Katie Haas has been named CEO of the Western & Southern Open, one of only five premier events globally to host an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournament in the same week at the same venue. Haas is currently the only female to hold the Chief Executive role at such a professional tennis event.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the Western & Southern Open as it continues its growth within the tennis world and our community,” Haas said. “It is a privilege to host not only the world’s best tennis players but also the sport’s greatest fans each year. We are fortunate to have a supportive group of partners and I am eager to continue working with them on innovations as we create an incredible atmosphere on and off the court.”

Haas, who joined the Western & Southern Open as its first COO in 2018, will oversee all aspects of the event in her new role, including all business operations, broadcast operations, player relations and the overall fan experience.

Her tenure as COO included securing a renewal from Cincinnati’s Western & Southern Financial Group, the event’s title sponsor since 2002, to extend the longest running naming rights agreement of a North American tennis tournament to 2024. Among the new enhancements to launch in 2022, the Western & Southern Open will feature digital back wall signage, which will upgrade the broadcast and sponsor opportunities for the tournament.

Due to COVID-19, the 2020 Western & Southern Open was held in New York City and marked the first joint ATP and WTA tournament following the pandemic’s suspension of play. In 2021, Haas led the event’s successful return to its home in Cincinnati, which was the first combined event in North America to be held without attendance limitations.

Haas came to the Western & Southern Open after 15 years within the Boston Red Sox organization where she was Vice President, Florida Business Operations. In that role she was responsible for all Red Sox Spring Training-related business as well as the construction and operation of the club’s Fort Myers, Fla., facility which includes a Player Development Complex and an adjacent multi-use property that hosts year-round programming featuring non-baseball events. She also oversaw the Red Sox Foundation locally in Lee County.

Prior to joining the club’s Florida operations in 2009, she served as the Red Sox Senior Manager, Business Affairs in Boston overseeing game day operations while also managing ancillary events at Fenway Park and the team’s environmental program. A graduate of Northeastern University, Haas previously worked in sponsorship services with the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats.

She currently is a member of the board of directors of Cincinnati’s Activities Beyond the Classroom and the Port Authority of Mason, Ohio while she previously served on the boards of the Community Cooperative, the Naples Zoo, the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida, and the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, where she was Vice Chair.

The Western & Southern Open is one of five events to host concurrent top tier tour tournaments at the same venue, along with Indian Wells, Calif., Madrid, Miami and Rome. The 2021 singles championships were won by Ashleigh Barty and Alexander Zverev while the doubles titles were claimed by Sam Stosur & Zhang Shuai and Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos.

Held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, the 2022 tournament will take place Aug. 13-21. Since becoming a single-week tournament featuring both tours in 2011, the Western & Southern Open has attracted more than 1.8 million spectators. The tournament is broadcast to more than 50 million viewers in over 160 countries.

Full series ticket packages with access to all sessions of the tournament as well as multi-day mini plans for the 2022 Western & Southern Open will go on sale Thursday, Feb. 24, on the tournament’s website.