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In the years since he graduated from Lafayette, Otis Ellis ’89 has been named to the basketball halls of fame at both Germantown Academy and Lafayette and has risen in his career to become a vice president at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in Washington, D.C.
For Ellis, it’s only the beginning.
“Now I’m in the position where I can mentor students and hire interns,” he says, explaining that mentors have always been important to him. “I just feel really fortunate and blessed.”
Ellis has also lent his name—and money—to the Otis Ellis ’89 Scholar Athlete Award, given each year to a successful varsity athlete who has achieved an outstanding level of scholarship.
Ellis, who began playing basketball “when I was six or seven,” achieved success in both academics and athletics. He was recruited to Germantown Academy in middle school after one of its coaches saw him play in a Philadelphia city summer league game. By the time he reached ninth grade, John Leone, then coach of Lafayette’s basketball team, had begun talking to him about attending Lafayette for his college education.
Ellis also was wooed by recruiters from much larger schools, including Notre Dame and Stanford, but he was more impressed by what he learned about Lafayette.
“It was more important for me to go to a school that exhibited the characteristics that my mother raised me to,” he says, explaining that his mother, a teacher, always expected her children to perform well in school, respect others, and comport themselves with dignity.
“I was on a mission when I got to Lafayette,” Ellis says. “I didn’t want to be one of those athletes who needed help or went on the six-year plan. I told myself, ‘I want to be successful.’”
As it turned out, he found Lafayette to be a perfect fit—and an excellent launching pad into a successful career.
“I was already accustomed to going home and doing three to four hours of homework,” he says. “That’s what really helped me to navigate Lafayette. I had to use that skill set of being a critical thinker, knowing how to come up with solutions, and knowing how to work with people. I thought, ‘this is what is expected of me.’”
Ellis who played varsity basketball throughout his Lafayette career, graduated with an A.B. degree in economics and business with a minor in government and law.
After graduating, he began work as a legislative assistant for Philadelphia City Councilman-at-Large Thatcher Longstreth.
“It was a great way for me to combine what I learned in my law classes with some of my economic interests,” he says, adding that it also allowed him to pursue a brief second career in semi-professional basketball.
By the beginning of 1990, Ellis decided to focus on business full-time and accepted a position with Penn Mutual Life Insurance in Philadelphia.
“I always stayed connected to the College,” he says.
At first, Ellis stayed connected by visiting his favorite professors, Edward Seifried, now professor of economics and business, and Rexford Ahene, now professor of economics and business and coordinator of Africana studies. He also participated in minority “sleeping bag weekends” and spoke to student groups about his career. And he kept in touch with Riley Temple ’71, now a partner in Halprin Temple, a telecommunications law firm in Washington, D.C., and secretary of Lafayette’s Board of Trustees.
“For me, it was hard to mentor someone in those first five to 10 years out of college,” he says, pointing out that he knew from Temple’s example that it was something he eventually wanted to do. “He helped me to understand the importance of giving back, not only financially but by helping to get students jobs and career experience.”
Now, after moving first to a position in brokerage services and research at May Davis in Baltimore in 1997, then to Morgan Stanley as a financial adviser in 2001 and vice president in 2004, Ellis feels ready to lend his advice and employment clout to Lafayette students.
“I can start bringing people into my business or other related business that we touch,” he says. “I’ve always understood the concept of giving back and the concept of what it means to be a role model. Now I’m in a position where I can start helping people to get jobs, to learn a particular skill.”
Despite long work days, he found time to participate in Lafayette Leadership Council from 1999 to 2002 and to speak well of Lafayette to anyone who’s listening.
“It gave me exposure to people who had a different perspective on life,” he says of the College. “It enabled me to interact with people from different backgrounds and different cultures.”
Ellis adds that while few black or other minority students attended Lafayette when he was a student, he’s heartened by the College’s increasing focus on diversity. In the past few years, he has helped about a dozen students from a variety of backgrounds through information chats and informational interviews.
“I get the most satisfaction out of being up close and personal,” he says. “It’s one thing to have an award named after you. It’s another thing to have a dialogue with someone. Talking with students really makes it worthwhile.”