CEOs for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, trailer maker Wabash to headline Presidential Lecture Series this fall  

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The top executives for Pacers Sports & Entertainment and Lafayette-based trailer manufacturer Wabash will join Purdue University President Mung Chiang this fall for timely conversations as part of the Presidential Lecture Series.

First up in October: Mel Raines, CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever and operates Gainbridge Fieldhouse, will be the PLS guest on Thursday, Oct. 2. Wabash CEO Brent Yeagy, a Purdue alum, joins Chiang for the PLS event on Thursday, Nov. 6. Specific times and locations for the events, which are free and open to the public, will be announced later this fall.

“The goal of Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series is to invite the best and brightest leaders in industry and academia in our state and nation to our dynamic campus, and this fall’s lineup is no exception,” Chiang said. “We look forward to having interesting discussions with the top executives for Indiana’s incredibly successful professional basketball teams and a locally based public company that is taking transportation manufacturing and logistics to new levels.”

Mel Raines, CEO, Pacers Sports & Entertainment

Raines is in her 11th year with Pacers Sports & Entertainment, currently serving as CEO and overseeing all business operations for the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever of the WNBA, the Noblesville Boom of the G League as well as Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Raines has more than 30 years of operations, legislative, political, corporate and public affairs experience. Prior to joining the Pacers, she was chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana, overseeing three offices as well as all legislative, constituent services and communications staff.

From 2009-12, she was a principal architect of Indianapolis’ acclaimed 2012 Super Bowl, serving as vice president of government relations and event operations for the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee, overseeing 14 committees. She has worked in various roles on six Republican National Conventions including as chief operating officer for the 2008 convention and as a senior advisor for the 2012 and 2016 conventions.

Earlier in her career, Raines served as assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for political affairs, directing all of Cheney’s political and domestic outreach activities. She also held several leadership positions at Altria Corporate Services and at the Republican National Committee. She began her career on Capitol Hill with U.S. Sen. Daniel Coats of Indiana.

Raines, a South Bend native and graduate of Indiana University, is on the board of directors of the Pacers Foundation, Indy Chamber, Visit Indy, the Indianapolis Zoo, Citizens Energy Group, Ascension St. Vincent Foundation and the Economic Club of Indiana.

Brent Yeagy, CEO, Wabash

Yeagy is a manufacturing leader with more than 25 years of experience in the automotive and commercial transportation industries. Since June 2018, he has been responsible for Wabash’s strategic direction and operations in his role as president and CEO.

Before his current appointment, Yeagy served as president and chief operating officer at Wabash from 2016-18. He joined Wabash in 2003 and has held a number of positions with increasing responsibility, including vice president of manufacturing, vice president and general manager of commercial trailer products, and senior vice president-group president of Wabash’s commercial trailer products.

Prior to Wabash, Yeagy held human resources, environmental engineering and safety management positions at Delco Remy International from 1999-2003. He also held various plant engineering roles at Rexnord Corp. from 1995-99 and served in the U.S. Navy from 1991-94.

Yeagy holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering science and a master’s degree in safety engineering from Purdue, and an MBA in business management from Anderson University. He has also attended executive programs at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Yeagy is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and participated in the Navy’s Officer Candidate School. He serves on the boards for the National Association of Manufacturers and the Transportation and Supply Chain Institute at the University of Denver.

About the Presidential Lecture Series

Launched in 2014 by then-Purdue President Mitch Daniels and continued by President Mung Chiang, the Presidential Lecture Series exposes Purdue students and the broader community to inspiring ideas, courageous leadership, and models of civic engagement and civil discourse. The Presidential Lecture Series has had over 40 guests of many viewpoints and perspectives and hosted some of the great intellectual, business and civic leaders of our time. As one of the world’s premier centers of scholarly leadership, Purdue is — appropriately and necessarily — a regular venue for great thinkers across a wide variety of disciplines.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.