Terdema Ussery Biography

Terdema L. Ussery II is the President & CEO of the Dallas Mavericks and he is currently in his 18th year as well as the President of the Dallas Mavericks Foundation. Ussery serves as an alternate governor for the Mavericks on the NBA Board of Governors and equally 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 advertising, marketing, 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). He led a successful campaign which resulted in funding for the American Airlines Center during his first season with the Mavericks. He actively participated in the architectural selection, design and construction of the building. Ussery was also involved in securing the naming rights partnership with Dallas/Fort Worth based American Airlines for the downtown facility. His impact is evident in the growth of both the Mavericks' overall business operations and community impact. Under his direction, the club experienced a tripled revenue and exponentially increased its media and digital footprint by establishing new and expanding existing media partnerships across multiple platforms. The Dallas Mavericks Foundation distributed $1 million plus to over forty agencies whose aim and mission is to improve the lives of those in need; this was achieved under his direction. Both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News perennially rank Ussery as one of the most powerful executives in sports, and in 2003, Black Enterprise Magazine named Ussery the Corporate Executive of the Year. Additionally, the Mavericks are consistently ranked as one of the Top Ten organizations in professional sports. As the CEO of HDNet, Ussery was responsible for negotiating the network's initial content and distribution deals. Concerning distribution, the launch distribution agreements were struck with Fox and DirecTV, and regarding content, 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 experienced rapid growth and much-needed financial stability. Ussery was profiled in good light in Sports Illustrated, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and a host of other national publications while he served as CBA commissioner. He sits on the boards of two NYSE companies: The Timberland Company and TreeHouse Foods, Inc., where he serves as Lead Independent Director. He is also 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 is a popular speaker at companies and on many campuses nationwide where he was adjunct professor at several graduate business schools and taught Business Ethics and Corporate Governance.

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