The Hawks end their season tonight, but the front-office shake-up began a day early.

New CEO Bernie Mullin announced in a memo to employees late Tuesday that three of the Hawks' top executives --- director of ticket sales Barry Gibson, director of marketing and civic affairs Dexter Santos and controller/business manager Greg Weigandt --- are leaving the club, effective immediately.

In the memo, Mullin attributed their departures to "restructuring of the organization to provide one consolidated business operation for the [Hawks and Thrashers], which has led to elimination of several positions."

Additionally, Mullin said that Hawks executive vice president Lee Douglas will move into a new position as Atlanta Spirit executive VP of business and community development. Atlanta Spirit is the entity that recently bought the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena rights.

According to the memo, Douglas "will be responsible for strengthening our existing relationships within the community as well as forging new partnerships."