The Arizona Diamondbacks have promoted Nona Lee to Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. The longtime sports executive will be entering her 20th season with the D-backs in 2019 and has overseen all legal issues for the organization since 2005. Before dedicating her time solely to the D-backs, she served as Associate General Counsel (2000-04) and VP and Associate General Counsel (2004-05) for the Phoenix Suns, D-backs, Phoenix Mercury, Arizona Rattlers, Chase Field, US Airways Center and Dodge Theater.
“Nona has universal respect throughout the sports industry, the state of Arizona and the entire legal profession,” said D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall. “She has played a critical role in everything the D-backs have accomplished for the past two decades and her groundbreaking role as the first female President of the Sports Lawyers Association is just one of many reasons why she is a role model to so many around her.”
Lee assisted in the negotiations with FOX Sports Arizona on a 20-year extension that is the largest financial transaction in franchise history. She also assisted with negotiations for the building and use of Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training home and, most recently, assisted with the negotiations for acquisition of land and construction of the Club’s planned new Dominican Republic Academy for the Club’s DSL team. She also assists the Baseball Operations department with the preparation and presentation of player salary arbitration matters.
Lee is active in the community and in the sports industry, currently serving on the board of directors and as President of the Sports Lawyers Association, a non-profit, international, professional organization whose common goal is the understanding, advancement and ethical practice of sports law. In addition, Lee is an Arbitrator on the American Arbitration Association’s Sports Law Panel. Lee also currently serves as a member of the Board for Arizona State University’s Sports Law & Business Program, and a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Sports Law Institute. She is also the founder of the Phoenix Women’s Sports Association, an Arizona non-profit organization whose mission is to help girls and women find their power through sports. In addition, she has served on the board of the Women’s Sports Foundation in New York, a non-profit organization founded by Billie Jean King that is dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity, and currently serves as part of the Trustee Emeritus Group for the Women’s Sports Foundation. Until late 2012, Lee served on the Board of the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission, the mission of which is to “enrich our community through sports,” as well as on the Pepperdine Athletic Board. She has also served on the board of Florence Crittenton, a local non-profit designed to help at-risk girls overcome issues of abuse, neglect, teen pregnancy, teen parenting and behavioral and/or mental problems, as well as on the Board of Directors of the YWCA of Maricopa County.
Lee is a past recipient of the YWCA of Maricopa County’s Sports Leader Award, was recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal as one of the Women in Business honorees and was also an Athena Award honoree. She has received the Joyce Holsey Award of Excellence from the Black Women Lawyer’s Association and has been recognized as one of the Arizona Foothills magazine’s “Women Who Move the Valley.” Since 2014, she has been recognized by Republic Media as one of the 50 Highest Ranking Women in Business in Arizona, by AzBusiness Magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Arizona, and has also received the Spotlight on Success Award from One Community for her commitment to diversity. In 2016, Lee was recognized by the Arizona Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel as Attorney of the Year for private, medium-sized companies. She was the recipient of the 2017 Positively Powerful Women Global Leader Award, and most recently Lee was recognized by the Sports Business Journal as a 2018 Game Changer.
Lee resides in Phoenix with her wife, Andrea Martinez.
