Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023 
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. 
Location: Italian Community Center (631 E. Chicago St. Milwaukee WI 53202) 

Event Description: 

Our very own Milwaukee Bucks continue to put Milwaukee on the map and most recently with their recognition in Forbes’ article Milwaukee is Bucking the NBA’s Status Quo with a Growing Roster of Female Executives. With women representing more than 50% of its executive-level employees, the organization is not only challenging the status quo in the world of sports, but in corporate America as a whole.

Join us for our June Program Meeting where we will hear from four of these female executives on their leadership journeys, how engraining mentoring within their organization has shaped their growth, what it looks like to intentionally recruit and retain diverse talent, and how their organization has aligned across all levels to get to where it is today.

Attendees will hear unique perspectives from Jill Ingels, Associate General Counsel, Raven Jemison, Executive Vice President - Business Operations, Susie Parker-Simmons, Head of Sports Nutrition, and Sumathi Thiyagarajan, Vice President - Business Strategy & Analytics, and leave with takeaways on how to bring this leadership, momentum, and intentionality back into their own workplaces. TEMPO’s vision remains the same as it did 47 years ago which is to see a society where women hold an equal place in leadership, policy, and decision making and it is organizations like the Milwaukee Bucks who are leading the way in achieving this goal. 

About Our Speakers: 

Jill Ingles:  Jill joined the Milwaukee Bucks in December 2019 and is responsible for drafting, negotiating, and managing all contracts relating to the Milwaukee Bucks, Fiserv Forum, and their respective ancillary businesses including the Wisconsin Herd, Bucks Gaming, The Cluckery, and GATHER at Deer District. Jill is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School where she teaches a sports law workshop called Working As In-House Counsel in Professional Sports. Prior to the Milwaukee Bucks, Jill was Staff Counsel for the Miami Marlins, where she reviewed and drafted corporate sponsorship agreements, luxury suite and premium seat agreements, marketing agreements, non-baseball event agreements, third-party vendor agreements, and waivers and releases for events at LoanDepot Park, and provided support for legal issues relating to the Marlins’ minor league operations.

After law school, prior to working in professional sports, Jill worked in collegiate athletics as an Assistant Director of Athletic Compliance for the University of Southern California. At USC, Jill was responsible for ensuring compliance with all USC, Pac-12 Conference and NCAA rules and regulations and ultimately worked with 20 of USC’s 21 sport programs.

Jill currently serves as a Board Member for the Sports & Entertainment Law Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin. Jill graduated cum laude from Marquette University Law School (L’17), and is a recipient of a Sports Law Certificate from the National Sports Law Institute. Jill has two publications in the Marquette Sports Law Review where she also served as Editor-in-Chief during the 2016-17 academic year, and won the 2016 Marquette Sports Law Review Comment Competition Award as well as the 2016 Annual Sports Law Alumni Achievement Award. During law school, Jill held internships with the Milwaukee Brewers, National College Athletic Association (NCAA), Marquette University’s Office of General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board, and the National Sports Law Institute.

Raven Jemison:  Raven is a sports business executive with over 16 years of experience managing multi-million business operations and generating revenue across both teams and leagues. She currently serves as Executive Vice President, Business Operations for the Milwaukee Bucks and is responsible for managing the organization’s foundational and entrepreneurial business units, including ticketing, marketing, technology, analytics, corporate social responsibility, broadcasting/media, and the G-League's Wisconsin Herd.

In addition to her work at the Milwaukee Bucks, Raven is passionate about education, the arts, and civil rights advocacy and serves on the Board of Directors for Milwaukee College Prep, Marcus Performing Arts Center, ACLU of Wisconsin, and Froedtert Hospital Foundation. She is dedicated to using her experience to broaden access to quality education and healthcare and reduce participation barriers to the arts. In the fall of 2023, Raven will be releasing her first book, More Than Representation: The Cheat Codes To Own Your Seat At The Table. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Raven is a proud graduate of Auburn University, where she earned both B.S. and M.Ed degrees.

Susie Parker-Simmons: Susie Parker-Simmons is an Australian Sport Dietitian and Physiologist with 30-year history of working in elite sport. Her career has encompassed work in the Olympic Movement, Professional Sports, and within the University system in both Australia and the United States of America. Susie is presently the Director of Sports Nutrition and Recovery services at the Milwaukee Bucks. Susie has worked for 20 years in the Olympic Movement, attending seven Olympic Games, including both summer and winter Olympic Games, and a Paralympic Game. During her career, Susie has also worked as the Head of Sport Science at Victoria Institute of Sport and High-Performance Director of Winter Sports at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Since 2005 Susie has also been the nutrition consultant for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and currently, she is the Past President of the PINES – Professionals in Nutrition for Exercise and Sport.

Sumathi Thiyagarajan:  Sumathi joined the Milwaukee Bucks as their inaugural Vice President of Business Strategy and Analytics in Nov 2021. In this capacity, she builds, develops, and leads a forward-thinking business analytics team to harness the power of data, applied analytics, and technology to drive results.

Prior to this role, she served in various leadership positions within Marquette University, including the Sr. Director of Strategy & Operations for University Relations, Director of Program Management in the Office of the President, and Marquette’s program manager at Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute (www.nmdsi.org). Across all of these roles, she worked closely with senior leaders within the various units and functions across campus, leading a range of strategic and operational initiatives, supporting task forces, and implementing grant programs. Prior to Marquette, Thiyagarajan’s experience spanned over 10 years across many healthcare sectors (consulting, health systems, medical devices & non-profit) developing strategies, defining goals, measuring performance, and implementing plans. She also serves on the board of REDgen and is a proud member of TEMPO and Hoan Group.

Registration is closed. Please reach out to Diavian at [email protected] to check availability.

TEMPO Members | No Charge
EWL Members, WAA Members & Guests | $40