Terdema L. Ussery II is in his 11th year as President & CEO of the Dallas
Mavericks and President of the Dallas Mavericks Foundation. Ussery serves as an
alternate governor for the Mavericks on the NBA Board of Governors. In
addition, Ussery serves as CEO of HDNet, the nation's first all high-definition
television network.
Ussery came to Dallas after serving as president of Nike Sports Management,
overseeing the marketing, advertising and branding of Nike's most elite
athletes. Nike Sports Management was also integral in the launch of
Coca-Cola's POWERADE brand. Prior to that, he was commissioner of the
Continental Basketball Association (CBA).
In his first season with the Mavericks, he led a successful campaign which
resulted in funding for 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.
His impact has been evident in the growth of both the Mavericks' overall
business operations and community impact. Under his direction, the club has
more than tripled revenue and exponentially increased its media and digital
footprint by establishing new and expanding existing media partnerships across
multiple platforms. Under his direction, the Dallas Mavericks Foundation has
distributed $1 million-plus to over forty agencies whose aim and mission is to
improve the lives of those in need. Both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting
News perennially rank Ussery as one of the most powerful executives in sports,
and in 2003, Ussery named the Corporate Executive of the Year by Black
Enterprise Magazine. Additionally, the Mavericks are consistently ranked as
one of the ten organizations in all of professional sports.
In his capacity as the original CEO of HDNet, Ussery was responsible for
negotiating the network's initial content and distribution deals. On the
distribution side, the launch distribution agreements were struck with DirecTV
and Fox, and on the content side, deals were struck with the likes of Major
League Baseball, National Hockey League, National Lacrosse League, Major League
Soccer and NHK, the Japanese broadcasting company.
Ussery grew up in the Watts section of South Central Los Angeles. He earned a
bachelor's degree from Princeton University, a master's degree from Harvard,
and a law degree from Berkeley, where he served as executive editor of the
California Law Review.
Ussery practiced business and entertainment law at the firm of Morrison and
Foerster representing Bank of America and the Industrial Bank of Japan, amongst
others, before joining the CBA as its deputy commissioner and general counsel.
Ussery eventually became CBA Commissioner, and his two-and-a-half-year term was
highlighted by rapid growth and much-needed financial stability. While serving
as CBA commissioner, Ussery was profiled in Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street
Journal, USA Today, and a host of other national publications.
In August 1993, Ussery was named president of Nike Sports Management. While
reporting to Nike Chairman & CEO Phil Knight, Ussery's responsibilities
included negotiating on behalf of and marketing Nike's most elite pro athletes,
including Alonzo Mourning, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Ken Griffey, Jr., Picabo
Street and Roy Jones, Jr.
Ussery sits on the boards of two NYSE companies: The Timberland Company and
TreeHouse Foods, Inc., where he serves as Lead Independent Director. He is a
member of the Advisory Board of Wingate Partners, LLP, a Dallas private equity
partnership. He sits on the Executive Committee of the Greater Dallas Chamber
of Commerce and chairs its Economist Council. Ussery, a popular speaker at
companies and on campuses nationwide, has taught Business Ethics and Corporate
Governance as an adjunct professor at several graduate business schools.
In 2004, Ussery was elected to serve on the Board of Trustees of Princeton
University, and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 2007. He also
serves on several not for profit boards, including The Salvation Army, the
Communities Foundation of Texas and the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
Board.
