Joel's Bio

Joel served as President, League Operations of the National Basketball Association until his retirement in 2015 after 27 years with the League. Prior to serving in that position he was the League’s General Counsel.

Over the course of his career, Joel was in charge of numerous areas of the NBA’s business, including legal affairs, collective bargaining, franchise sales and relocations, basketball operations, security, revenue sharing, and social responsibility. He also led the League’s work with the NBA Board of Governors on a wide range of business, competition, and governance matters.

Prior to joining the NBA, Joel worked for the New York law firm of Willkie Farr and Gallagher.

Joel is currently an Adjunct Professor in Columbia University‘s graduate Sports Management program. He previously served as a Professor in the global master of law program of Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economia and as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Penn State Law School.

Joel has also served as consultant to various sports properties including the Brooklyn Nets, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the XFL, and the Crown League.

Joel currently serves on the boards of Madison Square Garden Entertainment; USA Climbing, the national governing body for the sport of competition climbing; and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

He graduated with a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from NYU.

Joel lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, with his wife Lisa and their rescue cats, Baxter and Tommy. His daughter Janey is in college and his son Jesse works in Boston.