In his 14th season with the franchise, Leo is the key liaison between the Nets and the team's ownership group, led by Forest City Ratner Companies, which is responsible for bringing the franchise to the planned Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In addition to being involved with the team's plans for its new arena, Leo remains active in all aspects of Nets sales and marketing, as well as community and customer relations. Furthermore, Leo plays a major role in the organization's seamless relationship between business and basketball.

Prior to joining the Nets in 1996, Ehrline spent 19 years at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. He had a steady ascent up the corporate ladder, working his way from the accounting office and then the box office to eventually managing all marketing and sales efforts at the Meadowlands Arena, which has been named the IZOD CENTER, Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack.

A native of Medford, New Jersey, Leo graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1977. Residing in Ramsey, New Jersey, Leo and his wife, Kathy, have two sons, Leo, 21 a junior at St. Joseph Univ. in Philadelphia, and Johnny, 17, a senior at Don Bosco Prep.

Jeff Gewirtz joined the Nets in May 2007 as senior vice president and general counsel. Gewirtz' responsibilities include negotiating and executing all agreements as they relate to joint venture alliances, licensing, broadcasting, marketing, sponsorships, and other team-related transactions, as well as overseeing all other general legal affairs of the franchise and its future relocation to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Gewirtz is also responsible for the team's compliance with all NBA rules and regulations.

Prior to the Nets, Gewirtz, 39, served as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) general counsel and chief legal and government affairs officer where he oversaw all USOC legal matters, as well as the USOC's government relations activities with Congress and federal government agencies.

Before he joined the USOC, Gewirtz was counsel - sports & entertainment transactions, marketing and media in The Coca-Cola Company's Corporate Legal Division. Prior to that, Gewirtz was director of legal affairs for IOC Marketing and Television Services SA, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was a primary negotiator of global Olympic sponsorship alliances for the International Olympic Committee and for the Salt Lake and Athens Olympic Organizing Committee, respectively. He has also served as general counsel for the LPGA Tour and has worked in-house with the WTA Tour.

Gewirtz was formerly on the faculty of Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School, serving as an adjunct professor of sports law at both schools. He is currently Chair of the Sports Division within the American Bar Association's Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries and he sits on the Board of Directors of both the National Sports Law Institute and the Sports Lawyers Association. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Penn State Institute for Sports Law, Policy, and Research.

A native of Baldwin Harbor, NY, Gewirtz is a graduate of Tufts University, where he was a four-year member and 1990-91 captain of the Tufts varsity tennis team and received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, where he was the recipient of a three-year merit scholarship.

Entering his 10th season with the Nets, Fred Mangione was promoted to Senior Vice President of Season Sales and Marketing in January 2008. Mangione earned this position after serving as Vice President of Ticket Sales for the previous two and a half years.

Mangione oversees and manages the overall marketing business operations for the organization, including ticket sales and service, suites, premium seating and marketing. Additionally, Mangione is responsible for luxury suite sales for the Barclays Center, the planned home of the Nets in Brooklyn.

During his tenure as Vice President of Ticket Sales, Mangione managed a 50-person staff which broke team records in revenue and tickets sold.

Prior to joining the Nets, Mangione was the Director of Sales for the 1999 Women's World Cup Giants Stadium venue. Under his direction, over 78,000 seats were sold, making it the biggest non-football event ever attended at Giants Stadium. A native of Jefferson, New Jersey, Fred received his B.S. in business management and marketing from Centenary College.

He resides in Glen Rock, New Jersey with his wife Jennifer, daughter Madeline, and son Mason.

Entering his fifth full season with the Nets, Charlie Mierswa was named Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in March of 2005. Charged with overseeing the finance, box office and MIS departments, Mierswa's leadership is a key ingredient in management's vision of continuing to transform the front office into one of the most successful in all of professional sports.

Prior to joining the Nets, Mierswa was SVP Finance for Clear Channel's Music Division (currently named Live Nation), the largest SEC registered concert promoter, producer and venue operator for live entertainment events. Mierswa brings not only venue and event experience, but a strong accounting and finance background which he developed through almost 10 years at Ernst & Young, one of the largest CPA firms in the world.

Featured in the May 2009 issue of CFO Magazine, Mierswa was recognized for his extraordinary financial and operational knowledge that has been a key component to the success of the Nets management team.

Mierswa received his B.A. in economics and Spanish from Hamilton College and his Masters in accounting from New York University's Stern School of Business.

A long time Nets fan, Mierswa grew up watching the team on Long Island and has followed the team to New Jersey. Mierswa lives in Westfield, New Jersey with his wife, Julia, his daughter, Georgia, and son, Philip.

