{"id":877,"date":"2019-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/reports\/leaders-meet-diversity-1-on-1-with-val-ackerman-and-david-stern\/"},"modified":"2022-03-18T15:55:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T15:55:12","slug":"leaders-meet-diversity-1-on-1-with-val-ackerman-and-david-stern","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/articles\/leaders-meet-diversity-1-on-1-with-val-ackerman-and-david-stern\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders Meet: Diversity – 1-on-1 with Val Ackerman and David Stern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Jun 27, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Leaders Meet: Diversity – 1-on-1 with Val Ackerman and David Stern<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Equality, Diversity & Inclusion<\/a> <\/div>\n
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Male-to-female mentorship in the sports industry.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman sat down with NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern at the Leaders Meet: Diversity event held at Facebook’s offices in New York on International Women’s Day, 8th March, this year.<\/h4>\n

Ackerman worked for and alongside Stern at the NBA for some 30 years and considers the former commissioner to be one of the most influential figures in her career.<\/p>\n

The theme of their conversation, an edited transcript of which is below, was male-to-female mentorship in the sports industry, though it covered the full gamut of leadership topics.<\/p>\n

Val Ackerman:<\/strong> This session grew out of conversations I had with Leaders about the role of mentors and how important it is to develop future leaders in the business of sports. Talk to successful people in almost any field and it\u2019s almost always that he or she had someone successful in their life who they worked for, looked up to, who opened doors for them, or who otherwise helped them advance in their careers. The sports industry is no exception.<\/p>\n

The good news is that there are growing numbers of women in sport who have assumed mentorship roles for the next wave and I proudly count myself among that group. I talk to young women all the time about the experiences I\u2019ve had; I try to give advice and an encouraging word and I\u2019m going to continue to do it. But the fact remains that male executives continue to dominate the uppermost levels of the business. And so the point of this session was to explore the continuing importance of male mentors to women who are looking to advance. And how those relationships can get optimized.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of spending 16 years at the NBA \u2013 from 1988 to 2005. So I started there 30 years ago. When I started there the number of women executives in basketball was pretty low; I remember going to board meetings and it was me, Jeanie Buss and Susan O\u2019Malley who were the only women in the room at the NBA board of governors meetings; and I can tell you there simply weren\u2019t any women of stature or experience who I could look up to or latch onto. One of my heroines was actually the great Pat Summitt, who did so much for basketball, she was so tough; I revered her. The world is a lesser place because she\u2019s not in it right now.<\/p>\n

So when I joined the NBA, David, you were in your fourth year as commissioner, and really it was you and our good friend, long-time deputy commissioner Russ Granik who filled that mentor void for me and Russ and especially David remain close friends and a source of counsel to this day. Working for David was the ideal training to become a commissioner. It was everything from the little things like how to deal with fan mail, which mostly involves complaints about the officiating. You used to forward those to me back in the day because you wanted every bit of fan mail responded to. You\u2019re a saver, so I still remember in your office you would have all these clippings of articles you found interesting and put it on a stack and the stacks used to grow because you didn\u2019t throw anything out, and I\u2019ve acquired the same habit. And then little things like how do you hand a team a championship trophy then get out of the picture. Not to mention the big things like branding, globality, social responsibility, technology \u2013 all those threads that come together in the mind of a commissioner, I remember getting from you, not to mention all the work habits of preparedness and being thorough. I remember every time I went in to talk to you I was always so nervous and I knew you were going to interrupt me after 30 seconds so I had to get it out fast but all those things are still with me today, so in front of this group I want to publicly thank you for all you did for me, and I know when the Big East came looking for a commissioner you put in a good word so I really appreciate that.<\/p>\n