Commissioner James J. Phillips, Ph.D., has skillfully led the Atlantic Coast Conference through the most transformational age in college sports history. From student-athlete welfare and compensation to conference realignment and revenue generation, from College Football Playoff expansion to NCAA governance, Phillips has been central to national reforms.
The fifth commissioner in the ACC’s history, Phillips began his tenure Feb. 1, 2021, bringing decades of lauded NCAA Division I experience, a vision for the future and a passion for helping student-athletes prosper in competition, the classroom and their communities.
Among his myriad accomplishments with the ACC:
- Phillips has guided the ACC to become a national conference that spans coast to coast. With the 2024 additions of University of California, Berkeley (Cal), Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Stanford University, the ACC is the nation’s only conference with a member in each of the five most-populated states, and its footprint includes four of the top 10 DMAs.
- Under Phillips’ leadership, the ACC moved its headquarters in the fall of 2023 to Uptown Charlotte as part of Legacy Union’s Bank of America Tower – mere blocks from the city’s NFL, NBA, Major League Soccer and Minor League Baseball franchises.
- The league’s partnership with Disney/ESPN has continued to flourish under Phillips, highlighted by the January 2025 announcement that ESPN exercised its option to extend the ACC’s base rights agreement through the 2035-36 academic year, providing long-term stability while creating additional opportunities to innovate, expand distribution and drive value for the conference and its member institutions.
- ACC Network – which is in its seventh year and one of only three 24/7 linear conference networks – secured full distribution in December 2021 and is available to the same number of households as Disney Channel and ESPN.
- Beyond the Disney/ESPN/ACCN partnership, the conference’s national reach was further strengthened in May 2026 when ESPN and The CW Network extended their sublicense agreement through the 2030-31 season, providing ACC football and men’s and women’s basketball games annually on The CW’s national broadcast network. As part of the expanded agreement, The CW games are also now available to stream live on the ESPN App with the ESPN Unlimited plan, giving ACC fans greater flexibility and access across both linear and direct-to-consumer platforms.
- Altogether, the long-term ESPN agreement, continued growth of ACC Network and expanded relationship with The CW have further elevated the visibility, accessibility and national exposure of ACC programs and student-athletes.
- ACC presidents in May 2023 approved an innovative and progressive “success initiative” that rewards members for their football and men’s basketball performance. A school can earn as much as $20 to $25 million more than its standard distribution, and the concept subsequently has been adopted by other leagues.
- In March 2025, the ACC presidents created an additional revenue distribution model that is based on viewership. The new and innovative model continues to support the entire membership while adding a component directly focused on annual football and men’s basketball viewership. As with success initiatives, ACC member schools will have the opportunity to earn increased viewership distributions from the ACC’s media revenues and will be incentivized to take actions that enhance viewership across the ACC’s 18 member schools.
- As reported in the conference’s most recent tax filing (2024-25), the ACC surpassed $826 million in total revenue, the league’s sixth consecutive year of record gross revenue. Over the last five years, the ACC has seen a 57% increase and is up 121% across the last decade. Each fully vested member school received an average of $47.1 million, also a league record. Phillips continues to aggressively explore innovations related to revenue, technology, television, data and analytics, and more, and the conference’s expansion to 18 members is projected to generate $600 million in incremental revenue during the next decade.
- Since his arrival, the ACC has more than doubled its sponsor portfolio. In addition to the overall corporate sponsors, the league has also secured title sponsors for the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, and the ACC Women’s Soccer, Men’s Lacrosse and Softball Championships. Since February 2023, the ACC and Disney Advertising have onboarded seven new conference sponsors.
- Phillips has been at the forefront of all areas related to the House Case, from the negotiations, anticipated resolution and now full implementation. He provided active leadership in the formation of the College Sports Commission and the hiring of Bryan Seeley as its CEO.
- In alignment with the conference office relocation and following an eight-month strategic and comprehensive process, the conference launched ACCOMPLISH GREATNESS, a multi-part brand campaign highlighting the ACC’s unsurpassed combination of athletic and academic excellence. In August 2026, the league launched the next iteration of its brand campaign, entitled Receipts, celebrating the passion fans have for their individual schools while showcasing the collective strength of the ACC’s 18 member institutions.
- Over the last five years, ACC programs have captured 36 NCAA team championships in conference-sponsored sports, the highest five-year total in the conference’s 73-year history. During the same span, five ACC men’s basketball programs advanced to the Final Four, headlining a five-year, 44-27 NCAA Tournament record that affirms the ACC’s longstanding status as America’s premier basketball conference. Moreover, the ACC is the only league to send at least eight women’s basketball teams for each of the last eight NCAA Tournaments.
