Now in his 20th season with the Phoenix Suns organization, Vince Kozar is the President of Business Operations of the Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) and Valley Suns (NBA G League). Kozar was named to the role of president after serving as Chief Operating Officer of the then-Arena Sports Group since 2018, which at the time oversaw the organization’s interests in the Mercury, NBA G League’s Northern Arizona Suns (until 2020) and Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers (until 2023). He was promoted to that role following three-plus seasons as the Mercury’s Vice President of Business Operations.
Kozar oversees all aspects of the franchises’ day-to-day business operations, reporting to Phoenix Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein, and works cross-departmentally on the business’s three core pillars of revenue generation, brand awareness, and community impact, which includes ticket sales and service, partnership development and activation, public relations and social responsibility, social media and website content, brand marketing, overall messaging and communications, and the in-arena experience.
He joined the Suns and Mercury organization in 2004 as an intern and has worked on the business sides of both properties. After serving as the communications manager for the Mercury’s title run in 2007, Kozar spent six seasons in the Suns’ basketball communications department. He returned to the Mercury in 2013 as the then newly-created director of communications and creative strategies in order to take a more active role in the team’s business operations, before being named vice president in 2014. Kozar and staff earned the WNBA’s prestigious President’s Award in 2014 after winning the team’s third championship, hosting the WNBA All-Star Game, and leading the league in attendance. They were second runner-up in the WNBA’s Franchise of the Year competition in 2017 and 2018, and hosted what was widely regarded as the best All-Star Game in WNBA history in Summer 2024.
Kozar was a selection to the Phoenix Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” in 2017 and The Athletic’s “40 Under 40: Rising Stars in Women’s Basketball” in 2021, an American Cancer Society “Game Changer” in 2022, a Phoenix TITAN honoree in 2023, and was honored as a Spotlight Local Hero by ONE Community in 2017. He serves on ONE Community’s Multicultural Board, ASU's Sports Business Advisory Board and was a board member at Valley Youth Theater.
A native of Scottsdale and a resident of Phoenix, Kozar is a graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.