Fanatics Appoints Shiri Ben-Yishai as General Counsel
Fanatics, a leading global digital sports platform, has announced the appointment of Shiri Ben-Yishai as General Counsel. In this role, Shiri will oversee the full range of legal affairs across the entire Fanatics global enterprise, with areas including commerce, collectibles, betting and gaming, and NFT’s. As the first General Counsel that incorporates all areas of the expanded Fanatics business, she will serve as the senior chief legal officer of the organization, acting as an advisor as the company continues to explore new ventures and verticals across the broader sports ecosystem.
“We are thrilled to welcome Shiri Ben-Yishai as our new General Counsel and member of our growing executive leadership team for the global enterprise,” said Glenn H. Schiffman, Fanatics CFO. “Shiri is an extremely well-respected legal executive who brings more than two decades of experience negotiating and executing strategic M&A deals, deep public company experience, knowledge of the global legal landscape and high ethical standards to Fanatics as we continue to expand the business to support sports fans, teams and partners worldwide.”
Shiri joins Fanatics from MacAndrews & Forbes, where she most recently served as Chief Legal Officer. In that role, she oversaw legal, compliance and regulatory matters for its family office and holding company of a diversified portfolio of public and private companies, including governance, transactional and strategic affairs and partnerships, structuring, negotiation, and execution of M&A, complex licensing and joint venture agreements, financings, and other transactions.
“This is an incredibly exciting time to be joining Fanatics, and I can’t wait to help execute the company’s vision to completely reinvent the sports fan experience across a variety of areas,” said Ben-Yishai. “I look forward to working with the leadership team to support the Fanatics family of companies as they continue building for the future and delivering for fans and partners everywhere.”
After serving in the air force intelligence branch of the Israel Defense Forces, Shiri began her legal career at Gornitzky & Co. in Tel-Aviv. Upon moving to the United States, Shiri practiced corporate and M&A law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and before joining MacAndrews & Forbes served as Managing Director at UBS.
Shiri earned her law degree and Master of Laws from Tel-Aviv University and serves on the New York City Bar Association Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions & Corporate Control Contests.