Former Virginia women's basketball star Val Ackerman will be speaking at today's Valediction ceremony as part of UVa's Final Exercises. Stream the entire ceremony right here or on the University's main website.

Ackerman graduated from the University of Virginia in 1981, where she was a four-year starter and three-year captain for the Cavaliers. After graduating from the University, she played basketball professionally in France, and earned her law degree from UCLA in 1985, after which she became a staff attorney for the NBA.

She is most well known for being the founding president of the WNBA in 1996. She was also instrumental in creating the US Women's Basketball team that finished with a 60-0 record and a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics. In 2005 she became the first female president of USA Basketball. She currently serves on the board of directors of USA Basketball, the executive committee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes.