High Impact Philanthropy: Terry Hasseltine Of Maryland Sports Commission On How To Leave A Lasting Legacy With A Successful & Effective Nonprofit Organization
An Interview with Karen Mangia
You have to have a sense of purpose that drives your decision making.
For someone who wants to set aside money to establish a Philanthropic Foundation or Fund, what does it take to make sure your resources are being impactful and truly effective? In this interview series, called “How To Create Philanthropy That Leaves a Lasting Legacy” we are visiting with founders and leaders of Philanthropic Foundations, Charitable Organizations, and Non-Profit Organizations, to talk about the steps they took to create sustainable success.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Terrance (Terry) Hasseltine.
Meet Terrance (Terry) Hasseltine, a driving force behind Maryland’s sports tourism industry thriving and the gold standard for which other states look to duplicate when seeking to become a premier destination for sports tourism. As the Executive Director of the Maryland Sports Commission, a position that he has held serving three governor administrations in the State of Maryland since it’s founding in 2008, he oversees sports tourism and events responsibilities and leads the vision for showcasing Maryland to millions of spectators and visitors from around the world.
Since 2019, he’s also led the Sport and Entertainment Corporation of Maryland, the non-profit arm of the Maryland Sports Commission, as its President. “Sport Corp” helps incubate cultural and operational event integrity for large scale sport and entertainment events in Maryland.
Named the 2022 Maryland Tourism Person of the Year by the Maryland Tourism Coalition, Terry’s work on initiatives, such as the Return To Play: Youth and Amateur Sports guideline in response to COVID-19 and the Maryland Sports Youth And Amateur Sports Grant & Michael Erin Busch Fund, show his commitment to community and youth. His advocacy led to legislation like the 2017 Affiliated Foundation Bill, laying the groundwork for Maryland’s sports future. From the UCI ProSeries Maryland Cycling Classic to the NCAA Lacrosse Championships, Terry’s leadership attracts top-tier events, making Maryland a premier sports destination.
Prior to coming to Maryland, Hasseltine was deputy executive director of the Kentucky Sports Authority (KSA) where he developed a 24-member community marketing collaborative to promote the state as a sports travel destination.
Thank you for making time to visit with us about a ‘top of mind’ topic. Our readers would like to get to know you a bit better. Can you please tell us about one or two life experiences that most shaped who you are today?
When I think about life experiences that have shaped me, I think the first that comes to mind is the life support I had as a kid. I come from a tremendous family. I am the youngest of four boys. My parents were very supportive of my growth trajectory as a young individual that set the standard of hard work, ethics and just putting your nose down and getting good work done. Having a childhood that gave me the experience as a kid in understanding what excellence was all about. It wasn’t an excellence for example that was strict and dictated — I had a mechanism of support through my brothers, my mom and dad, which allowed me to become what I think was a decent, young gentleman entering adulthood.
The second life experience that has had a tremendous impact on me, comes from meeting the right person at the right time. On a professional and collegiate level, it was when I met Dr. Suzanne Wingate while at an event at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. At the time, I was a student at SUNY Brockport when Dr. Wingate, who was at the time, the head of the sports management program at Cortland, and I interacted. Immediately, we just clicked. Because of that chance meeting, I ended up transferring from Brockport to SUNY Cortland and the rest is history. She gave me the tools and the support I needed at the collegiate level to ensure that I was running the sports management program effectively and in charge of significant events on campus. If it wasn’t for her giving me that footprint of how to be successful in sports management, I don’t know where my career path would have gone from there, but she was critical to that process.
We talk about the experiences that helped form us — Being on the Board of Directors of the NASC (National Association of Sports Commissions, now known as Sports Events and Tourism Association (Sports ETA)) for eight years further helped me take off, using all of the knowledge and experience I learned from others. From the launching of the Maryland Sports Commission, that helped lead to our nonprofit (Sport Corp) being built, because of the vibrant, recognizable national brand as a leader in the Sports ETA space. As the former chair and being part of that government structure that is also what formed me in this industry, which has further solidified the Maryland Sports Commission as a leader within the industry space.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? We would love to hear a few stories or examples.
The first is hard work. Secondly, you need to put yourself out there, which means networking with others. The third thing is that I wanted to align myself with people who understood what success looked like.
For example, when I had the opportunity to go out into my professional career at Eastern Kentucky University, I was given the opportunity to work in the athletic department. I started as an intern and later, became an integral part of the senior leadership team. That allowed me to run championships for the NCAA. The critical thread here is that I have had tremendous mentors; Chris Wyche, Betty Werner, Tom Jacobs, Wayne Burrow, Cindy Smith and so many others that were crucial so that my puzzle of life could be formed into this industry.
