Cynthia Marshall is a Slam Dunk!

The Dallas Mavericks recorded a slam dunk today when they hired Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall to become the franchise’s new interim chief executive officer.

“In my wildest dreams – and I have had some pretty big dreams and some wild dreams in my life — I never saw this coming,” Marshall said at a press conference today at American Airlines Center. “While I grew up playing sports supporting my three children in their sports endeavors and can often be down cheering for my favorite sports teams, all of that is very different from receiving a call from the owner of an NBA team with a passionate – and I can’t express that enough – with a passionate and heartfelt invitation to contribute to sports and the community in a very unique way.”

Last year Marshall received the Dallas Regional Chamber’s prestigious ATHENA award, which celebrates women who achieves excellence in their professions, serve the community in a meaningful way and help other women reach their full potential. She also was honored last year by The Network Journal, who named her as one of the 15 Most Influential Women in Business.

“I believe I saw the majority of the tail end of the press conference—at least half of it — and then she came in and she and I sat down for about 15 or 20 minutes,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “And then I brought her in to meet all the players.

“She’s going to be great. She’s dynamic, she’s charismatic and she’s extremely smart.”

Marshall also has a good memory, which forward Harrison Barnes now knows. Marshall met Barnes while Barnes was playing college basketball at the University of North Carolina.

“Apparently I met her at a UNC game a long time ago, so that was pretty cool,” Barnes said.” She killed me for not remembering that moment.

“She said she was there for AT&T and she took her son to a game and I presented them with a ball. And like I said, I feel bad I don’t remember it. She remembered it and she was killing me that I didn’t. At least we’ve got some history.”

Marshall grew up in Richmond, CA, and earned degrees in business administration and human resources management from the University of California-Berkeley. In addition, she holds honorary doctorate of humane letters degrees from Livingstone College and Bennett College.

“I’m definitely excited to have her on board,” Barnes said. “She seems very juiced to get involved, make some changes, right the ship, so I’m excited about that.”