Val Ackerman joined the NBA as a Staff Attorney in November 1988. She served as Special Assistant to Commissioner Stern, Director of Business Affairs and Vice President of Business Affairs before being named President of the WNBA in August 1996.

Ackerman has managed the NBA's relationship with a variety of basketball organizations, including USA Basketball, the Continental Basketball Association, the Basketball Hall of Fame and FIBA, the International Basketball Federation. As a member of the Board of Directors of USA Basketball, Ackerman was involved in the creation of the USA Basketball Women's National Team, which compiled a 60-0 record during a year-long tour against college and international opponents and ended its season by winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga.

Ackerman, a native of Pennington, N.J., 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 member of the Academic All-America team. She played one season of professional basketball in France before entering the UCLA School of Law. Following her graduation in 1985, she joined the Wall Street law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Ackerman, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Trustees, resides in New York City with her husband, Charles Rappaport, and their daughters, Emily and Sally.