Cynthia "Cynt" Marshall, the Mavericks' new interim CEO, wasted no time Monday asserting her new Mark Cuban-accorded authority over the scandal-stricken Dallas Mavericks franchise.

Here's how take-charge Marshall was during her introductory news conference at American Airlines Center: Virtually every time Cuban was asked a direct question by a reporter, he first looked at Marshall, who was seated next to him, before answering. On several occasions Marshall interrupted and spoke for her new boss.

When was the last time Cuban was the least talkative person in any gathering, much less one that involved reporters? Of course, Marshall's striking charm and decisiveness also were clearly convenient for Cuban during a 30-minute press conference in which he deflected any attempt to ask him hard questions.

Cuban declined to address his feelings about last week's published Sports Illustrated investigation that revealed allegations of sexual misconduct within the Mavericks' organization, most notably against former CEO Terdema Ussery. Nor would Cuban say how much he knew, if anything, about the internal investigation the franchise conducted into Ussery's behavior in August of 1998, 17 months before Cuban purchased the team.

Marshall, however, didn't mince words when asked what she thought about the S.I. revelations.

"I was disgusted," she said.

The S.I. story was published online last Tuesday night. The following day, Marshall said, she received a phone call and text messages from Cuban, urgently trying to reach her. When she finally called Cuban back, she said she could meet him at 4 p.m. at the Mavericks' offices.

"I did a little bit of research on my way [to the office]," she said. "I told my husband, 'I need you to drive because I've got to do a little research right now.'

"I actually didn't know what I was going to be walking into. You read the stories and you start to get a picture. And honestly I didn't know what was going to happen when that door opened. What I found was just the opposite of what I thought. I was disgusted with what the allegations of what had happened in the past and all that. There's no place for it at all. And you have zero tolerance."

Cuban's response when asked how he felt about the allegations basically summed up every answer he gave Monday: "Today's not the time for me to talk about anything. This is about us moving forward. And the investigators have talked to me. They'll talk to everybody. And we'll get a report from them on everything."

Last Wednesday, the Mavericks announced they had hired Evan Krutoy and Anne Milgrim to lead an independent investigation into the organization. Krutoy served as a Manhattan District Attorney's office prosecutor for more than 20 years. Milgrim is a Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law.

Now it's clear that Marshall, 58, a high-profile executive during a 36-year career at AT&T that ended with her retirement on May 17, will put her imprint on the organization. Though her title is "interim CEO," she and Cuban said she will be given the opportunity to remove the "interim" designation. Marshall told The News that part of the reason for the interim tag is that she has some leftover responsibilities from the "Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion, Culture Transformation and overall optimization of people" consulting firm she founded after leaving AT&T.

"I'm honored to have been asked by Mark to join him in addressing some very serious issues," Marshall said. "I'm saddened, and I'll say that again, I'm very saddened that issues of domestic violence and sexual harassment are so prominent in our society and allegations have surfaced once again in our organization.

"Mark has been transparent, and accountable, in his remarks to the media. But I want you to know that behind the scenes, we are also responding."

It's true that some of Cuban's comments to Sports Illustrated and ESPN in the published investigation's immediate aftermath reflected accountability. However, on Monday, in his first public appearance since the S.I. report and his first supposed "availability" to Dallas-Fort Worth media and, by extension, Mavericks fans, said virtually nothing.

Marshall, less than one week into her Mavericks tenure, had no problem expressing her disgust and disappointment about the allegations while Cuban, the franchise's owner of 18 years, couldn't say a peep? Cuban apparently now hopes that the swift hiring of Marshall and the independent investigators will be be enough.

However, Marshall vowed, and Cuban concurred, that the results of the investigation will be made public.

Marshall said she has identified three immediate areas of focus: the investigation, culture transformation and operational effectiveness.

"I am determined, and Mark is determined, that the Dallas Mavericks will be the standard," she said. "We're laying out a vision that says by 2019 the Dallas Mavericks will be the standard. We will be leading the way in inclusion and diversity.

"That's what Mark wants. I will fail if we're in a [sordid] headline a year from now. I will have failed. The team will have failed."

Cuban said he contacted Marshall after AT&T's leadership reached out to him, saying, as he put it, "that their most devastating day at AT&T is when Cynt left." After the news conference, Cuban said that Marshall will be oversee all aspects of the organization that are not basketball-operations related.

Marshall, who has four children, all adopted, grew up in the housing projects of Richmond, Calif. She said that at 11 she witnessed her father shooting a man in the head in self-defense. Marshall said the man had been pointing a pistol at her.

Marshall's father left the family four years later. Marshall said she herself has been a victim of domestic violence, as was her mother.

Marshall graduated from California-Berkeley with degrees in Business Administration and Human Resources Management. During her decorated career at AT&T, one of her proudest accomplishments was spearheading the work that for the first time placed AT&T, in 2017, on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

Marshall also is a cancer survivor. At age 51 she was told she had stage-3 colon cancer and only had months to live. She beat cancer and continued to build her career at AT&T. She told The News that as recently as two weeks ago she and her husband, Kenneth, had been house-hunting in North Carolina, preparing for a move from Dallas.

Then she started having second thoughts. Kenneth, it turns out, wondered, as well, asking why they seemed to be rushing into retirement.

Cynthia Marshall said that when Cuban first phoned her, she was wearing sweats "of another basketball team." She missed the call and Cuban left a voice message.

"He said he was Mark Cuban," she said. "And I said, 'OK, who's that.' I didn't know. I just did not know him. My kids know him. They know 'Shark Tank.' When I told them I had talked to him, they said, 'Mom, you missed Mark Cuban's call?'"

After going to a previously scheduled doctor's appointment, she went to the Mavericks' business office.

"And I walked in that office at 4 o'clock and I'm telling you, a receptionist was there, smiling, it's like they just waiting for me," she said. "And truly it was they said a calming spirit just came over them. And I went and sat in his office and we (Cuban) talked face to face, after a big hug, we talked face to face for 52 minutes. And I know that because I'm using my phone all the time. When I walked out, I'm like, 'OK, what time is it? 4:52.'

"And what impressed me, what really made me say yes, of course, I always talk about being MAD, M-A-D, Making A Difference. I said this is my opportunity to actually be a part of the solution with a lot of other people who are trying to help with this issue. Once stories came out and they matched exactly from the things that Mark told me, he was so transparent and so honest. I can't go into all the details of the conversation. But I knew I was meeting with a person of integrity.

"And I told him, I said, 'I have to think about this.' I'm a brand. I work very hard for the brand that I have. And I can't attach my brand to something I can't trust and something that is not reliable and something that, I don't mind flaws because I think we're all flawed to some degree, we all have things to work through. But if it lacks integrity, I can't attach my brand to it."

After meeting more Mavericks employees and doing more research, she decided the Mavericks are in fact a company on which she can attach her brand.

It won't happen overnight and it won't come easily, though. The Mavericks' brand has been severely tarnished by the S.I. investigation.

Asked what breakdowns occurred within the organization to allow the alleged sexual misconduct, Marshall said she hasn't been with the organization long enough to know that answer.

"What I will tell is based on what I have been told and what I've read, and I do read what you guys write, and also what Mark has told me, the process failed," she said. "The process failed somewhere. And I don't know if it was because the process wasn't robust. I don't know why it failed.

"And so that's what we have to dig out."

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