Atlantic Coast Conference

ACC 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 on 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 of accomplishments with the ACC:
 

• Phillips has been at the forefront surrounding 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.

• Phillips has guided the ACC to becoming 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 Carolina Panthers, Charlotte FC, Charlotte Knights, and the Charlotte Hornets.

• 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.

• That balance continues to be a top priority. Since the 2021-22 academic year, ACC teams representing 10 schools have won 29 national championships, the most of any conference in league sponsored sports. During the same span, five ACC men’s basketball programs advanced to the Final Four, headlining a four-year, 38-19 NCAA Tournament record that affirms the ACC’s longstanding status as America’s premier basketball conference. Moreover, the ACC is the only league to qualify at least eight women’s basketball teams for each of the last seven NCAA Tournaments.

• Upon his arrival, Phillips launched ACC Football 24/7/365. Following the 2024 season, the ACC was one of only three leagues to have multiple teams in the inaugural expanded College Football Playoff and the league’s 13 bowl-eligible teams led the country.

• 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 marks only the sixth time in history that the No. 1 picks hailed from the same league.

• 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 in each of the last 18 years. In the 2025 rankings, the conference leads all FBS conferences with two schools ranked in the top 10, four in the top 20, six in the top 20 and 14 in the top 70. 

• As reported in the conference’s most recent tax filing (2023-24), the ACC surpassed $711 million in total revenue, marking the highest gross revenue ever reported for the league. Over the last five years, the ACC has seen a 56% increase and is up 135% across the last decade. Each member school received an average of $45 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.

• 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 $20-25 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.

• The league’s partnership with Disney/ESPN has flourished under Phillips, headlined by the January 2025 announcement that ESPN exercised its option to extend the league’s base rights agreement and will continue as the ACC’s media partner through the 2035-36 academic year. ACC Network – 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 the Disney Channel and ESPN.

• The league’s corporate partnerships have expanded to include multiple new relationships. In 2024-25, T. Rowe Price was onboarded as both a conference sponsor and title sponsor of the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament for the next three years, and GEICO served as the presenting sponsor of the 2024 ACC Football Championship Game. In 2024, Dr Pepper was announced as a league corporate partner for the next three years, inclusive of Crush. The ACC and Disney announced a partnership with Ally in February 2023 to become a league corporate partner and first-ever title sponsor of the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament, ACC Women’s Soccer Championship, and presenting sponsor of the 2023 ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship.

 
A former Vice President for Athletics & Recreation at Northwestern and Northern Illinois, Phillips is renowned as one of the leading voices across the college sports landscape and his inclusion on national boards and committees is beyond significant. Current appointments include serving as the Chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, multiple College Football Playoff 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 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.

• President, Collegiate Commissioners Association (July 2025-present)
• Chair, NCAA Board of Governors (Member since August 2024; became Chair August 2025-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 2027)
• 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)

• 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