And, she candidly admits, she’s more into the numbers about operating an efficient organization than she’s into the players’ on-field stats.

Water cooler chatter in the MLBPA office presents something of a challenge: “What happened on the field last night? I probably didn’t see that game,” she concedes. “I would likely have more interest in how we did at the gate.”

But, she hastens to add, “I’ve developed a huge appreciation and love for the game, the players, and the fanbase.”

So there she is every day, fielding calls from agents for the sport’s top players (and sometimes the players themselves), handling licensing and royalty distributions to athletes, overseeing investment, tax, and accounting for the union, automating its finances and workflow, and redefining the CFO role into a more strategic function as MLBPA grows and professionalizes.

The union’s latest growth arena is also one of her newest passions and responsibilities: helping to transition the game’s 5,500 Minor League players into MLBPA’s union operations. Most of them have been historically low-paid, earning less than $5000 a year, and from varied backgrounds including Latin America.  In September 2022 they unionized, joining the MLBPA, and last March the union negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in minor league history.

Already the newly unionized young players in the farm system are reaping financial benefits from their affiliation:  Salaries for all minor leaguers doubled under the new agreement.

The expansion quadruples the number of athletes for whom Mays-Russell provides financial stewardship. Many of those young prospects who eventually make it to the big show will earn substantial money from licensing and marketing deals. Mays-Russell oversees the financial end of that MLBPA business for the players, and she makes it her business to support not only the celebrity superstars but all players.

It's a long way from the lab bench at GE Plastics where Mays-Russell started out, developing high-temperature formulations for airplanes and automobiles after studying polymer science at Cornell’s engineering school.

A stint in business development for GE sparked the discovery that she preferred problem-solving and working with people over working with chemicals. So it was off to Wharton for a master’s degree in business, and a career pivot into management consulting.

Then, a surprise twist: while helping a sideline family sports business, she identified a startup opportunity with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). The young league needed additional financial acumen to drive its growth, and before long Mays-Russell was a senior director introducing analytics and systems to fuel the expansion.

She later joined Scholastic, the publishing and media company, as vice president overseeing strategic planning and development, reporting, and financial performance. But sports finance resurfaced when she became the National  Lacrosse League’s first chief financial officer.  Always with an eye toward new challenges and experiences, Mays-Russell next took an opportunity to drive strategic initiatives for New York’s MTA and New York City Transit – another start-up role.  Her mission there: use data and an analytic approach to drive operational efficiency.