Women’s National Basketball Association President Val Ackerman will discuss the challenges of operating a women’s professional sports league in her keynote address at the Women in Sports Business Symposium, beginning tonight at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium of the William W. Knight Law Center.
The annual symposium, which is in its fifth year, is organized by graduate students from the James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. For the past several years organizers have tried to secure an appearance by Ackerman at the symposium, program director Rick Burton said.
“Prior to this year the WNBA didn’t have a team in Portland,” Burton said. “So she may see this as an opportunity to spread some goodwill in one of the states where the WNBA has a team. It’s an honor to finally fit it into her schedule.”
Ackerman is the biggest name ever, in terms of ongoing presence in the sports world, to speak at the symposium. She works as the commissioner of the four-year-old league. She oversees 12 teams, including the Portland Fire, one of four expansion teams added to the league this season.
In addition to her WNBA duties, the Virginia alumnus currently serves on the USA Basketball Executive Committee and was a member of the Board of Trustees that created the gold-medal winning 1995-96 USA Basketball Women’s National Team Program.
Other panelists that will speak at this year’s two-day symposium include representatives from companies like Nike, U.S. Soccer, the Portland Fire and the Leo Burnett advertising agency.
“One of the reasons we do this,” Burton said, “is to make sure the women who are a part of our program realize that women play a huge role in the future management and success of sports in America.”