ACC Senior Associate Commissioner/Women’s Basketball has served the league office for more than a decade

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today that Nora Lynn Finch, ACC Senior Associate Commissioner/Women’s Basketball, will retire at the conclusion of the 2018-19 academic year. Finch has served the ACC since joining the conference office in August 2008.
 
“Nora Lynn has successfully served the Atlantic Coast Conference and our member schools with integrity, enthusiasm and energy,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “Her contributions to college athletics, and specifically women’s basketball, are national in scope. Her career accomplishments are extraordinary and I congratulate her on a truly outstanding career.”
 
During her tenure with the ACC, Finch has overseen the management and promotion of the annual women’s basketball tournament, coordinated the regular-season conference schedule, and served as the Commissioner’s liaison to the league’s 15 women’s basketball programs and the women’s basketball committee. She was named one of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers in 2015, and received the 2017 Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her lifelong commitment of service to women’s basketball by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.  She was recently named a finalist for the Class of 2019 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
  Prior to her arrival at the ACC, Finch had been at NC State for more than 30 years, most recently as the department’s Senior Associate Director and Senior Woman Administrator. In her time at NC State, she was a member of numerous important committees on campus, as well as on the ACC and NCAA levels. She was co-chair of the university committee to build the Lonnie Poole Golf Course, and the Wolfpack Club presented her with its Shavlik Award for lifetime service in 2012. She was selected to the 125 Transformational Women of NC State in 2013. She served on the NCAA Division I Management Council, NCAA Division I Championships Cabinet and the NCAA Division I Membership Committee, and as a member of the women’s basketball rules committee, she led the vote to change the size of the women’s basketball to its current size and weight.  Most recently, she led the effort to implement significant rules changes including the 10-second backcourt violation, reinstatement of four quarters, elimination of the one-and-one foul shot, and the ability to advance the ball into the front court in the last minute of play.
 
Finch was named the chair of the inaugural NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee in 1981 and served in that capacity until August 1988. In 1987, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) awarded her its first WBCA Special Recognition Award for Athletics Administrators. The ACC presented her with its inaugural women’s basketball Distinguished Service Award in 1989 and with its inaugural President’s Award for Exemplary Service in 2008. In 1999, The Orlando Sentinel recognized Finch as its 12th Most Influential Person in Women’s Athletics in the 20th Century.
 
“I daresay that few people have enjoyed their professional careers, have worked alongside as many outstanding people, or have been enriched by as many people as I have,” said Finch. “NC State and the ACC afforded me opportunities at the conference, national, and international levels that are rare and priceless.  The friendships and relationships derived from my NC State, ACC and NCAA experiences will last my lifetime. To finish my career under the leadership of John Swofford serving the ACC member institutions is truly icing on my cake!”
 
A 1970 graduate of Western Carolina, Finch graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in education and also earned a master’s degree in education from Western Carolina. She was twice inducted into the Western Carolina Hall of Fame, in 1991 and 2003. Before joining NC State, she coached the women’s basketball teams at Wake Forest University (1971-73) and Peace College (1973-77) and was also Director of Athletics at Peace College (1973-77).