Mel Raines, Pacers Sports & Entertainment president and CEO and an Indiana University Bloomington alumna, has advice for those who want to know what it takes to ascend to a prominent position. She said the process usually takes time and involves hard work and a willingness to embrace new opportunities, learn new skills and take on challenges.

Raines will speak about those themes as the keynote speaker at IU Bloomington’s undergraduate commencement ceremony at 8 p.m. May 9 at Memorial Stadium. Renowned IU professor Bernice Pescosolido, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology, will speak at the graduate commencement ceremony at 3 p.m. May 8 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

From IU to politics to Pacers

Raines took over as Pacers Sports & Entertainment’s top executive in 2024, becoming the first female CEO in its history. She oversees all business operations for the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, Noblesville Boom and Gainbridge Fieldhouse, including the current construction of the $78 million Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center.

Mel Raines. Photo courtesy of Pacers Sports & Entertainment Her road to that prominent leadership role began at IU Bloomington, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications in 1991.

“I have nothing but fond memories of my time at IU and met some of my closest friends,” Raines said.

She credited the liberal arts major and ability to take classes in a variety of departments and schools for fulfilling her curious nature.

“It enabled me to explore a number of topics and become an agile learner, and I think that has helped me in every step of my career,” she said.

The springboard to Raines’ career was her experience with the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs’ Washington Leadership Program her final semester. Through it she landed her first internship, with the National Association of Broadcasters, which fit with her telecommunications major. She said it taught her a professional work ethic and provided experiences such as her first work trip.

“That program put me in a position to be successful, and I put my head down and worked hard,” Raines said.

Her career started in politics, first working for U.S. Sen. Dan Coats. That led to senior roles in national politics, including at six Republican National Conventions and serving as assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney and chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks. She had a leadership role with Altria Corporate Services and was one of the principal architects of the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

That work with the Super Bowl eventually brought her to the Pacers. She worked with former Pacers President and CEO Rick Fuson on the Super Bowl host committee, and a couple of years later he called Raines about a job opportunity.

“Most of my opportunities have come because I was doing the job I was in really well and somebody noticed and later offered me something,” Raines said. “You never know who is watching, and everybody is a future colleague or boss or employer. Showing up every day and putting your best foot forward is really important.”

She joined Pacers Sports & Entertainment in 2015 as senior vice president of facilities operations, later serving as executive vice president of corporate communications, community engagement and facility operations, and president and chief operating officer.

Raines said a willingness to lead projects aided her rise in the Pacers organization as she gained new skills, learned different aspects of the organization and demonstrated her leadership ability to the owners. Specifically, she cited leading the $400 million renovation of Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Indianapolis’ hosting of the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.

Raines said she was honored and humbled to be asked by IU President Pamela Whitten to be the keynote speaker. One bit of advice she has for students who aspire to prominent positions is that most leaders were not overnight successes; their paths involved multiple turns or lateral moves. She cited IU football head coach Curt Cignetti’s long path to winning the national title.

During one’s career journey, Raines said, it’s important to be nimble, focus more on a job’s responsibilities than its title and always give your best effort.

“I can’t state enough how important it is to dig in and become really good at what you are doing,” she said. “There is no substitute for hard work.”

Thought leaders critical for research, social progress

Pescosolido is the founding director of the Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research and the Irsay Institute, which supports the development of transdisciplinary research at the intersection of health and the social sciences, including a focus on mental health and stigma. She is also Kicking the Stigma’s scientific adviser, and she was named the inaugural Jim Irsay Mental Health Champion.

Bernice Pescosolido. Photo by College of Arts and Sciences

Pescosolido is the only IU faculty member elected to two of the prestigious U.S. national academies: The National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Her research focuses on how social networks and culture provide insights into health, illness and healing phenomena, and specifically on the areas of stigma, suicide, health care use and health care systems. Her work has transformed public perception on mental health.

In the early 1990s, Pescosolido developed the Network Episode Model. It’s a framework in which seeking mental health resources is viewed as a social process managed by community social networks, the treatment system and social service agencies.

In 1996, Pescosolido initiated the first major national study of the stigma of mental illness in the U.S. in over 40 years. The study produced some of the basis for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health and the 2013 White House Conference on Mental Health.

When Pescosolido founded the Indiana Consortium for Mental Health Services Research, she wanted to unify academic researchers, government leaders and advocates to study communities and their mental health treatment systems.

She is chair of the Scientific Advisory Council of Glenn Close’s Bring Change to Mind advocacy group and developed and piloted a four-year, IU-based effort to make college campuses “safe and stigma free zones.”

Recently, she was appointed to the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, which works on issues related to equal opportunities for women in those fields.

Pescosolido said her message to the graduate students will include the importance of networks of family, friends and colleagues, and the importance of mental health and what matters to people.

She is excited to address the IU Bloomington graduate students because of the impact they can make as drivers of progress, and what they can accomplish and contribute as future researchers.

“People with advanced degrees are our thought leaders,” Pescosolido said. “They will shape our futures, and they are a large part of what makes a research university critical, personal and have a long-lasting effect beyond the lives of their teachers and mentors.”

Kirk Johannesen is an internal communications writer in the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing.