Cynthia Marshall, a former head of AT&T operations in North Carolina who recently retired as chief diversity officer of the networking giant, has been hired by the NBA Dallas Mavericks in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.

The Mavericks called a press conference for this afternoon to introduce Marshall.

The move comes as the Mavericks, owned by tech entrepreneur Mark Cuban, react to a sexual harassment scandal.

”The process failed somewhere,” said Marshall, who retired from AT&T last May with more than 30 years of telecommunications experience going back to 1981 with Pacific Bell. ”I don’t know why it failed. And so that’s what we have to dig out. So I will be meeting one-on-one every single employee of the organization. I’m calling it my own `March Madness.”’

Marshall’s one-liner drew laughs during what was a mostly upbeat news conference for what seems to be a welcomed addition. Her arrival was praised by Rick Carlisle as ”dynamic” and ”charismatic” after Marshall met with him and was introduced to the players by their coach.

Her job is an important one.

Sources told The Dallas Morning News that Cuban made the decision to hire Marshall on Friday “in a capacity that will help lead the revitalization of the franchise.”

“It is believed Marshall’s title will be interim executive chairwoman, but the key is that she will run all non-basketball operations,” the newspaper said Saturday. “Marshall was introduced to front office members Friday.”

Marshall left her North Carolina post in 2012 to become AT&T’s vice president for human resources. She was named AT&T’s top diversity officer in 2015. Marshall led AT&T’s business operations from early 2007 through late 2012. Marshall was based in Dallas.

During her career, Marshall earned national recognition, having been recognized as one of the top 50 most powerful women in corporate America by Black Enterprise magazine. She held roles in operations, human resources, network engineering and planning, and regulatory/external affairs in a communications career stretching back for more than 30 years.

“Open secret”

Sports Illustrated broke the scandal story on Feb. 20.

“More than a dozen current and ex-employees characterize the Mavs’ hostile work environment—ranging from sexual harassment to domestic violence—as an ‘open secret,'” the magazine said.

“It’s wrong. It’s abhorrent. It’s not a situation we condone,” Cuban told the magazine. “I can’t tell you how many times, particularly since all this [#MeToo] stuff has been coming out recently, I asked our HR director, ‘Do we have a problem? Do we have any issues I have to be aware of?’ And the answer was no.”

The full story can be read online.

The Dallas newspaper report also is available online.