diff --git a/shared/people_import.py b/shared/people_import.py
index 0ca84ca68a9a649cc8e0335dfa53213c3dd9e8cb..7c7b64be50d5bdd7508e5802270c6c05bc02f86e 100644
--- a/shared/people_import.py
+++ b/shared/people_import.py
@@ -454,8 +454,9 @@ class PeopleTeamImporter(ImporterMixin):
             if node["node"]["memberships"] is None:
                 continue
             
-            for membership in node["node"]["memberships"].sort(
-                key=lambda membership: membership["roleOrder"],
+            for membership in sorted(
+                node["node"]["memberships"],
+                key=lambda membership: int(membership.get("roleOrder", 0)),
                 reverse=True
             ):
                 # Can't do this in the query (yet), so just filter here