RyeGPT: People of Note is a new series highlighting individuals who have a connection to the City of Rye. In the series we ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT to prepare a biography and explain the individual’s connection to Rye.
We welcome your feedback on this series – the use of artificial intelligence, the accuracy and usefulness of each article and your assistance in understanding other pertinent insights related to the person’s connection to Rye. You can add comments at the bottom of each article or you can send feedback via Tips & Letters.
Today, meet Adam Silver: the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) who grew up in Rye.
Adam Silver, born on April 25, 1962, is an American lawyer and sports executive, currently serving as the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He took on this role on February 1, 2014, succeeding David Stern. Silver joined the NBA in 1992, holding various positions within the organization, including Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, President and COO of NBA Entertainment, and Special Assistant to the Commissioner, before rising to the top position.
Silver was born into a Jewish family and grew up in Rye, New York, a northern suburb of New York City in Westchester County. He lived in a large Georgian house with a formal garden, about a block from the Long Island Sound. During his time at Rye High School, from where he graduated in 1980, Silver was an excellent student, class president, a member of the cross-country team, and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, the Garnet and Black.
(VIDEO: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discusses how he went from working for a judge to working with former NBA Commissioner David Stern. on the “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” on May 9, 2019.)
Under Silver’s leadership, the NBA has expanded and become a global sports and media organization encompassing the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League, and Basketball Africa League. He has been instrumental in the development of these leagues, the creation of the NBA’s digital assets, and the establishment of NBA China and NBA Africa. His executive skills have earned him recognition as the Sports Business Journal’s Executive of the Decade and inclusion in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, Fortune’s 50 Greatest Leaders, and The Bloomberg 50 list.
Silver is a Duke University graduate and earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. Before joining the NBA, he worked as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and served as a law clerk to Federal District Court Judge Kimba Wood in New York. He is also actively involved in various organizations, serving on the Duke University Board of Trustees, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business Council, and the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Paley Center for Media, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, among others.
