NBA commissioner Adam Silver is one of eight new board of trustees members at Duke University, the school announced Tuesday.
Silver, who earned a bachelor's degree from Duke and a law degree from the University of Chicago, joins Apple CEO Tim Cook in a wide-ranging new group that joins the university's governing body.
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Unanimously elected commissioner in 2014, Silver was instrumental in the NBA's new nine-year media rights agreements with Turner Broadcasting and the Walt Disney Co., which run through the 2024-25 season.
He previously worked as NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer for eight years, playing key roles in the negotiation of the NBA's last three collective bargaining agreements with the National Basketball Players Association and in the development of the WNBA and NBA Development League.
In addition to Silver and Cook, the other six new Board of Trustees members are The Coca-Cola Foundation Chairwoman Lisa Borders, PRM Advisors founder Patricia Morton, ValueAct Capital CEO Jeff Ubben (they will each serve six-year terms) and three observing members -- Jack Boyd, Trinity ’85; recent Duke graduate Anna Knight and Ben Shellhorn, a JD/MBA candidate at Duke.
As the university's governing body, the Board of Trustees is responsible for the school's educational mission and fiscal policies. There are 37 members on the board.
