On Friday May 9th 66 year old Dick Parsons was named interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers. The decision to make Parsons the CEO is the aftermath following the lifetime ban that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave to Clippers owner Donald Sterling after his recorded racist comments.
Parsons is the former chairman of CitiGroup and Time Warner Cable and is currently a senior adviser at Providence Equity Partners. He sits on the board of directors for the Commission on Presidential Debates. He has been discussing the role of being the interim CEO of the Clippers with the NBA since Monday when he was approached by Adam Silver.
Parson was born in Brooklyn New York in 1948. He played basketball for the University of Hawaii. After his playing days, Parsons decided to get into law. Parsons was accepted by Albany Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor in 1971, finishing at the top of his class. Later he became a staff lawyer for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Now Parsons is head man of the Clippers franchise that has been through frustration over how to deal with comments their soon to be former owner Donald Sterling made.
Parsons stated that he plans on making Clippers coach Doc Rivers a full fledge partner while he commands the Clippers until the outcome of Sterling reaches its conclusion.
Parsons said he plans to come to Los Angeles on Sunday before the Clippers game 4 Western Conference Semi-Finals game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Parsons will officially take the reins of the Clippers on Monday. Although he won’t be in Los Angeles until tomorrow, he’s already taken the reigns as CEO.
“Job 1 has already been done,” he said. “Talk to Doc Rivers, tell him where I’m coming from, ask about his needs and perceptions and have him give some messages to the team. You don’t want to land and become a distraction. They’re in the middle of a playoff run.
Job 2 is to meet with the other employees who have been sitting at ground zero for 10 days. Nobody’s reached out to them; they don’t know which end is up. Just kind of give them a sense that what they’ve done has been appreciated, is appreciated, they’ve shown some character and kept this thing afloat and moving in the right direction. I want to hear from them what they think needs to happen to help steady the ship and keep it on the course that it’s been of late.”
It’s clear that with Parsons in control of the team, he will bring stability, leadership and class to the Clippers. Traits of which were sorely lacking under Donald Sterling.