TORONTO, Ontario, Canada – For several years there has been speculation that Teresa Resch would become the first female General Manager in NBA history.
That may still happen, but recently Resch was in the running to become the first GM of an NHL team.
Resch interviewed with the Chicago Blackhawks last month about their vacant position. The team eventually stuck with Kyle Davidson, who had the position on an interim basis.
Resch is Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Development for the Toronto Raptors.
She joined the Raptors in 2013 and has been crucial in the 2019 NBA champions establishing one of the best front offices in the league. Even head coach Nick Nurse isn’t surprised that Resch is getting attention from other organizations in a completely different sport.
“It doesn't surprise me at all that she would be a candidate and got interviewed, and it wouldn't surprise me at all -- if that's what she wants to do -- if she got offered the job,” Nurse said shortly after Resch had interviewed with Chicago.
Nurse has worked with Resch in Toronto’s collaborative decision-making structure for four seasons has head coach and five more when he was an assistant to former Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.
“(She is a) super high-level visionary-type thinker, long-term planner. Is right there by our leaders' sides making all the big decisions on a lot of things. Practice facilities. All-Star weekends. Oversees games and all those things. So she's got a really good feel for running a big-time organization.”
Her secret?
“You have to speak up, even if your voice shakes,” Resch told Sportsnet in a 2020 interview about how she managed to rise as a young, female executive in sports, where there have been precious few role models.
Kim Ng became the first woman general manager in the four major men’s professional sports in North America when she was hired by the Miami Marlins in 2020 after decades in the industry.
Resch played volleyball, basketball and golf at JCC and went on to play volleyball at Augustana.
She met Toronto President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri when she worked for the NBA head office with a focus on the league’s Basketball Without Borders program. Resch was the first of 14 women hired by Ujiri who were still working for the organization when the Raptors won the league title in 2019.
When Ujiri got approval from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to build a standalone, state-of-the-art practice facility for the Raptors, it was Resch who delivered the $65-million dream-works project, making it happen on budget and on time so that tours were available for visiting NBA decision-makers when they arrived in Toronto for All-Star weekend in 2016.
Resch drew on that experience when it fell to her to outfit a 65,000-square-foot ballroom in a still under-construction hotel in downtown Tampa as a world-class practice facility in the space of one month in late 2020 after it was determined the Raptors would have to temporarily relocate due to the pandemic.
“Everything takes time and we had none of it,” said Resch then. “So, you’re on pins and needles hoping everything happens and most of it did. You have faith in it.”
She nailed it, which is just one reason the Raptors front office has become so dependent on her.
Resch’s gift for logistics and pushing through on seemingly impossible projects is only one of her qualities, however.
She has progressively become more ingrained in the Raptors decision-making processes on the basketball side.
Resch is at the table during the trade deadline and draft, and her judgement has earned her a voice on player personnel decisions throughout the season.