The Milwaukee Bucks announced Friday that Steve Brandes has been named president of the newly-formed Bucks D-League team located in Oshkosh, Wis. Brandes will oversee all business aspects and day-to-day operations of the Bucks D-League team, which is slated to begin play for the 2017-18 season.

“Steve shares our vision for what this team can mean on and off the court to Oshkosh and the broader Fox Valley community,” Bucks President Peter Feigin said. “He is seasoned sports executive with a proven track record of success in the NBA D-League, and we’re thrilled to have him join our team.”

“I am very excited to have Steve coming aboard,” added Greg Pierce of Fox Valley Pro Basketball. “We are blessed to have someone with his experience, talent and enthusiasm here to lead the team in Oshkosh. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership between our arena and Steve and his team.”

Brandes most recently spent the last 14 seasons in the front office of the NBA D-League’s Idaho Stampede (now the Salt Lake City Stars), where he served as president and general manager for the final 10 of those seasons. In 2015, the Utah Jazz purchased the Stampede and retained Brandes as president, where he played a vital role in the successful relocation of the Stampede from Idaho to Salt Lake City in 2016.

“I’m extremely honored to be chosen by the Bucks to spearhead their new enterprise in Oshkosh and I look forward to entrenching myself and my family into the Fox River Valley,” Brandes said. “I can’t wait to meet our fan base and future partners as we build a product that will make this community proud.”

In his 14 seasons with the Stampede, Brandes helped facilitate the team’s NBA affiliations with the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz, and served as the main liaison with both NBA parent clubs during their respective affiliated seasons with the Stampede. In 2006, Brandes helped move the team from the Continental Basketball Association to the NBA D-League, and was instrumental in transitioning the team to a new arena in 2005. Brandes started with the Stampede in 2002 as an Account Executive and moved his way up the ranks, serving as Director of Sales & Game Operations and Assistant General Manager before being named President and General Manager in 2006.

An Amherst, Ohio native, Brandes was recognized as an Accomplished Under 40 honoree by the Idaho Business Review in June of 2015 for his efforts in the community after he helped run the Idaho Stampede Community Foundation, which was awarded the 2014 Most Outstanding Foundation Award by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Prior to his time with the Stampede, Brandes worked for TCI/Mainstream Marketing in Portland, Ore., and with ASC Group, a cultural and environmental resource consultant group based in Columbus, Ohio, that specializes in archaeology, architectural history, ecology and environmental series in the Midwest. Brandes is a College of Wooster alumnus where he played on the men’s basketball team and was a part of the Kappa Chi fraternity.