ATLANTA –- Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club Senior Vice President of Community, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Nzinga Shaw, received recognition by being named to the Leaders Under 40 list by Leaders and Aspire Academy on Oct. 3 in London. The annual award, which honored its third class of recipients at the Natural History Museum, celebrates the best talent under the age of 40 years of age in the business of sport around the world.
“Since her first day with our organization, Nzinga Shaw has made an incredibly positive impact on our company’s culture and our efforts to connect authentically with the Atlanta community,” said Steve Koonin, CEO, Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club. “We are proud to have her as a colleague and thrilled that she continues to receive recognition for her success.”
Recently, Shaw was recognized as one of SportsBusiness Journal’s Game Changers. On Thursday, Sept. 14, professionals from across the sports industry convened at the Marriott Marquis, Times Square to discuss the multiple ways in which women intersect with sports. In addition, Shaw was named to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 under 40. The recipients will be honored on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the Foundry at Puritan Mill in Atlanta. Atlanta Business Chronicle chooses 40 leaders by selecting recipients who have made significant career achievements and have demonstrated social responsibility.
In London, Shaw was one of seven award recipients in the Leadership category, joining executives from global companies such as Netball Scotland, the Romanian Football Federation, and the International Paralympic Committee, among others. Leaders highlighted Shaw for being a driving force of organizational change through diversity and for developing a strategy to embed diversity and inclusion in all programmatic activity, governance and daily administration.
Shaw is a recipient of several industry awards during her tenure with the Hawks, including The Network Journal’s “40 Under Forty,” PRWeek’s “40 Under 40,” Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Women Who Mean Business,” National Medical Fellowships 2016 “Diversity Excellence Leader” award, the Society for Diversity’s 2017 “Innovation and Inclusion Leadership Award for an Individual,” and the SCLC/W.O.M.E.N., Inc.’s Drum Major for Justice Award.
Shaw is an alumna of Spelman College, the University of Pennsylvania and was a study abroad scholar at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Under her leadership, she has formed the club’s first-ever Diversity & Inclusion Council consisting of internal and external stakeholders.