Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of Wasserman Media Group has announced that Arn Tellem will become Vice Chairman of the company and basketball agents BJ Armstrong and Thad Foucher are promoted to Executive Vice Presidents of Basketball. Together, Armstrong and Foucher will lead the group that manages the careers of over seventy-five professional basketball players around the globe.
The announcement was made in close proximity to the 2012 NBA Draft, where Wasserman Media Group represented the first overall pick (Anthony Davis) in addition to four other players (three others in the first round) selected by NBA teams. Wasserman Media Group also recently took home the SportsBusiness Journal 2012 Sports Business Award for Best in Talent Representation and Management.
Tellem’s promotion may have been one of the wisest decisions Casey Wasserman and his company have ever made. On May 8, 2012, Ailene Voisin wrote in The Sacramento Bee that, “longtime baseball/basketball agent Arn Tellem, who I have known since his days as general counsel of the (gasp) San Diego Clippers, told me it took about him about three weeks to emotionally recover from his group’s failed attempt to purchase the Dodgers. Tellem – like Kasten – is rooted in baseball.” Typically, a promotion (and an increase in salary) goes a long way in speeding up emotional recoveries.
Suffice it to say that Casey Wasserman does not want Tellem, who joined Wasserman Media Group in 2006, leaving his company. “Since Arn joined Wasserman in 2007, he has achieved great success in building out our athlete management division which is now the undisputed leader in our industry,” said Wasserman. “I believe that the company can greatly benefit as a whole from his experience, passion and leadership in his role as Vice Chairman and I look forward to continuing to work lock step with Arn to grow our business in new and important ways.”
Wasserman also has to desperately want the recent success of his company to continue. Wasserman Media Group represents the most recent number one overall pick in the NBA (Anthony Davis), NFL (Andrew Luck), and MLB (Carlos Correa).