- The league’s unique blend of public and private institutions continues to lead Football Bowl Subdivision conferences in the “Best Colleges” rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report. The ACC has led in the best average rank of its collective institutions for an unprecedented 19 consecutive years. In the 2026 rankings, the conference leads all FBS conferences with two schools among the top 10, four in the top 25, six in the top 30 and 16 in the top 75.
- Upon his arrival, Phillips introduced ACC Football 24/7/365, setting a new standard for year-round investment and visibility in the sport. The results have been undeniable. This past season, the ACC delivered nine postseason victories – including a nation-leading seven wins over Power Four opponents – capped by Miami’s run to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Following the 2024 season, the ACC stood as one of only three conferences to place multiple teams in the inaugural expanded College Football Playoff, while its 13 bowl-eligible teams led the nation. The league’s depth has been equally unmatched, with 11 different ACC programs appearing in a bowl game in each of the last three seasons (2023, 2024, 2025) – the longest such streak by any FBS conference in history.
- In partnership with ESPN, the conference adopted enhanced football replay access for select games, bringing unprecedented transparency to the process with live communication between the game venue and ACC command center. The innovation drew rave reviews, was subsequently implemented by others and was expanded in 2026 with more games and television cameras in the command center.
- Phillips forged consensus on the ACC’s recent transitions to an 18-game men’s basketball conference schedule and nine-game league football model. The basketball shift from 20 games occurred in 2025-26 and paid instant dividends. Collectively armed with additional and more challenging non-conference opportunities, ACC teams posted the league’s highest non-conference winning percentage in seven years and earned eight NCAA Tournament bids. The nine-game football model debuted in 2026.
- In 2024-25, the ACC produced the top NFL and NBA Draft picks in the same year – Miami’s Cam Ward and Duke’s Cooper Flagg, respectively. It marked only the sixth time in history that the No. 1 picks hailed from the same league.
A former Vice President for Athletics & Recreation at Northwestern and Northern Illinois, Phillips is renowned as one of the industry’s leading voices, as evidenced by his service on numerous national board and committees. Current appointments include serving as the Chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, Chair of College Football Playoff Foundation Board of Directors, a member of multiple CFP committees and President of the Collegiate Commissioners Association.
In August 2021, he was selected to serve on the 28-member NCAA Constitution Review Committee, followed by an appointment to the NCAA Division I Transformation Committee. Phillips was the only Autonomy 5 commissioner to serve on both.
A Chicago native and the youngest of 10 children, Phillips earned a Ph.D. in education administration from the University of Tennessee, a master’s degree from Arizona State University, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois. He and his wife, Laura, have five children: Luke, Madeline, Meredith, John Patrick and James.
Personal Information
Full Name: James J. Phillips
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Wife: Laura Phillips
Children: Luke (wife Katie Rose), Madeline, Meredith, John Patrick, James
Education
High School: Weber Catholic High School
Undergrad: University of Illinois
Masters: Arizona State University
Ph.D.: University of Tennessee
Athletic Administration Experience
1998-00 Assistant Athletic Director for Annual Giving and Major Gifts, University of Tennessee
2000-04 Associate/Senior Associate Director of Athletics for External Affairs, University of Notre Dame
2004-08 Director of Athletics, Northern Illinois University
2008-12 Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation, Northwestern University
2012-21 Combe Family Vice President for Athletics & Recreation, Northwestern University
2021-present ACC Commissioner
Membership on Boards & Committees
- President, Collegiate Commissioners Association (July 2025-present)
- Chair, NCAA Board of Governors (Member since August 2024; became Chair August 2025-present)
- Chair, College Football Playoff Foundation Board of Directors (2026-present)
- College Football Playoff
- CFP Foundation (2024-present)
- Administrative Committee (2023-present)
- Playoff Operations Committee (2021-present)
- Television Committee (2021-present)
- Officiating Committee (2024)
- Strategic Planning Committee (2023)
- National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Board (April 2023-present)
- Charlotte Sports Foundation Board (November 2022-present)
- Vice President, Collegiate Commissioners Association (July 2023-June 2025)
- NCAA Division I Transformation Committee (November 2021-January 2023)
- NCAA Constitution Review Committee (August 2021-August 2022)
- NCAA Division I Council (January 2015-May 2017)
- NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors (February 2015-April 2017)
- NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee (September 2017-January 2021)
- NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Selection Committee (September 2007-April 2008)
- NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee (August 2020-January 2021)
- Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors (April 2017-January 2021)
- Big Ten TV/Media Committee, Chair (2018-19)
- Rose Bowl Management Committee (April 2018-April 2019)
- NACDA President (2014-15)
Honors & Awards
- 2024 Sport, Entertainment & Venues Tomorrow (SEVT) Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Entertainment Management
- 2024 Business North Carolina Executive of the Year
- 2019 NCAA Champion of Diversity and Inclusion
- 2018 Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year
- 2012 and 2016 NACDA Athletic Directors of the Year
As of August 2026