Donna Orender

Donna Geils Orender (born February 14, 1957)[1] is a sports executive and a former collegiate and professional basketball player.

The coach agreed to let her try out for the team, and in doing so she beat her opponent and became the first girl to play tennis for the high school, which gained little attention to her surprise.

[10]  Queens College was invited to play Immaculata at Madison Square Garden on February 22, 1975.

[13] After graduating from Queens College, Orender attended Adelphi University to pursue her master's degree in social work.

[15] Orender's WBL career is featured in the book Mad Seasons: The Story of the First Women's Basketball League, 1978–1981, by Karra Porter (University of Nebraska Press, 2006).

When the league shutdown in 1981, Orender wrote an article for The Times called "Making a Dream Come True, and Watching it Fade Away.

[19] In 1987, Orender started working for the PGA Tour, where she oversaw their global television and production businesses.

During her tenure, she negotiated an eight-year contract extension with Disney/ABC/ESPN which, for the first time, included broadcast rights fees and a six-year Collective Bargaining agreement.

[21] In an interview with Jackson Daily Record Orender discusses her decision to step down as president was in part due to her twin sons.

She has also been a global ambassador for Vital Voices, traveling to India to help mentor young women entrepreneurs.

[31] During her time as president of the WNBA, Orender lived and worked in New York, while her husband stayed in Jacksonville with the couple's children.

Morgan is an associate attorney practicing law in Jacksonville, Florida, and Colleen is a singer based in Nashville, Tennessee.

[19] During an interview in 2011 with Athlon Sports following her announcement that she would be stepping down as President of the WNBA, Orender mentioned writing a book among her professional goals.