WTA Cuts 2 Key Staffers

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th December 2013

Tennis WTA Championships tournament in Istanbul

WTA Cuts 2 Key Staffers

epa03917273 WTA Chairman & CEO Stacey Allaster gestures during the draw ceremony of the WTA Championships Tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, 20 October 2013. The WTA Championships will be held in Istanbul from 22 until 27 October 2013. EPA/SEDAT SUNA |

The WTA will go into 2014 without two familiar faces in their leadership team as Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Walker is leaving after 11 and a half years and Chris Wallace is being released from his position of Vice President Communications.

Walker arrived at the WTA as a protégée of former chief executive Larry Scott and recently named the current Pac 12 Commissioner as the most influential man in his career during an interview with Sports Business. A graduate of Stanford University and NYU Law School, he like Scott is a native New Yorker although he has been based in London for the past couple of years.

After leaving law school he worked as an intern for the now defunct Tennis Week magazine and moved to France to work for Proserv. Scott first spotted Walker in Paris, working for the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and in 2002, while still with the ATP World Tour appointed him Communications Consultant for men’s tennis. Walker followed Scott to the WTA after Scott’s appointment as the Chairman and CEO of women’s tennis in 2003.

Walker began his career as a corporate lawyer at White & Case in New York and since joining the WTA in April 2003, has played a leading role in the areas of communications, marketing, sponsorship sales and activation, sales and strategic projects in helping to drive the growth of women’s professional tennis.

Recently Walker has been tasked by current WTA CEO Stacey Allaster with finding a title sponsor to replace the long-since expired landmark deal with Sony Ericsson and although women’s tennis has struck several good deals, the search is still on for that big one.

He has been a key member of the revenue generating team that consummated WTA’s sponsorship deals with Whirlpool, Dubai Duty Free, Oriflame, Jetstar, BNP Paribas, Rolex, USANA and others.

It is understood Walker has not been poached by any other organization and has currently has no job to go to but intends to take time looking around for the right opportunity.

Wallace has been with the WTA for 18 months and his main sporting experience came from working in the communications field in pro basketball with both the NBA and previously the Philadelphia 76ers. A graduate of Siena College in Albany, New York, he was with Translation LLC before joining the WTA in May 2012.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andrew Walker, Atp, Atp World Tour, Bnp Paribas, Chris Wallace, Larry Scott, NBA, Rolex, Stacey Allaster, Tennis, Tennis News, Tennis Week, Wta