The Portland Fire announced Monday that Golden State Valkyries vice president of basketball operations Vanja Cernivec will be the WNBA expansion franchise's inaugural general manager.

The Portland Fire have finally hired someone to lead their basketball operations department. The nascent WNBA franchise on Monday named Vanja Černivec as its first general manager, tabbing an existing league executive with experience in building an expansion roster to guide one of its most important leadership roles.