COO & Deputy Director of Leadership Programs, WeCOACH
A 20+ year veteran of the sports industry, Erica Nelson-Flowers has amassed a career working at some of the country’s most successful brands. Since March, 2021 she has served as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for USTA Texas. In this role she is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies to grow tennis on and off the court amongst historically underrepresented communities. Prior to joining the USTA, Erica worked for 11½ years leading Student-Athlete Development departments at the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina. Her foundation for supporting athletes off the playing field began early in her career when she worked in the Player Development department for the NBA. Erica’s first job in sports came as the Sports Manager for NYC2012, the U.S. representative city and an international finalist to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In this role she managed the involvement of 2,000+ Olympians and Paralympians from more than 60 countries, amongst many other duties. The diversity in her career path has led Erica to hold the rare distinction of attaining experience collaborating with athletes on the grassroots, collegiate, professional and Olympic levels. In 2023 Erica was named to the “Top 50 Women Leaders in Austin” list by the organization, “Women We Admire”. That same year she was inducted into the Slippery Rock University (SRU) Sport Management program’s “Hall of Fame” and also was the commencement speaker for the SRU College of Graduate Studies. That Fall she also joined the National Board of Directors for the SRU Foundation, which exists to generate, develop, and steward charitable gifts and other resources to support the priorities of the university. Erica has a B.A. degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills and a M.S. degree from Slippery Rock University (PA) and currently resides in Dallas, TX.
