Friday, October 9, 2020
11:30 am
Kathryn Jordan, President & Chief Executive Officer, KJordan Consulting
Kathryn Jordan is President/CEO of KJordan Consulting, LLC. An entrepreneur and certified professional coach, Ms. Jordan provides guidance in identifying and developing resources, tools and strategies that assist in maximizing personal and professional performance in sports, entertainment and business. Working with current and retired professional athletes, student-athletes, community, school and organized league athletic and entertainment programs, new authors, new artists, and small business owners, Ms. Jordan shares her expertise in marketing, public relations, personal & professional development, administration, branding, special event planning and more through workshops, personal & career coaching, and program development. In addition, Ms. Jordan has served as keynote speaker, lecturer, moderator and workshop facilitator for university athletic programs and sports management classes and clubs including Southern Methodist University (SMU), Indiana State University (ISU), Indiana University (IU), Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis, and the NCAA Boys High School Basketball Five Star Summer Camp.
In entertainment, Jordan has garnered credits in theatre, music video, television, special events, publications, and film; most notably ESPN’s 30 for 30 “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks” and “Basketball: A Love Story”, the latest documentary by award-winning producer and filmmaker Dan Klores on the history of basketball.
Prior to beginning her career in sports, Jordan was employed by Indiana Black Expo, Inc. where she managed the day-to-day operations of the non-profit organization. She also worked as Dean of Education for Indy’s Clark College, a government subsidized adult education program. In 1983, Jordan began her 25-year tenure with the Indiana Pacers and, for many of those years, was the only female and minority in upper management for Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E); the parent organization for the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, Pacers Foundation, and Conseco Fieldhouse (a.k.a. Bankers Life Fieldhouse). Repeatedly recognized by Donnie Walsh, then PS&E CEO/President, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) for her innovative and analytic approach, Jordan created, developed, and administered numerous programs and business facets for the organization. Under her direction, the franchise’s promotions, game operations, special events, merchandising, community relations, advertising, and athlete development departments were cultivated and flourished; leading to her appointment as a charter member of the NBA Player Development Steering Committee where she served as the Central Region Director, and her election to the NBA Marketing Advisory Board by her NBA peers.
Highly respected by her colleagues, Jordan is considered a pioneer in the Athlete Development field having established the NBA’s first off-court player development program (some believe to be the first in the sports industry) from which the NBA’s league-wide program was modeled almost two decades later. Additionally, Ms. Jordan engineered and managed the first full-time staffed department in the NBA dedicated exclusively to team and athlete development. Combining her education, love for sports, and personal life experiences, she introduced valuable programs, services and resources to professional athletes, their families, and support teams to assist with the lifestyle and day-to-day idiosyncrasies of being a professional athlete. Jordan also served as the Indiana Pacers’ inaugural Director of Community Relations, marking the first time an NBA team had created a department solely to establish and maintain a relationship with its community and fans. While in that position, Jordan instituted the Indiana Pacers Speakers’ Bureau, founded and managed Pacers Foundation, Inc., created the still popular Call-A-Pacers reading program later emulated around the NBA, and earned the team a Clio Award for her “Word From The Court” anti-violence campaign. She was appointed by Walsh as the Project Director for the construction of The Landmark For Peace King-Kennedy monument erected in Indianapolis’ King Park (now on the National Monument Register), and promoted to launch the Pacers Sports & Entertainment Communications Division where she molded and managed the team’s internet presence, corporate & team branding, corporate contributions, community outreach, government & corporate relations efforts, advertising, creative services, media relations, and player development departments. During that time, Jordan created, developed and administered the company’s first employee volunteer program, company Intranet, NBA’s first electronic player network (believed to be a first in the sports industry), and served on the PS&E human resources policy committee, and new arena construction committee. As chair of the PS&E Community Workforce Development Committee, she implemented the company’s first job fair to recruit the first employees of Conseco Fieldhouse (a.k.a. Bankers Life Fieldhouse).
An avid volunteer for NCAA Men and Women’s Basketball and Big Ten Men and Women’s Basketball and National Football Championships, Jordan served as Lead Facilitator for the Tamika Catchings STARS/CHAMPS Mentoring program, and Lead Instructor for the Avondale Meadows YMCA’s Jump Into Fitness program. A member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Professional Association of Athlete Development Specialists (PAADS), Indiana Sports Corporation (ISC) President’s Council, and the National Association of Black Female Executives in Music and Entertainment (NABFEME), Ms. Jordan also served on the BCA National Advisory Board (Black Coaches & Administrators, formerly Black Coaches Association) as well as several professional athletes’ foundations. Most recently, Jordan has begun working with small business entrepreneurs sharing her journey, resources and expertise.
Jordan is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for professional excellence including the Center for Leadership Development Directors’ Award for Community Excellence, Purdue University’s Black Caucus Leadership Award, and the Indiana Black Expo, Inc. Today’s Woman Leadership Award. Selected by the Walt Disney Co. as a Sports Mentor for Disney’s Inaugural Dreamers’ Academy with Steve Harvey, Jordan has been featured on AOL and the cover of Indianapolis Woman Magazine. A past contributor to VYPE High School Sports Magazine, Ms. Jordan was named one of Indianapolis' Top 12 Influential Females in sports and honored by the NBA as its Top Team Player Development Executive when it was first awarded in the 2006-07 season, and again during the 2007-08 season. A two-time breast cancer survivor, Jordan produces an annual event to raise awareness of prostate cancer and funds for the Rev. Charles R. Williams Prostate Cancer Mobile Unit; named after her brother, the long-time president of Indiana Black Expo, Inc.
A graduate of Purdue University, Jordan also earned a M.S. from Indiana University and several professional certifications. She has one son (Evan), two grandsons (Jaivon and Nore), and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, for which she is an Elder and featured soloist.