What’s the most interesting discovery you’ve made since you started leading your organization?
Not everyone is built like me. How I set about getting things done is unique to me. Interweaving my expectations and my work ethic is hopefully something that others would want to emulate. It takes time and growth and not everyone jumps in with both feet and goes for it. It’s understanding the delicate work-life balance for my team. I may not subscribe to it as well as I should, however getting to understand that has been my unique challenge with the people around me.
Can you please tell our readers more about how you or your organization intends to make a significant social impact?
It is critical to us that when we get involved in an activity or event, that we are understanding the bigger growth and impact that the event can make and/or the opportunity can make in our communities, long-term. Whether that’s growing an event that allows more Marylanders to participate, or having a program that may be in the market only one time — what are they leaving behind to ensure that the residents of our state have access to opportunity. I come back to this question inevitably: Yes, we drive economic vitality through sports, but are we trying to make a better footprint for the next generation through everything that we do? The answer is yes.
Even prior to the pandemic and some of the things happening in our society, the Maryland Sports Commission was always trying to tackle opportunities to give people the chance to enter the sports tourism space. Our team is working on a unique initiative called “Propel”, which is a program created with HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in Maryland, is about giving opportunities to juniors and seniors in college to give them the tangible tools and valuable experience needed as they step into our industry. Supporting the Next Collegiate League (an HBCU-focused Club Lacrosse League) is just the right thing to do. Growing our state sport of lacrosse and making sure we are bringing in other demographics, creating an environment that can flourish and create opportunities so that we can see Black lacrosse players getting into the mainstream of the sport. Other examples like the support behind the CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament that is in Baltimore, the scholarship programs that come from that event, helping Visit Baltimore and Baltimore City in being a destination for tourists, giving back to a community and demographic that is really vibrant here in Maryland. But also giving to it so that it can be robust and grow, ensuring long-term viability for the state.
What makes you feel passionate about this cause more than any other?
What I feel most passionate about as it relates to the impact the Maryland Sports Commission is making on the culture in general comes from knowing that sports can be so critical in the growth structure of young adults. Giving them future opportunities and learning from some of the challenges that are facing us as a culture. I think sports is the curator of work ethic, camaraderie, and sense of purpose. At the end of the day, if you play on a team sport, your goal is to elevate the team to be successful. ‘How do I help the guy or gal next to me to become better, so that we can succeed as a team?’ If I play an individual sport, how am I working harder to meet my personal best? At the end of the day it comes back to a team score, so how am I doing a better job as an individual to make sure that the “we” aspect wins?
Without naming names, could you share a story about an individual who benefitted from your initiatives?
I’ve had numerous people over my career that have started with our organization and have gone on to robust careers in sports because of the opportunities and resources that we provided to them through mentorship. Making sure that the resources and tools that allow them to become a better individual, give them an understanding of their professional opportunities in the industry. Making sure that they land in ideal spots and always being there for them when they need a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen to, or eyes to look at something. My biggest thing is that the door is always open; never closed.
We all want to help and to live a life of purpose. What are three actions anyone could take to help address the root cause of the problem you’re trying to solve?
Always think of the “we”, it’s about “us.” It is about the collective, not the individual, but also looking at it in the reverse way — How do I, the individual, help the “we”? It is critical that people be responsive to the environment around them. Thinking in a “we” mentality and being optimistic, will allow you to walk through more doors in life than if you focus on the individual and/or ‘What’s in it for me?’ We need to help change the direction of this current culture, from being a “me” focused society, focused on individualism, to ‘how do we help the “we?”
Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things You Need To Create A Successful & Effective Nonprofit That Leaves A Lasting Legacy?”
- First, you have to have a sense of purpose that drives your decision making.
- Secondly, you have to make sure that you can sell that sense of purpose to others who want to adopt the opportunity.
- Next, you have to find others that want to help you build the resources and the toolkit that is necessary to fulfill the purpose. It is all about cultivating relationships.
- Then, you have to be able to sell that purpose to an external audience. As it pertains to Maryland Sports Commission, which is a quasi-government agency, but also with a nonprofit arm attached to it (Sport Corp), in order to be successful and help the state grow and foster its’ sports tourism space, the fifth thing people should know in creating a successful and effective nonprofit is that we needed to be able to drive at the speed of sport, not at the speed of government.
