Photo Credit: Chris Farina
The Shadow League returned to L’Ermitage Beverly Hills with our second annual TSL Leadership Awards on July 14, 2015. The Shadow League Leadership Awards were created last year to honor trailblazers in the worlds of sports and sports media. This year, we were privileged to honor Christine Simmons, President & COO of The LA Sparks and Terence Crawford, WBO Light Welterweight Champion.
Christine Simmons brings over a decade of leadership experience in creating strategic alliances, leading business development and driving corporate initiatives to the role, most recently serving as Executive Vice President of Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE). As President & COO, she directs and coordinates all aspects of the teams business operations including ticket sales, sponsorship sales, marketing, game operations, public relations, community relations and finance. In her role as Executive Vice President with MJE, Simmons led the day-to-day operations of the Sparks throughout the teams first season under the ownership group led by Earvin Magic Johnson and Mark R. Walter. A graduate from UCLA, she serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the UCLA AlumniAssociation. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Jenesse Center, the LA Sports Council, the Positive Coaching Alliance and is an active member of the Advisory Committee for Next Play Capital and of Better Futures for Thomazeau (a non-profit organization that creates jobs and lends aid to Haiti). Simmons has earned a number of honors, including Alumnus of the Year 2012 by the UCLA Black Alumni Association, as well as the Top 25 Women of Power Impacting Diversity by DiversityPlus magazine and the Who’s Who in Black Los Angeles.
Aside from being the current WBO Light Welterweight Champion, Terence Crawford leads many humanitarian efforts, such as the Anti-Bullying campaign he started in Omaha. He goes to schools all over Omaha, and soon the nation, to discuss anti-bullying, how to deal with bullying, and how to prevent bullying. Crawford also started B&B Boxing Academy, is a non-profit organization with Co-Manager Brian McIntyre. B&B offers boxing, training, coaching, mentoring, and an alternative for youth. Through his partnership with non-profit Pipeline Worldwide, Terence went to Africa to help build and drill wells to create clean water for communities in Uganda. Crawford has been awarded the “Fighter of the Year” honors from the WBO, Boxing Writer’s Association of America and ESPN. Crawford has also been inducted into the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame.
Congratulations to Christine Simmons & Terence Crawford for all of their amazing work and positive influence in the world of sports!
