WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end of the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.

Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries.

"Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league's 30-year history," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday when announcing Engelbert's decision.