Pacers Sports & Entertainment
It starts early, that concept of: I look different. As a child in Dayton, Ohio, Tracy Ellis-Ward remembers being “the only Black kid in my kindergarten class” and acknowledges now — five decades later — it was the genesis of her impactful career of seeking, demanding and championing equality.
“I see it as a duty,” said Ellis-Ward, the first senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion for Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “And that combined with devotion really is my motivator. I’ve probably always been driven to have voices heard that typically aren’t heard.”
She had one Black teacher before college, coincidentally a Miss Ellis who her classmates thought was her mother. Even though they were unrelated, the elder Miss Ellis told the other: “Don’t stop learning, don’t stop period.” So that’s what Ellis-Ward has done.
After an All-American basketball career in the mid-1980s as a 6-foot-1 center at Missouri, she has led diversity certification at Michigan State, served as a WNBA executive and was chief diversity officer of the Big East before coming to the Pacers in 2022.
“Every position that I’ve had in my whole career I’ve either been the first person to do the job or I’ve been hired to come in and clean up and fix something that’s broken. Like, that’s my track record as a career. That’s just what I do.”
When she interviewed for the Pacers job, she said the Simon family was “very convincing that they were serious about this work,” and she believes she has helped shine a “diversity, inclusion and equity lens on every facet of the company, whether that’s ticket sales, corporate sponsorships or hiring.”
She’s the Miss Ellis — or the Mrs. Ellis-Ward — that the Miss Ellis from fourth grade urged her to be. “I’ve never stopped learning,” she said.
— Tom Friend
Tracy Ellis-Ward
Senior Vice President, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Pacers Sports & Entertainment
Born: Dayton, Ohio
Education: University of Missouri-Columbia, B.A., art; Ohio University, Master of Sports Administration; Gonzaga University, doctoral candidate, leadership studies
Family: Spouse, late, Michael; children, Gabrielle (35) and Langston (28)
More about Tracy
Something that instantly makes my day better: A spontaneous, kind gesture from someone!
Advice to my younger self: There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence when others think average is enough.
If I did not work in sports … : I would be a museum curator.
Biggest career risk: Leaving professional sports industry to work for faith-based nonprofit organization.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Any executive who has not moved from words to action as it relates to addressing systemic issues, which continue to disenfranchise individuals.
I wish I’d known at my career’s start: Relationships can sometimes supersede great performance.
