Monessen native is ‘utility player’ at NBA headquarters
Monessen native Mia White has pieced together a interesting journey in the sports world, which has taken her from usher at PNC Park to working in the NBA’s headquarters in New York.
michaelwill 2018
Mia White
It could be said that working in the sports world was inevitable for Mia White.
A Monessen native, White was hired by the NBA as its Product Operations Manager in December of 2020. In her role within the Global Strategy and Innovation department, White has her hands in several areas of NBA development.
“The job came about as I was contacted by a recruiter from the NBA,” said the 2008 graduate of Geibel Catholic High School. “They were building out their team for new projects they had coming up and were looking for people with a certain background.
“I am lucky that my experiences aligned well for the opportunity to work for such a great organization.”
White began working in the sports world as an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon University.
After playing basketball, soccer, and softball for four years at Geibel – she finished with just under 1,200 points for the Gators’ basketball team – White played on the CMU women’s basketball team before deciding to give up playing the sport competitively in order to focus on her education.
She graduated in December 2011, a semester early, with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.
While at CMU, White got her start in professional sports, though it was an inauspicious one. She was hired as a gameday usher for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
That led to an internship with the Pirates in the Ballpark Operations department, where she worked with the Guest Relations team.
White’s internship turned into a more permanent role after graduating. Eventually, she transitioned into the Customer Relationship Management and Analytics department.
“It aligned more with my degree and what I wanted to do in my career,” she said. “I spent three seasons working there full-time.”
In total, White worked for the Pirates for six seasons (2009-2014) before leaving to take a job with the New York Red Bulls, a Major League Soccer team in New Jersey, as their CRM and Analytics manager.
After being with the Red Bulls for almost three years (2014-2017), White was contacted by the Miami Heat to do a similar role as a Product Manager.
“I ultimately took the job because it was a great opportunity to learn from an organization that was more advanced than most in their analytics and technology,” she said. “I was with the Heat for two years (2017-2019).
“I left the Heat to move back to the New York City area and took a job with Major League Baseball to be a Product Manager and worked on the ballpark app as well as the MLB.TV app.”
It was while working for MLB that the NBA reached out to White and offered her a job.
“Ultimately, my job is to ensure projects are getting done efficiently and effectively,” she said. “As a large organization that owns and operates multiple entities (NBA, G League, WNBA), there are always several projects running at once.
“I am tasked with working with various departments as well as any partners and sponsors to make sure we are staying organized, communicating with the correct people, and prioritizing our work properly.”
“I often jump in to help do the work on projects,” she continued, “whether that be pulling data, writing documentation or working with stakeholders to make sure we understand exactly what is needed.”
“On my team, I am often referred to as a utility player because I can be called on to do any number of tasks at any given time.”
White loves her job, and she is excited that every day brings a new task.
“One of the best parts of my job is that no two days are alike,” she said. “Each day brings its own opportunities and challenges, which helps keep things really fun and interesting.
“I have really enjoyed working for the NBA for so many reasons. I am so fortunate that each day I get to learn from people who are truly the best at their craft while helping grow the game of basketball not only here in the U.S., but internationally as well.”