Oakland Ballers announce 12 fans up for board seats

Jason Burke | Oct 31, 2024

Oakland Ballers

The Oakland Ballers have been all about the community since the beginning, and their most recent steps to involve Oakland and their fans with the team has been to elect a member of the fan-owners to serve as a fan-elected Board member. The Ballers received over 75 applications for the position, and from those 75, the team's staff has trimmed down the list to 12 finalists.

Those finalists are Allyson Yuen, Jade Le, Jesus Rosario, Jorge Leon, Nancy McGee, Pat Kelly, Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, Richard Eichmann, Sherina Rina Criswell, Trevor Frandsen, Will Kruse and Willis White.

Each of the 12 finalists has been invited to submit a campaign video by Monday, November 11 explaining why they deserve the vote of their fellow fan owners, sharing their vision and priorities in their own words. All fan investors, regardless of the amount they contributed to the initial crowdfunding effort, will be eligible to cast their vote for their top fan board member. 

Per the team, the applications showcased a wide range of personal and professional experiences including dedicated little league coaches, single moms, and small businesses owners. After careful review and thoughtful deliberation, the Oakland Ballers staff finally came to an agreement on the finalists.

Co-founder Bryan Carmel said in a statement, "To say we were thrilled with the number and diversity of applicants would be an understatement. We read applications from so many different community members, including a 15-year STEAM teacher in Oakland public schools, a former CEO of Pfizer, and a professor who studied the Savannah Bananas. There are so many candidates who would add tremendous value to our Board."

Paul Freedman, the Ballers' other co-founder added, "Initially we said we would choose up to 10 finalists because we were not sure how many people would even apply. As the applications poured in, we were like, okay we need to bump the number of finalists up because there are so many fantastic candidates to choose from! They all had one important thing in common though - a love for the game and for Oakland."

Next steps have not yet been announced, but the hope for the team is to have this new addition to the Board selected in December, so things will move fairly quickly once the videos are submitted.