Ackerman

Val Ackerman is the President of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The League is owned by the 29 member teams of the National Basketball Association and includes 16 teams located in Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Miami, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle Utah and Washington.

Ackerman joined the NBA in 1988 as a staff attorney and served as Special Assistant to Commissioner David Stern from 1990 to 1992. She was named Director of Business Affairs in 1992 and Vice President of Business Affairs in 1994.

As a member of the Board of Directors of USA Basketball, Ackerman helped create the 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's National Team program, which culminated with a gold medal performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Ackerman currently serves on the USA Basketball Executive Committee and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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 one season of professional basketball in France before attending UCLA School of Law, from which she received her law degree in 1985.

Following graduation, she worked 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.