By Lisa Zimmerman,
As an NFL running back, Jamal Lewis, who played for both the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, was hard to slow down. Now retired from the NFL, he is moving just as fast in the business world.
After he retired in 2009, Lewis, the fifth overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the Ravens, was interested in real estate and began buying and selling properties, but he found the passion wasn’t there and began to look elsewhere for other opportunities.
Lewis dabbled in the restaurant business, but quickly discovered he was more drawn to roles that involved sales, marketing and business development. He currently owns, or is a partner in, three separate businesses where his primary responsibilities are in those areas.
Lewis is president of Ink Management, which consults with other companies to provide growth solutions. He co-founded Think Jineus, which works on various technology solutions for businesses in the areas of e-commerce, mobile solutions and customer development. His third company, Metro Exhibits, where he is senior vice president of business development, provides trade show and convention solutions. Again, Lewis is focused on developing their business opportunities as well as incorporating new technologies into their products.
Along the way, there have been missteps and difficulties, none of which Lewis shies away from discussing. One of his early companies was a trucking company, but things quickly unraveled. Lewis admits he put the wrong people in positions of responsibility and did not have enough personal oversight.
Then, following the economic downturn in 2007 and 2008, a major loan was called in and Lewis was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His personal assets were not affected and Lewis doesn’t want anybody feeling sorry for him.
“How do you come out of this?” he remembered asking himself at the time. “I just buckled down and said, ‘you have all these skills, you have all this structure, you’ve built the business up to a 20-30 million-dollar a year business, so you can do it again.”
It wasn’t the first time Lewis had waged a comeback. In 2004, following his third season, Lewis was arrested and convicted of conspiring with intent to distribute cocaine and using a cell phone in the commission of the crime. Lewis says he still thinks about that time of his life and asks himself, “What was I thinking?”
He credits the support and confidence of then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Ravens then-owner Art Modell and general manager Ozzie Newsome, for offering him a second chance. Once he was re-instated he quickly determined that his future was going to look different.
“That changed my life. You’re here for a reason,” Lewis said of what he thought at the time. “You got these chances. It’s just growing up. The Ravens are where I grew up. That was a maturation process in itself. [I decided] I’m not going to become a statistic. I watched (current Ravens owner) Steve Bisciotti. I watched how he operated and brought the organization together. I listened and learned.”
Lewis also pointed to the opportunities afforded by playing in the NFL, not only the networking and business introductions, but the preparation management and leadership skills that are part of being successful on the field and the importance of learning to apply those skills in the business world.
In 2007, Lewis went a step further, attending the NFL’s Entrepreneurial Studies program at Harvard University’s Business School.
“I went to get something that I was lacking, the structure in how to put it all together,” he said. “It really helped me download the information. I think that inspired me, being around the professors and the tutors and opening up to people outside of the NFL. Being around the energy of that group and the stimulation from the conversations kept me thinking. It helped me get the understanding of the process.”
Lewis continues to forge ahead, using the lessons of his past to direct the success of future.