Pacers Foundation, Inc. has announced the hiring of Jami Marsh as its Executive Director and a new program that will reward Indiana’s youth for making “Winning Choices.”
Marsh, a native Hoosier who grew up in Elkhart, Ind., and attended Indiana University, has more than a decade of non-profit leadership experience, spending the previous 12 years with The Fortune Society, a prisoner re-entry organization, in New York City. Marsh, who was selected to lead the Foundation from a national search, will focus much of her attention on raising the profile of the Foundation along with a re-emphasis on fundraising, increasing its assets and building strategic partnerships with grantees and the philanthropic community
“Pacers Foundation is excited to have Jami Marsh as the new Executive Director of the Foundation,” said Pacers Foundation Chairperson Cindy Simon Skjodt. “Her passion, experience and leadership skills will help the Foundation and its new program “Winning Choices” be successful throughout our community and allow multiple organizations the chance to be involved in helping Indiana’s youth.”
“I can’t think of a more important undertaking than to prepare Indiana’s youth for success, and helping them achieve success in life takes the whole community,” said Marsh. “Pacers Foundation is fortunate to have the support of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, but fulfilling the Foundation’s mission cannot be accomplished by a handful of people or a few corporations alone, it’s going to take all of us.”
“My passion for the Foundation’s mission and the opportunity as a fundraiser and grantmaker led me to take the job,” said Marsh. “In my experience at The Fortune Society, I have seen people walk through the doors 30 years later having spent their whole lives paying for mistakes they made when they were younger. It is in everyone’s interests to prevent those mistakes from happening.”
The Pacers Foundation initiative of “Winning Choices” will provide incentives to Indiana’s youth for taking personal responsibility and making commitments to join and participate in programs that promote “winning choices” in the areas of: practicing tolerance and respecting diversity; staying in school; staying drug and alcohol free; and making healthy choices.
The vision of the Foundation is to be known as the preeminent sports foundation that provides support to organizations including grass-roots programs, which inspire and motivate youth to take responsibility to make positive winning life choices through community activities, education and setting personal goals to fulfill dreams.
Pacers Foundation, Inc., the public charity founded by Pacers Sports & Entertainment, is dedicated to building collaborative initiatives that encourage and support Indiana’s youth in making winning life choices. Since its inception in 1993, Pacers Foundation has awarded more than $6.1 million in cash and in-kind donations through grants to youth-serving organizations, scholarships. The “Winning Choices” program will focus on collaborative partnerships with grass-root and other community organizations.
