Events and Reports
The Big East Conference Commissioner on the secrets to the success of March Madness, the thorny issue of player payment, and her leadership style.
Val Ackerman was named the fifth Commissioner of the Big East Conference on June 26, 2013. She was the founding President of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a past President of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic basketball programme. She has had a long and accomplished career in the sports industry and is one of the few sports executives who has held leadership positions in both men’s and women’s sports at the collegiate, professional, national team and international levels.
Interviewed backstage at Leaders Week in London in October 2017, Ackerman discusses the secrets to the success of March Madness, the competition’s bracket structure and how it captivates fans, explains the NCAA’s stance on the debate over whether student athletes should be paid; and finally, she offers an insight into her own leadership style and how that’s been shaped by the executives she’s worked with in her illustrious career.
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