Allison Melangton joined Penske Entertainment in 2014. Under her leadership, Penske Entertainment continues to expand its business at both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the NTT IndyCar Series. The racing series has added race markets across the country over the last few years, and IMS continues to add on-track events. Melangton served as CEO and president of the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee from 2008 to 2012. Widely regarded as the most engaging and successfully organized Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVI featured the Super Bowl Village, which drew more than 1.1 million people to downtown and brought $154 million of investment in the city’s near-east side through a legacy project.
Something surprising: “My father was a nationally ranked ski jumper, and going to his competitions when I was small and watching all of the people it took to organize the competitions is what got me interested in sports management.”
Jeff McCabe is co-CEO of Hard Truth Distilling Co., Big Woods Restaurants and Quaff On Brewing Co. McCabe started his career with corporate positions that included projects in Asia and Europe and then spent 10 years with American Express. In 2002, he returned to Indiana and found that entrepreneurship suited him. Since then, the company has opened seven Big Woods restaurants, three Hard Truth locations and one Quaff On. In the last three years, Hard Truth has released a series of award-winning spirits, and its distillery across the street from Brown County State Park in Nashville serves 400,000 visitors a year. McCabe is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and was a naval aviator and an army aviator (Indiana Army National Guard).
First job: Detasseling corn. “I didn’t mind the work and I had my first experience at having my own money. The learning was in deciding what to do with the money I earned.”
Favorite gadget: fishing rod
Walk-up music: “Paper in Fire,” by John Mellencamp
Danny Lopez oversees the development and execution of the earned media and communications strategies for the brands under the Pacers Sports & Entertainment umbrella and serves as the company’s chief spokesman on non-basketball matters. He is a member of the Pacers Foundation board of directors and works with the ownership and executive team to develop strategies to support the business and philanthropic efforts of the various entities in the PS&E family. Before joining the Pacers, Lopez was deputy chief of staff for Gov. Eric Holcomb and later chaired the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet.
First job: Bagging groceries at the local Winn Dixie Supermarket in Miami when he was 15. “It gave me a better appreciation for the value of money and what it takes to earn it.”
Walk-up music: “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osborne. “I can’t think of a better opening riff.”
Kalen Jackson is entering her 13th season as vice chair/owner of the Indianapolis Colts. She joined the team in 2010 as vice president and, along with sisters Carlie Irsay-Gordon and Casey Foyt, represents the next generation of Colts ownership. She represents the Colts at NFL Owners’ meetings and chairs the NFL’s Employee Benefits Committee. She also oversees functions within the organization, such as coordinating the Irsay family’s community and philanthropic efforts, including the Irsay Family YMCA, the downtown Colts Canal Playspace, Riley Hospital for Children, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, Indiana Black Expo, Wheeler Mission Center for Women & Children, and hundreds of other community initiatives. She currently leads Kicking The Stigma, the team’s and family’s initiative to raise awareness about mental health disorders and remove the stigma associated with these illnesses.
First job: Working the check-in desk at her mom’s exercise studio when she was 11. “I loved it and from a young age have always loved having a task to complete.”
Carlie Irsay-Gordon is in her 12th season as vice chair and co-owner of the Indianapolis Colts, the NFL team her father owns. Alongside her sisters, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson, she represents the next generation of ownership. While she’s involved in all aspects of the organization—and has been since joining the organization in 2008—she focuses on football operations, as well as the team’s growing digital, social media, content and production operations. She was heavily involved in the team’s interview process during the 2023 offseason, during which the franchise hired Shane Steichen as its head coach, and plays a role in the Colts’ Kicking the Stigma initiative focused on improving mental health. She is a member of the NFL’s Media Owned & Operated Committee, which oversees the NFL Network, NFL.com, NFL Mobile and other league-owned media properties.
Jim Irsay’s affiliation with the Colts dates to 1972 when his father, Robert Irsay, acquired the team, then based in Baltimore. He oversees all aspects of the Colts organization, from football operations to commercial business to community relations. Irsay and his family are recognized as community leaders, spearheading multiple philanthropic endeavors throughout Indiana. Going into Irsay’s 30th season as leader of the Colts, Indianapolis has earned 10 division championships, two AFC Championships and the club’s fourth world championship with a victory in Super Bowl XLI. From 2000-2009, the Colts produced 115 regular-season wins, which at the time was the most in a decade for any NFL club. Indianapolis also set an NFL record with 23 consecutive wins from 2008-2009.
Most admired: Abraham Lincoln, “perhaps the greatest leader our country, and the world, has ever known.”
Walk-up song: “If football players had walk-up songs, mine would be ‘Baba O’Riley’ by The Who.”
Mel Raines is in her 10th season with Pacers Sports & Entertainment. In June, she became CEO of the company, overseeing all business operations for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA, Indiana Fever of the WNBA, Indiana Mad Ants of the G League, Pacers Gaming and Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Raines has more than 30 years of operations, legislative, political, corporate and public affairs experience. She also was president of the 2024 NBA All-Star Host Committee, which broke several records for attendance and economic impact, and helped lead the renovation of Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the construction and opening of Bicentennial Unity Plaza. Before joining the Pacers organization, she was chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Susan W. Brooks, overseeing three offices as well as all legislative, constituent services and communications staff.
First job: Serving dinner to the priests and monks at Corby Hall at the University of Notre Dame.
Surprising: “I love shopping for cars. If I could buy a new one every year, I would.”
Karen Bravo became dean of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in July 2020. She joined its faculty 16 years earlier in 2004, teaching international law, international trade law and business courses. An international law scholar and expert in the study of human trafficking, her research interests include labor liberalization, personhood, slavery and human trafficking. She is founder and leader of the Slavery Past, Present and Future project, which brings together scholars of slavery from a multiplicity of disciplines.
Job swap: “I would be an author or a professor of history.”
Toughest challenge: “Arriving in New York City with $50 as an immigrant from Jamaica. Fortunately, I had family in New York.”
Something surprising: “I studied French, Spanish and German in college, then decided that I did not want to be a linguist. Now my German and French are very rusty. I am a little better in Spanish.”
G. Marcus Cole has been the Joseph A. Matson Dean of Notre Dame Law School since July 2019. He was appointed by the Rev. John Jenkins, then president of the University of Notre Dame. Cole is considered a leading scholar of the empirical law and economics of commerce and finance. He was a faculty member at Stanford Law School from 1997 until coming to Notre Dame. Before joining Stanford, he was an associate with the Chicago law firm Mayer Brown. He clerked for Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Last year, he joined the Liberty Fund’s board of directors.
Sherri Ziller is the president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, where she is responsible for strategies and making financial investment decisions to support economic development and redevelopment throughout the Northwest Indiana region. The authority served as the fiscal agent on the $1.5 billion West Lake and Double Track commuter rail expansion projects. In May, the first of these projects, Double Track, began running on an expanded schedule that provided faster and more reliable service to and from downtown Chicago. The projects are expected to result in more than $2.5 billion in development. Previously, she was the organization’s chief operating officer. She has been with the organization since its inception in spring 2006.
Job swap: “Interior designer or a world-traveler food and craft beer critic. Or a pastry chef.”
Worries about: “Everything. But mostly raising my son.”