In all fairness, the government does a lot of things very well, however if you want to create significant change and opportunity in the sports tourism space, you have to be able to move at the pace of which things happen. For example, we could not have run the FIFA 2026 World Cup Bid and pursue other high profile events if we had to look back at running all the channels that government is known for. You still have to work in parallel with those things and interject where it is needed, however, you need to be able to have that process in place to ensure that your organization is able to move at the speed of the industry for which it’s in.
The cultivation of the relationship from the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics. We partnered with Morgan State University in Baltimore and Visit Baltimore on that bid process to bring that event in 2012 to Morgan State. It ended up being the highest attended USA Track and Field Junior Olympics at that time. Because we did it in collaboration with Morgan State and Visit Baltimore, we were able to interject a quasi-government, nonprofit, university environment in with a great DNA that allowed us to create a package to present to USA Track and Field Junior Olympics and win the day over our competitors, due to the combination of leadership variations intertwined.
Leading by example is very important too. Bringing in the government where their strengths are, moving things efficiently through the private sector, and leveraging the nonprofit. We were able to leverage the nonprofit to ensure the economic vitality and that the fan experiences delivered that were needed were met, giving the state the vehicle to be at the forefront of delivering those opportunities within the sports tourism industry.
We need other partners… can’t do it alone, a big part of this but need other partners to help move the needle further.
How has the pandemic changed your definition of success?
The pandemic changed our definition of success by bringing more friends and family into our environment. The pandemic was actually net positive for the sports tourism space from a conversational and engagement perspective. Professional sports were talking to collegiate sports, which were talking to grassroot youth and amateur sports and all the way down the spectrum, because we were all trying to figure out how to get back to play safely. It also integrated and spurred the creation of some new opportunities, such as the NFL adopting Flag Football and supporting the growth for the girls game. You saw how things change just in the dynamic of how we bid and pursue events. Our family network got bigger because we realized we were all after the common goal, which is to be excellent at what we do and leaving no one behind in the process. It gave us a greater opportunity to have bigger conversations about the sports tourism and events space that was probably siloed prior to the pandemic.
How do you get inspired after an inevitable setback?
I don’t lose track of what our ultimate goal is and our ultimate goal is to do the best work that we can in defining excellence and delivering sports tourism opportunities for the state of Maryland. After a setback, I like refocusing our efforts back on that there are other fish in the pond and not dwell on the past.
For example, when we lost the FIFA 2026 World Cup Bid, we thought we were right there. We were on the announcement line and then we didn’t win, but we focused back on the legacy program that we established under that bid, which is Football for Peace and the Let’s Play initiative. Right now, Football for Peace is now being adopted by the White House and the legislature at the federal level, which will then open the gateway for Baltimore and Maryland to be the lead on the initiative that is going to be driven to all host cities of the World Cup. So, even though we lost the right to host matches, we still won because our initiative is starting to grow and become significant to the world of people hosting. Win, lose, or draw, we still did something that is net positive to the opportunity and something that’s good for Marylanders and the future leaders of Maryland.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world who you would like to talk to, to share the idea behind your non-profit? He, she, or they might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
There are so many people that I would love to get my business in front of. I’d love to see Kevin Plank really get engaged with what we are trying to do. I think we could be at the forefront of helping Under Armour and its growth strategy from a grassroots perspective. I’d love to get in front of Bruce Springsteen, because of what we are doing in the equestrian space with the Maryland 5 Star. I’d love to get his daughter, Jessica involved with what we’re doing there because she could bring some attention to our equestrian event that we are further trying to bring into the public sphere. I’d like to get in front of Michael Jordan and Steph Curry, others in the basketball community, as we host the Governor’s Challenge Basketball Tournament and the CIAA Tournament. If they saw what we are doing in those spaces, they might infuse not only their likeness but their resources as well. There are people like that out there for different reasons that I’d like to put our brand or opportunity in front of. At the end of the day, as long as the Governor and legislature in Annapolis, Maryland see the value of what we are doing, then we are in front of the right people.
You’re doing important work. How can our readers follow your progress online?
My LinkedIn
Maryland Sports Commission — Our website and on LinkedIn
Thank you for a meaningful conversation. We wish you continued success with your mission.
About The Interviewer: Karen Mangia is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. As Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce, she helps individuals and organizations define, design and deliver the future. Discover her proven strategies to access your own success in her fourth book Success from Anywhere and by connecting with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
High Impact Philanthropy: Terry Hasseltine Of Maryland Sports Commission On How To Leave A Lasting… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.