Veteran collegiate sports administrator Lynn Holzman has been named the NCAA vice president of women’s basketball. Holzman, currently the commissioner of the West Coast Conference, will be making a return to the NCAA national office where she previously spent 16 years.
“Lynn Holzman brings the requisite balance of skill and experience in both managing championships and coordinating the administration of the committees governing the sport,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball. “Her excellent work as commissioner of the West Coast Conference and previously as a director at the NCAA has prepared Lynn well for the various responsibilities of the job, and as a former scholarship basketball student‐athlete, she will be an inspiring leader for NCAA women’s basketball. I am excited and proud to welcome Lynn to the NCAA basketball team.”
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“I am honored and humbled to be appointed as the vice president of NCAA women’s basketball,” Holzman said. “To lead and serve the collegiate women’s basketball community while positively contributing at the national level to the overall mission of college athletics is an exciting opportunity. Women’s basketball is thriving and positioned to continue its growth and advance as a premier NCAA sport.”
NCAA director of academic and membership affairs from 2001 to 2012, Holzman has worked closely with NCAA members and supported the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, the Division I Women’s Basketball Issues Committee and the Committee on Women’s Athletics — among several other working groups and task forces — to support fairness in college sports for schools and student-athletes.
“The personal experience of having been a women’s basketball student-athlete transformed my life, and I am thrilled to be able to give back to the sport by serving in this position,” Holzman said. “Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the West Coast Conference for the opportunity to serve as commissioner and work closely with 10 institutions that embrace the holistic development of the student-athletes while providing an environment for academic and athletic excellence.”
Holzman has served as an advocate for women in college sports throughout her career, including as a former board member and now president-elect for Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators). She also served in sports organizations in California’s Bay Area, including the San Jose Sports Authority board of directors and the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative.
Holzman earned her Bachelor of Science degree at Kansas State, where she was captain of the women's basketball team and a three-time Academic All-Big Eight Team member. She also earned a Master of Arts degree from North Carolina and a Master of Business Administration from Purdue. Holzman was awarded the Big Eight Conference’s Postgraduate Scholarship and is recognized as a Distinguished Alumni by North Carolina.
“As a former college women’s basketball student-athlete, Lynn exemplifies the power of our sport,” said Danielle Donehew, executive director of the WBCA. “Her contributions to the game and the WBCA throughout her career are numerous and significant, and I look forward to working with Lynn for the mutual benefit of the coaches, the student-athletes and the game itself.”
Holzman will serve in the position previously held by Anucha Browne, who departed the NCAA in October to become chief strategy and engagement officer at UNICEF USA. Holzman will start in her new role Feb. 1.
