Terdema Ussery

Terdema L. Ussery II
President & CEO of Dallas Mavericks
Nationality	American
Education	Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of California at Berkeley,

Terdema L. Ussery II recently resigned as President and CEO of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks after almost 19 years. 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. Ussery is currently on sabbatical.

Ussery 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 later 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.

Ussery practiced business law at the international firm of Morrison and Foerster representing Bank of America and the Industrial Bank of Japan, amongst others. He moved to Denver to become the deputy commissioner and general counsel of the CBA, (Continental Basketball Association) on the invitation of then-commissioner Irv Kaze. 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.

In August 1993, Ussery was named president of Nike Sports Management. While reporting to Nike Chairman & CEO Phil Knight, Ussery's responsibilities included marketing, adverstising, 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.