Val Ackerman

Valerie (“Val”) Ackerman was the founding president of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and also was the first female president of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball program. She is both currently the U.S. representative to the International Basketball Federation ("FIBA") and a sports consultant and a contributing columnist to ESPNW. Ackerman was as an executive at the NBA for eight years, serving as staff attorney, special assistant to NBA Commissioner David Stern and director (and later vice president) of business affairs before being named the WNBA’s first president in 1996.   She led the day-to-day operation of the league for its first eight seasons. In 2005, Ackerman was elected president of USA Basketball for the 2005-08 term, where she led the organization to both an overall competitive record of 222-23 and gold medal performances by the U.S. men’s and women’s basketball teams at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She has been a member of the USA Basketball Board of Directors since 1989, when she served as an NBA liaison with USAB for the original Dream Team, which represented the U.S. at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Ackerman’s efforts in the sports business have earned her many awards, including The Sports Business Journal Champions Award, Brandweek Co-Marketer of the Year, the U. Va. Distinguished Alumna Award, induction into the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame and International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, the International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Achievement Diploma, and the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where she serves as a Trustee.  In June 2011, Ackerman was inducted as a contributor into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, where she serves on the Board of Directors.  Ackerman is also a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the Board of Directors of the Virginia Athletics Foundation.  Ackerman graduated from the University of Virginia, where she earned a degree in political and social thought, and holds a J.D. from UCLA.  She and her husband, Charlie Rappaport, have two daughters, Emily and Sally.


Val Ackerman teaches SPRT K4410, Leadership and Personnel Management in the Sports Industry.