FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8/17/2021 CONTACT: Garin Narain, Hawks Communications, (404) 395-0710

HAWKS & STATE FARM ARENA HIRE JOEL BROWNING AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER NBA TMBO Executive Brings More Than 20 Years of Finance Expertise to Hawks’ Leadership Team

ATLANTA – Today the & State Farm Arena announced that Joel Browning has been hired as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In his new role, Browning will oversee the accounting, finance, information technology and analytics departments of both the Hawks and State Farm Arena while playing a leadership role in the strategic development of future large- scale projects. He will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Steve Koonin.

Browning joins the Hawks from the NBA where he was a vice president in its Team Marketing & Business Operations (TMBO) department and served as an account manager and dedicated sales, marketing and business operations consultant for the Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, , 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings. During his time at TMBO, he was a key contributor to the NBA’s record-setting operating performance, served as the primary point of contact between TMBO and NBA Finance on Advisory Finance Committee matters as well as the NBA’s game scheduling committee, and crafted design and monetization strategies for multiple NBA arena capital projects, including State Farm Arena. Browning played a leadership role on a team that was honored by the NBA with the 2019 Commissioner’s Award for Innovation for contributing to the NBA’s strategic partnership with Homecourt, a leading AI basketball app designed to scale global skills development.

“Joel adds a wealth of institutional NBA knowledge and high-level business and finance expertise to our executive team. For the past five years as our TMBO representative, he’s played an integral role in many of our key decisions, providing tremendous counsel and insight. We are thrilled to have him join us full-time in Atlanta,” Koonin said.

“I am so excited to join the Hawks & State Farm Arena at this incredible time for the franchise. Since Tony Ressler purchased the team, the Hawks made investments necessary to be a first-class franchise and have transformed their brand into an important staple of the Atlanta community,” Browning said. “After working with Steve and their talented executive team over the past five years, I am eager to join the group and contribute.”

Prior to his time at the league office, Browning served as vice president, business operations & strategy for the and Palace Sports and Entertainment (PS&E). As a member of their executive committee, he drove the corporate strategy initiatives for PS&E Vice Chairman Arn Tellem and developed the financial projections that provided rationale for moving into . Browning also implemented several ticket sales/suite strategic pricing initiatives leading to record highs in revenue and drove the financial analysis related to key strategic partnerships with Ticketmaster, Levy Restaurants and Live Nation, which resulted in PS&E entertainment setting record highs in profit.

Prior to his time at the league office and with the Pistons, Browning spent 10 years in finance roles, serving as a Media Investment Banking Analyst for J.P. Morgan and a Vice President for Bergman Group, a Los Angeles-based family investment office.

The native received his undergraduate degree at Boston University before completing his M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

# TrueToAtlanta #

ABOUT THE ATLANTA HAWKS Committed to entertaining and uniting the city of Atlanta since 1968, the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena, under the leadership of Principal Owners Tony Ressler and Jami Gertz, continue to build bridges through basketball by following its True to Atlanta mantra. On the court, the Hawks’ exciting young core is led by All-Star point guard Trae Young as the organization received the NBA’s top ranking in overall in-game experience for the last two seasons. Off the court, the Hawks organization focuses on positively impacting the lives of Atlantans through providing access to youth basketball, fighting food insecurity, and the recent transformation of State Farm Arena into Georgia’s largest-ever voting precinct for the 2020 elections. The Hawks family also includes the College Park Skyhawks (NBA G League) and Hawks Talon Gaming Club (NBA 2K League). Atlanta Hawks Membership, which includes your seat for every home game for the 2020-21 regular season, is on sale now at www.hawks.com/membership or by calling 866-715- 1500. For more information on the Hawks, log on to www.hawks.com or follow us on social media @ATLHawks.

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