Val Ackerman, Len Elmore & Joel Fisher

Teaches at Museum of the City of New York - Public

Val Ackerman was named the fifth commissioner of the BIG EAST Conference on June 26, 2013. She was the founding president of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and a past president of USA Basketball. She has had a long and accomplished career in the sports industry and is one of the few sports executives who has held leadership positions in both men’s and women’s sports at the collegiate, professional, national team, and international levels. Ackerman’s accomplishments in the sports business have earned her numerous awards, including recognition in 2016 by Sports Business Journal as one of the 50 most influential people in the sports business and recipient of the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Billie Jean King Contribution Award.

Len Elmore is a sportscaster, lawyer, educator and retired 10-year veteran of the NBA. In his 32nd season as a television basketball analyst, he has been a leading voice in college hoops, where he has broadcast NCAA men’s basketball and NBA games for ESPN, Fox Sports, and CBS. His NBA playing career included stints with the Indiana Pacers, Kansas City Kings (now Sacramento Kings), Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and New York Knicks. In 1987, Elmore received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he remains the first and only NBA player to do so. He went on to serve as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, then founded the sports management company Precept Sports & Entertainment in 1992. A New York City native, Elmore is a noted authority on issues relating to sports, law, and academia. He was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame and was named one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 50 Greatest Players in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

Joel Fisher is the Executive Vice President of Marquee Events and Operations at The Madison Square Garden Company. He serves as lead executive for significant initiatives and oversees two of The Garden’s most enduring franchises – college basketball and boxing. Fisher is also responsible for other live sporting events outside of MSG’s teams such as bull riding, wrestling, college hockey, tennis, and eSports. He has led the Company’s efforts to bring landmark events to MSG’s venues, including most recently in 2018, the 60th Annual Grammy Awards and the Big Ten Tournament, and brought the NCAA Basketball East Regional Finals back to The Garden in 2014 for the first time in 50 years. Fisher serves on the board of the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the Executive Committee Board for NYC & Company, and the 34th Street Partnership.