Vanja Černivec is General Manager of the WNBA’s Portland Fire.
Prior to launching the Portland Fire, Černivec served as Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Golden State Valkyries, engineering the strategy behind the most successful inaugural season for an expansion franchise in WNBA history.
As General Manager of the London Lions, her meticulous assembly of a championship-caliber culture culminated in a historic EuroCup Women’s title. Her groundbreaking career also includes serving as the Chicago Bulls’ first female international scout and spending six years accelerating elite athlete development pipelines globally within the NBA Academy Women’s Program.At the core of Černivec’s leadership philosophy is a commitment to sustainable excellence over short-term gains.
In orchestrating the revival of the Portland Fire, she has integrated an elite draft strategy—securing proven veteran standard-bearers alongside elite, world-class youth talent like Spain’s Iyana Martín. Černivec operates at the intersection of cultural cohesion and tactical innovation, viewing team identity as the primary driver of athletic performance.For high-performance leaders across industries, Černivec represents a case study in modern, global leadership. Her track record demonstrates how data-driven talent acquisition, cross-cultural collaboration, and a clear organizational vision can navigate expansion friction, align diverse stakeholders, and accelerate a business from a baseline blueprint into an elite, championship-ready organization.
