Catchings Named ‘Citizen of the Year’

The International Center has selected former Indiana Fever star and philanthropist Tamika Catchings as recipient of the 2022 International Citizen of the Year Award. Catchings will be the 35th recipient of the award, which honors individuals whose work has achieved global impact.

Catchings will accept the award in October at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis.

“We are honored to present the 2022 International Citizen of the Year award to Tamika Catchings,” said Priscila Vansetti, vice president of crop protection strategy and planning at Corteva Agriscience and International Center board chair. “Tamika is a prime example of the global talent that’s found in our state – both athletic and humanitarian.”

Catchings was drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2001 and retired in 2016. Catchings led the Fever to the WNBA championship in 2012, won four Olympic gold medals for Team USA, and has been awarded several WNBA player of the year and most valuable player awards. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.

“We are thrilled to celebrate Tamika, an Indiana icon, with our ICY award,” Martin Baier, president of The International Center. “With it, we will honor not just Tamika as an athlete, but her dedication to our community as a philanthropist and businesswoman and her role as unofficial ambassador for the entire state of Indiana.”

Catchings is the founder of Indianapolis-based nonprofit Catch the Stars Foundation, as well as owner of Tea’s Me Café in downtown Indianapolis and Tea’s Me Community Café in Indy’s Butler Tarkington neighborhood.

Catchings most recently worked for Pacers Sports and Entertainment as the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Indiana Fever. This week, she announced she has stepped down from those roles.

Editor’s Note: Inside INdiana Business President Gerry Dick is a board member emeritus of the International Center.