LAS VEGAS – Val Ackerman has received the prestigious Edward S. Steitz Award from USA Basketball at a ceremony during the annual assembly in Las Vegas, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to international basketball.

The recently appointed Commissioner of the Big East Conference, who was selected as the first and still to date, only female President of USA Basketball, Ackerman held the post for the 2005-08 quadrennium and oversaw the capturing of two Olympic basketball gold medals.

Additionally, she has served on the International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) Central Board since 2006 also on the Board of Governors for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Board of Directors for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the Board of Directors for the Virginia Athletics Foundation.

Unsurprisingly, Ackerman received glowing praise from current USA Basketball CEO/Executive Director, Jim Tooley.

He said, “USA Basketball is proud to recognise Val Ackerman for her tremendous contributions to USA Basketball for over two decades.

“She has been a leader in the U.S. and international sports community, and I personally appreciate her support and involvement throughout the years.”

Ackerman has never looked back since graduating with a law degree from the University of California and moving from her two years at a law firm in New York, to work as a Staff Attorney with the NBA in 1988.

She became Special Assistant to NBA President David Stern, was Director of Business Affairs and Vice President of Business Affairs, before eventually accepting the position of WNBA President in 1996 where she reigned for nine years.

A member of the USA Basketball Board of Directors from 1989, Ackerman took the reigns as USA Basketball President from 2005-08. As USA Basketball president she oversaw the restructuring of the USA Basketball Board of Directors and gold medal performances by the men’s and women’s basketball teams at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

In 2008, Ackerman received the International Olympic Committee’s Women of Distinction diploma and the John Bunn lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2011, she was inducted in to the Women’s Basketball of Fame.

Additionally, Ackerman is an Adjunct Professor in the graduate sports management program,e at Columbia University and a contributing columnist for ESPNW.

As well as her accomplishments off the court, Ackerman was a four-year starter, three-year captain and Academic All-American in 1978 and 1979 on the women’s basketball team at the University of Virginia.

FIBA