Jess Smith
President
Jess Smith began her first season as President of the Golden State Valkyries ahead of the team’s inaugural 2025 season. Smith, who has over 18 years of experience in professional sports, oversees all WNBA business operations and reports directly to Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Schneider.
Under Smith’s leadership, the Valkyries have built a winning culture on and off the court. During their inaugural season, the Valkyries set all-time WNBA records for both average attendance (18,064) and total attendance (397,408), selling out all 22 regular-season home games. Golden State set the record for most wins by a first-year WNBA expansion team (23), and became the first expansion franchise to reach the WNBA postseason during its inaugural season.
Smith also helped build out a robust roster of founding partners, including CarMax, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, OLLY, PG&E, Sephora, United Airlines and Waymo. Smith also oversaw the team’s local broadcast partnership with CBS Bay Area, which introduced creative programming and community engagement activations that gave fans unprecedented access throughout the season. The partnership extended the Valkyries’ reach to more than four million fans across Northern California.
Following the Valkyries’ inaugural season, Smith was honored with the WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award for her exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation.
Smith joined the Valkyries from Angel City Football Club, where she served as Head of Revenue from 2020-24. In that role, she oversaw partnerships, ticketing, commerce, operations, data and analytics, broadcast and strategic alliances. Smith, who has a passion for creating revenue streams with intent, revolutionized the sports industry partnership approach with Angel City’s model, where 10% of sponsorship revenues are invested into local community initiatives focusing on equity, essentials, and education. Smith was responsible for launching the ‘Fan Fueled Player Fund,’ where players receive 1% of net ticketing proceeds for advertising ticket sales with their names and likeness. Under her leadership, Angel City renewed over 90% of the team’s season ticket members heading into the 2024 NWSL season.
Prior to her time at Angel City, Smith served as Vice President, Sponsorship at the San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) from 2017-20, where she secured the largest academy-specific jersey partnership in MLS history. Before joining the Earthquakes, Smith worked for the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) from 2015-16. Smith also spent time working for the Oakland Athletics (MLB) from 2008-15 in roles within ticketing and sponsorship.
Smith was named to the 2023 Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list and the 2023 Leaders in Sport Under 40 class. In addition in 2024 she was named a Sports Business Journal Power Player in Women's Sports for her outstanding contributions to the game and beyond and was recognized as SBJ’s Best Hire of the Year. Smith holds her B.A. in Journalism from State University of New York and received her M.S.A. from Ohio University. She and her husband Scott are proud parents to two young daughters, Kipton and Vaughn.
Under Smith’s leadership, the Valkyries have built a winning culture on and off the court. During their inaugural season, the Valkyries set all-time WNBA records for both average attendance (18,064) and total attendance (397,408), selling out all 22 regular-season home games. Golden State set the record for most wins by a first-year WNBA expansion team (23), and became the first expansion franchise to reach the WNBA postseason during its inaugural season.
Smith also helped build out a robust roster of founding partners, including CarMax, JP Morgan Chase, Kaiser Permanente, OLLY, PG&E, Sephora, United Airlines and Waymo. Smith also oversaw the team’s local broadcast partnership with CBS Bay Area, which introduced creative programming and community engagement activations that gave fans unprecedented access throughout the season. The partnership extended the Valkyries’ reach to more than four million fans across Northern California.
Following the Valkyries’ inaugural season, Smith was honored with the WNBA Business Executive Leadership Award for her exceptional leadership in driving meaningful business transformation.
Smith joined the Valkyries from Angel City Football Club, where she served as Head of Revenue from 2020-24. In that role, she oversaw partnerships, ticketing, commerce, operations, data and analytics, broadcast and strategic alliances. Smith, who has a passion for creating revenue streams with intent, revolutionized the sports industry partnership approach with Angel City’s model, where 10% of sponsorship revenues are invested into local community initiatives focusing on equity, essentials, and education. Smith was responsible for launching the ‘Fan Fueled Player Fund,’ where players receive 1% of net ticketing proceeds for advertising ticket sales with their names and likeness. Under her leadership, Angel City renewed over 90% of the team’s season ticket members heading into the 2024 NWSL season.
Prior to her time at Angel City, Smith served as Vice President, Sponsorship at the San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) from 2017-20, where she secured the largest academy-specific jersey partnership in MLS history. Before joining the Earthquakes, Smith worked for the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) from 2015-16. Smith also spent time working for the Oakland Athletics (MLB) from 2008-15 in roles within ticketing and sponsorship.
Smith was named to the 2023 Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list and the 2023 Leaders in Sport Under 40 class. In addition in 2024 she was named a Sports Business Journal Power Player in Women's Sports for her outstanding contributions to the game and beyond and was recognized as SBJ’s Best Hire of the Year. Smith holds her B.A. in Journalism from State University of New York and received her M.S.A. from Ohio University. She and her husband Scott are proud parents to two young daughters, Kipton and Vaughn.