Entering his fifth season with the Nets, Brian Basloe was promoted to Vice President of Ticket Sales in June 2009. Basloe, 28, oversees all ticket sales, including the VIP Access and Experience Department, season tickets, group sales and inside sales. In total, Basloe manages a team of 60 people.

Prior to becoming Vice President, Basloe had served as Senior Director of Ticket Sales for the previous year. Basloe joined the Nets in April 2005 following a two-year stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his first four seasons with the Nets he generated the team's highest ticket revenue and co-managed several key ticket initiatives such as Influencers, Pancakes & Hoops, and Home Away From Home.

A native of New Hartford, NY, Basloe graduated from Duke University with B.A. in economics and public policy. Basloe currently lives in Manhattan with his wife Lindsay.

Barry Baum is in his fifth full season as the Nets Vice President of Business & Entertainment Communications. Baum serves as the spokesperson for the team's business side and is responsible for all aspects of corporate, entertainment, and community communications for the team. Baum, 40, has secured significant business and entertainment coverage for the Nets in publications and media outlets, such as Newsweek, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and CNBC. In addition, Baum is also part of the public relations effort for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the planned home of the Nets.

Prior to joining the Nets, Baum was a publicist for more than three years with Dan Klores Communications, a public relations firm in New York.

Baum was a sportswriter from 1994-2001 at the New York Post, during which time he broke a host of major stories covering professional, college and high school teams. Baum was featured in a Sports Illustrated cover story in 1996 regarding his reporting, and has been an expert commentator on several national and local television and radio shows.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Baum was a ballboy for the New York Knicks from 1984-87, and hosted a talk show about basketball on Manhattan Cable from 1985-87. He received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992. He resides in Brooklyn with his wife, Emily, and their two sons, Noah and Hayden.

In joining the Nets in May 1999 as the finance assistant, Blanco, 29, has worked her way up the ranks and was promoted to Vice President, Human Resources in July, 2009. She had previously served as Executive Director of the Human Resources department.

Blanco, who created the Human Resources department in 2005, is responsible for managing, developing, and overseeing all of the benefits, employee morale programs, policies and procedures, hiring process, career development, and payroll for the organization.

One of Blanco's major achievements was overseeing the 2008 Nets Job Bank Resume Program, in which the Nets provided unemployed fans with the opportunity to have their résumés sent to all of the team's sponsors, as well as free Nets tickets. The initiative received national media coverage, including on Good Morning America and CNN.

Blanco has a BS in business administration, with a concentration in finance, from Montclair State University. She lives in Edgewater, NJ.

Promoted to Vice President of Corporate Sales & Partnership Marketing in May, 2007, Chris Brahe is charged with bringing best-in-class brands into the Nets family of sponsors as well as overseeing the relationships with the current sponsors.

Brahe, who joined Nets Basketball for the second time in April, 2005 as the Vice President of Corporate Sales, started his professional career with the Nets in 1994, and by 1999, held the position of Director of Ticket Sales.

Prior to joining the Nets for his second stint, Brahe had spent the previous six years at NASCAR's corporate marketing headquarters in Manhattan where he sold corporate sponsorships for the league. Brahe's most recent post at NASCAR was as the Director of Industry Marketing, in which he managed all of NASCAR's team sponsorship sales efforts.

A native of New York City, Chris received his B.S. from Bryant College in Rhode Island. He currently resides in Manhattan with his wife, Patty, and son, Tyler.

Entering her fifth full season with the Nets, Petra Pope was promoted to Vice President of Entertainment and Event Marketing in May, 2007. Pope, 45, is an innovator in the specialized discipline of entertainment and special events for the sports industry.

Pope is responsible for the Nets in-game entertainment experience, including the Nets Dancers, NETSational Seniors, Nets Kids, Team Hype, music, video production, costumes, lighting, halftime, and Sly and Mini Sly, the mascots. She also oversees the team's community relations department, including the Nets Basketball Development program that directs clinics for children, as well as the team's special events, such as Ticket Influencers, Basketbowl - the Nets charity bowling event -- Draft Night party and the open practice.

In 1991, Pope launched the Knicks City Dancers and spent 14 years with the Knicks before joining the Nets in 2005. While with the Knicks she produced on-court entertainment and was also responsible for creating the first children's dance team for the Knicks and New York Liberty and the first Dance Camp in the NBA.

Prior to joining the Knicks, Pope was the manager of the Laker Girls from 1983-89.

Pope, who was born in Niederweisel, Germany, is a black belt in karate. She lives in Secaucus, New Jersey.