Bernadette V. McGlade, one of the most respected and experienced leaders in collegiate athletics, is in her 17th year as the Atlantic 10 Commissioner in 2024-25. As the historic league’s fifth commissioner, she will guide the league through its 50th Anniversary in 2025-26.
Named commissioner in 2008, she led guided the league through conference realignment and brought Final Four participants George Mason, Loyola Chicago and VCU, and Elite Eight participant Davidson in as new A-10 members, adding academically strong basketball-centric institutions.
McGlade negotiated a new media rights package in 2012 that enhanced the distribution, exposure and revenues for the conference through its national media partners, ESPN, CBS Sports and NBC Sports. That exposure was expanded in 2023, resulting in an increase in rights fees and A-10 championship coverage.
She spearheaded efforts to move the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship to major markets in Brooklyn, N.Y., Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh, Pa. McGlade also has worked to provide excellent, neutral site venues for the women’s basketball championship, including its current home at the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Center.
Her leadership has earned the respect of her peers and appointments to several prestigious NCAA committees. McGlade recently concluded a five-year appointment on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, and currently serves as the Collegiate Commissioner's Association (CCA) President. McGlade has also been a member of the NCAA Division I Council and the Women's Basketball Oversight Committee.
Under McGlade’s tenure the A-10 expanded its championship sports, adding men’s lacrosse and women’s golf, and the league headquarters relocated to Washington, D.C. Working with the member institutions, McGlade instituted the Atlantic 10 Commission on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion during the summer of 2020. She has worked tirelessly to ensure diversity is a core principle in the A-10. Her foresight was crucial in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to financial solvency for the conference during a nationwide financial crisis.
McGlade spent 11 years at the ACC before her arrival at the A-10, and prior to the ACC, McGlade served for 17 years at Georgia Tech. She was hired in 1981 at the age of 23 -- one of the youngest Division I head women's basketball coaches in the nation and the first full-time female coach at Georgia Tech.
In 2000, McGlade was recognized as the WBCA National Administrator of the Year, was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletic Association Hall of Fame and the South Jersey Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Georgia Tech honored McGlade as one of the 50 First Women of the Institute in 2002. McGlade was named to the ACC Women's Basketball 50th Anniversary Team and in 2008, the YWCA of Greensboro, N.C., presented her with the Kay Yow Outstanding Female in Sports award. McGlade was named an ACC Legend by UNC as a player in 2010 and by Georgia Tech as a coach in 2012, the first person to be an ACC Legend as a player and coach. In 2014, she was honored by NACWAA as an Administrator of the Year and named one of Sports Business Journal’s National Game Changers and in 2024 was named an SBJ Power Player in Women’s Sports.