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Kansas City Current hire president from Los Angeles Lakers front office

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(Courtesy of the Kansas City Current)

The Kansas City Current announced Tuesday that the club has hired Allison Howard as its first president.

Howard joins the Current after 10 years with the Los Angeles Lakers. She spent her last five years with the NBA franchise as vice president of corporate partnerships, and in that role she helped the team surpass $250 million in revenue.

“We are thrilled to welcome Allison to lead our front office team and the overall business,” Current co-owner Angie Long said in a statement. “Her drive, ambition and history of success in the NBA and in corporate America is an incredible asset on our path to becoming the best women’s soccer club in the world.”

Prior to joining the Lakers, Howard served as vice president at Premier Partnerships, selling and managing naming rights partnerships across the country. Additionally, she served on the Women in Sports and Events Los Angeles board for 10 years and was recognized by the organization as a “Woman of Inspiration.”

“I am incredibly excited to get started with the Current,” Howard said in a statement. “From our first conversation, [team owners] have made it clear that their priority is building the best environment for the players and the fans. I am thrilled to lead this organization as we live out that vision, beginning with the commitment to build the first soccer specific stadium in the NWSL, which will catapult this team to another level that has not been reached to date.”

Howard will begin her tenure with Kansas City immediately.

The Current have had a rough start to the year on the field, sitting in 11th place in the NWSL standings with a 0-1-3 record. They did make it to the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup, where they lost to eventual champion North Carolina.