Revamped Big East hires Ackerman as commiss..

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New York • The newly reconstituted Big East Conference has hired former WNBA president Val Ackerman, a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, as its commissioner.

The Big East, which made the announcement Wednesday, will be headquartered in New York City and begin official operations on July 1. Terms of the deal were not immediately announced.

Ackerman, 53, was the founding president of the WNBA and also was the first female president of USA Basketball, which won gold medals by the men's and women's teams at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She was most recently a consultant for the NCAA, and is an adjunct professor at Columbia University.

The revamped conference announced in March that it would include Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova and Xavier.

Revamped Big East hires Ackerman as commissioner