring. "Given Michele’s strong leadership and guidance that have brought us to where we are today, we were looking for a next generation leader, who has the skills, vision, and credibility to pick up where Michele will leave off and to elevate our union to even greater heights."

For Tremaglio, who also is known to her colleagues for her immaculate style, her basketball journey started with observation. Her father and uncle played the game in St. Mary’s County, Maryland and grew up with Tubby Smith, who was the coach at Kentucky when it won the NCAA championship in 1998 and is now the head coach at High Point University in North Carolina. Tremaglio was also a basketball cheerleader in high school and college.

"Unfortunately, I did not play basketball," Tremaglio said, who is married with two teenage sons. "But it was the center of many things that I did growing up. It’s always been something near and dear to our heart."

During the ongoing pandemic, Tremaglio began to reflect on her next steps and how she wanted a new challenge after the success at Deloitte. She suddenly thought about the impact COVID had on her, and set out to do something about it.

"I felt like I made a difference at Deloitte, but it was time to move on and do that somewhere different and quite frankly to do it in a place that I could help," Tremaglio said. "And to say I can officially retire.

"I have less days left of my life unfortunately, and that sounds kind of morbid at 51 years old but it’s the truth. And given that, I always thought, ‘What do I want to do that is going to be impactful? What’s going to be significant?' Living a life of significance, that was something that I really reflected upon during COVID."

In the early days of the pandemic while still at Deloitte, Tremaglio and her fellow executives were at a loss for what to do concerning the health and safety of their employees.

Information about COVID and masks were scarce. The issue became political.

"I recognized very early on that there was an exponential amount of people of color who were dying from COVID as opposed to those who were not," Tremaglio said. "That was a rude awakening to me."

She drove to a New Jersey warehouse by herself in April 2020 with a hazmat suit borrowed from a neighbor that worked in an emergency room to buy 350,000 masks, costing Deloitte $1 million, to give to people in the Washington D.C. area that did not have access to any personal protective equipment.

"It was one of my proudest moments. Because I was scared to death. I saw the world very differently then," she said. "COVID impacted everyone different. Even in the NBA world. I lost family members and it was a very challenging time."

The NBPA hopes Tremaglio can bring that level of empathy, awareness and efficiency to her new job.

While there is no set job description of the executive director, labor peace is obviously first on the list.

The union and the league have enjoyed labor peace since the 2011 lockout. Klempner and Tremaglio don't see that changing anytime soon, though the current collective bargaining agreement runs through the conclusion of the 2023-24 NBA season. Both sides can mutually opt-out of the deal at the end of next season.

"The respect, the credibility and trust does exist. It’s done with a good amount of vigilance. You’re always going to be weary of someone who you’re bargaining against," Klempner said. "So, we are very careful and mindful. These are successful businessmen that we are dealing with on the other side. All billionaires. And they got that way for a reason."

Tremaglio says nothing has really surprised her in the first month on the job (her four-year term started Jan. 10), but she did have time to reflect on the things she hopes to accomplish.

Furthering social equity and continuing to protect players during the pandemic were her top priorities. There was something else.

"While we are always concerned from a health perspective physically, we often times are not thinking about the mental health concerns," she said. "We know mental health is really critical. We stop and we pause quickly every time someone breaks a leg or ankle, but we quite don’t understand as a society, the impact that could occur from losing a loved one or someone close to you."

Her transparency and honesty with her staff and those she comes into contact with has been hailed as another Tremaglio trademark.

An unhurried person by nature, she is measured in just about everything she does, whether it’s sleeping with an Oura ring to help regulate her sleep, or sporting a Fitbit to measure a 10,000 step-a day goal.

"In some ways, it’s a good thing, in other ways I would bet it’s a little OCD. It is something that I consider really important," Tremaglio said. "I think the players deserve me at my best so if that means I have to pause for a moment, then that’s what I’ll do."

And one of her main beliefs?

"Never to become comfortable," she says. "When you are comfortable, you are not growing. You have to do something to take a risk and do what you would do if you weren’t afraid."



This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New NBPA head Tamika Tremaglio: 'Next generation leader' for a complicated time