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Terdema Ussery

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Terdema L. Ussery II
NationalityAmerican
EducationPrinceton University, Harvard University, Yale University[citation needed], University of California at Berkeley,

Terdema Lamar Ussery II (born December 4, 1958) is a former president and CEO of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks. During that time, he also served as president of the Dallas Mavericks Foundation as well as an alternate governor for the Mavericks on the NBA Board of Governors.[1] Ussery left the Mavericks in 2015 to become the president of global sports categories at Under Armour, but resigned after three months. He is a key figure in a February 2018 Sports Illustrated exposé on alleged sexual harassment within the Dallas Mavericks organization.

Career

Ussery was born in Los Angeles[2] and grew up in the Watts–Compton section of South Central Los Angeles, California, and attended The Thacher School in Ojai, California. In 1981, he earned a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, where he was a football team walk-on. Ussery obtained a master's degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1984. His law degree is from UC Berkeley, where he served as an executive editor of the California Law Review.[3]

Ussery practiced business law at the international firm of Morrison and Foerster representing Bank of America and the Industrial Bank of Japan, among others. He moved to Denver to become the deputy commissioner and general counsel of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) on the invitation of then-commissioner Irv Kaze.[4] Ussery eventually became CBA Commissioner, the first African American to operate a professional sports league. His two-and-a-half-year term was highlighted by a rapid increase in franchise value and overall league-wide financial stability. While serving as CBA commissioner, Ussery's accomplishments were profiled in Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and a host of other national publications.[citation needed]

In August 1993, Ussery was named president of Nike Sports Management. While reporting to Nike chairman and CEO Phil Knight, Ussery's responsibilities included marketing, advertising, branding, and negotiating on behalf of and marketing Nike's most elite pro athletes, including Alonzo Mourning, Ki-Jana Carter, Deion Sanders, Ken Griffey Jr., Picabo Street, Roy Jones Jr., Dan O'Brien, Scottie Pippen and Mike Mussina. Nike Sports Management was also integral in the launch of Coca-Cola's Powerade brand.[citation needed]

Ussery was appointed as CEO of the Dallas Mavericks in 1997, upon which he announced his goal to make his organization the best sports entertainment company in the country.[5] In his first season with the Mavericks, he led a successful campaign which resulted in public funding in the amount of $240 million for the construction of the American Airlines Center. He actively participated in the architectural selection, design and construction of the building. Ussery was also intimately involved in securing the naming rights partnership with Dallas–Fort Worth-based American Airlines for the downtown facility.[citation needed]

Under his direction, the club more than tripled revenue and increased its media and digital footprint by establishing new (and expanding existing) media partnerships across multiple platforms. The Mavericks are entering their eleventh consecutive sold-out season.[when?] Additionally, the Dallas Maverick Foundation has distributed over $1 million to over forty agencies whose aim and mission is to improve the lives of those in need. Both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News have previously ranked Ussery as one of the most powerful executives in sports, and in 2003 Ussery was named the Corporate Executive of the Year by Black Enterprise Magazine. Additionally, the Mavericks are consistently ranked by ESPN as one of the top organizations in all of professional sports.[citation needed]

As one of the original creators and partners of HDNet, Ussery served as its CEO for 10 years. In that capacity, he was responsible for developing and negotiating all of the original content and distribution deals with MSO's covering multi-digital and non-digital platforms. On the content side, this included deals with MLB, the NHL, MLS, the National Lacrosse League, and NHK, The Japanese Broadcasting Company. On the distribution side, Ussery negotiated the launch dealing with DirecTV. He was also primarily responsible for the network's relationship with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other governing bodies.[citation needed]

In 2014, Ussery was among the candidates to replace Billy Hunter as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, but lost out to Michele Roberts.

In June 2015, Ussery resigned from the Mavericks to take a job with Under Armour.

In February 2018, Sports Illustrated published an extensive investigative report on a culture of misogyny and sexual harassment within the Mavericks, with Ussery the target of a number of accusations.[6]

In September 2018, an independent report was released by Krutoy Law and Lowestein Sandler corroborating the stories of the dozens of women who had been sexually assaulted by Ussery along with having their careers sidelined.[7] For almost two decades, the Mavericks organization had allowed Ussery to continue working despite his abuses of power. As a result, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban donated $10 million to women's organizations citing ... "development of women in the sports industry and combating domestic violence".[8]

Corporate and charitable governance

Ussery holds positions in several charities and companies, including:

  • Dallas Mavericks, President and CEO[1]
  • Dallas Housing Authority, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners
  • HDNet, CEO[9]
  • Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, Board member
  • Board of Trustees, Communities Foundation of Texas.
  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Wingate Partners, Advisory Board
  • Princeton University, Board of Trustees Member[10]
  • Timberland, Board of Directors Member[11]
  • Treehouse Foods, Board of Directors Member[12]
  • CTS America, Board of Directors Member[13]
  • Texas Health Resources, Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation, Board of Directors Member [14]
  • Dallas After School All-Stars, Board of Directors Member[15]
  • Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Board of Directors

References

  1. ^ a b Dallas Mavericks web site's front office page, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  2. ^ "Years of work paved All-Star path". The Dallas Morning News. February 9, 2010.
  3. ^ A Quick Study in Success : After a Brilliant Academic Career, Watts' Terdema Ussery Becomes Head of the CBA
  4. ^ A Quick Study in Success : After a Brilliant Academic Career, Watts' Terdema Ussery Becomes Head of the CBA - Page 2
  5. ^ Dallas Mavericks CEO and President Terdema Ussery Proven Strategies Archived 2014-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ A Real-Life Animal House: Sports Illustrated, Feb. 2018
  7. ^ THE REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF DALLAS BASKETBALL LIMITED
  8. ^ The Dallas Mavericks Report Largely Substantiates Harassment Allegations
  9. ^ HDNet press release Archived 2004-08-06 at archive.today, September 5, 2001, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  10. ^ Princeton University Board of Trustees (2005-2006) web page Archived 2006-12-23 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  11. ^ The Timberland Company Corporate Officers & Directors web page[permanent dead link], retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  12. ^ Treehouse Foods Board of Directors web page Archived 2014-05-19 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  13. ^ CTS America Board of Directors web page, retrieved on June 2, 2009.
  14. ^ Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors web page Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
  15. ^ Biography of Terdema L. Ussery, Dallas After School All-Stars web site Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on November 26, 2006.
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