In his seventh season as the Vice President and General Manager of the Connecticut Sun, Chris Sienko directs the business and basketball operations for one of the most successful franchises in the WNBA. For the first time in team history, the Sun registered three sellouts in the 2008 season.

Working closely with Coach Mike Thibault, Sienko has been extremely aggressive during each offseason, using trades and free agent signings to build a team that has qualified for the playoffs every year since the franchise relocated from Orlando following the 2002 WNBA season.

Last season, Connecticut defied preseason predictions, surpassing 20 wins for the third time in six years. The Sun were the first team to qualify for the WNBA playoffs, earning a spot on August 29th.

Nine of the 11 trades in franchise history have happened while Sienko has been the GM of the Sun. Last season, trades brought Barbara Turner, Tamika Whitmore and Tamika Raymond to Connecticut , while previous trades netted Margo Dydek, Asjha Jones and Lindsay Whalen. Sienko was instrumental in helping to sign Svetlana Abrosimova, an unrestricted free agent who joined the Sun following the Olympics in Beijing.

Off the court, Sienko negotiated a new multi-year television contract with WTNH Channel 8 and MyTV9 that led to eight local game broadcasts in 2008, the most ever in Sun history.

Sienko was charged with overseeing a hectic transition period that began when the Mohegan Tribe purchased the Orlando Miracle on Jan. 28, 2003. In the 95 days between that announcement and the Sun’s first preseason game against the New York Liberty, Sienko traded for Connecticut icon Rebecca Lobo, hired coach Mike Thibault and the rest of the Sun front office staff, helped negotiate the team’s radio and television contracts and managed all of the other day-to-day business functions of the franchise, including player contracts and personnel moves for the team. In addition to his role as GM for the Sun, Sienko was concurrently directing all sporting events for the property, including boxing, wrestling, college and professional basketball, bowling, billiards and more.

Sienko was the impetus behind the creation of the Connecticut Sun Foundation, a not-for-profit founded in 2007. The Foundation awards an annual scholarship and helps high-risk individuals in our community. He has served on the board of the Foundation since its inception.

Sienko sits on several different committees for the WNBA including the Competition Committee, Rules and Regulations, Marketing, Advertising and Sponsorship. He is also on an advisory committee, made up of all the COO’s in the league.

This summer, Chris will be overseeing his second WNBA All-Star game, to be hosted at Mohegan Sun Arena in July.

Prior to joining Mohegan Sun, Sienko was an integral part in the start up of another professional sports team, the ABL’s New England Blizzard, where he served as vice president of marketing, then general manager. He also was president of the Arthur Robert Group, a small advertising agency in Connecticut for eight years, before becoming vice president of marketing for thePit.com, which was successfully sold to Topps, Inc. in 2000.

Sienko is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.