BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman has been chosen as a recipient for the Forbes Women Annual 50 Over 50 Awards.  The awardees are recognized for having created their greatest impact at age 50 and beyond.
 
The Forbes Women list is produced in partnership with Mika Brzezinski and her Know Your Value initiative. The winners will be recognized at the Over 50 Luncheon in New York City on October 24. The group also will gather on International Women’s Day in 2025 at the 30/50 Summit.
 
Val, who has served as BIG EAST Commissioner since 2013, has had a long and accomplished career in the sports industry and is one of the few executives in sports who has held leadership positions in both men’s and women’s sports at the collegiate, professional, national team and international levels. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
 
As Commissioner of the BIG EAST, she has overseen a reconfigured and successful group of distinguished college athletics programs. Before taking charge of the BIG EAST, Ackerman was USA Basketball’s first female president, a role she held following her nine-year stint as the founding president of the WNBA.