of the NBA's first appointees to the Board of Directors of USA Basketball — the organization responsible for the selection and training of the teams that represent the United States in international tournaments, including both the World Cup and the Olympics. In that capacity, she acted as a liaison between the NBA and USA Basketball regarding the 1992 Olympics, 1994 World Championships and 1996 Olympics. From 1995 to 1996, she was a driving force behind the creation of the USA Basketball Women's National Team program that culminated with a 60–0 record and the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. On August 7, 1996, Ackerman was named president of the WNBA. Over the course of her historic eight-year term, Ackerman would become the first woman ever to successfully launch and operate a women's team sports league. On February 1, 2005 she stepped down, and Donna Orender was named as her successor; Laurel Richie succeeded Orender in 2011. In April 2005, Ackerman was named to Sports Business Journal'''s list of "the 20 Most Influential Women in Sports Business." In May 2005, she became the first female president of USA Basketball for the 2005–2008 term, succeeding Tom Jernstedt from the NCAA, who served from 2000 to 2004. During her term, she oversaw a restructuring of the USA Basketball Board of Directors, and gold medal performances by the men's and women's basketball teams at the Beijing Olympics. In 2006, Ackerman was named the U.S. delegate to the Central Board of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which is basketball's worldwide governing body, and was elected for a second four-year term in 2010. She is also a member of FIBA's Competition Commission. As of 2013, Ackerman serves on the Executive Committee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Board of Directors of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and both the NCAA's Women's Basketball Competition Committee and its Honors Committee. She is a past member of the National Board of Directors of Girls Incorporated, the Board of Directors of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, and the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes. Also in 2006, she was named a recipient of the NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award, which is awarded to former student athletes who have achieved personal distinction since graduation. In 2008, she received the IOC's Women of Distinction diploma, and the John Bunn Lifetime