The WNBA is affiliated with the 30-team National Basketball Association (NBA), and since its inaugural season in 1997 has become one of the preeminent women’s professional sports organizations in the world. The league features world-class players, national network and corporate support and an avid fan following.

Ackerman

Ackerman joined the NBA in 1988 as a staff attorney and served as special assistant to Commissioner David Stern, director of business affairs and vice president of business affairs prior to her appointment to head the WNBA in 1996.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of USA Basketball, the Executive Committee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes.

Ackerman graduated from the University of Virginia in 1981, where she was a four-year starter for the women’s basketball team and a two-time Academic All-American. She played professional basketball in France before graduating from UCLA School of Law in 1985, and she worked for two years as an associate at the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

She and her husband, Charlie Rappaport, have two daughters, Emily and Sally.