The NCAA News - News Features

Three women join NCAA Foundation Board of Directors

Three new members will give the NCAA Foundation Board of Directors a new look over the next several years.

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Elizabeth A. "Betsy" Sanders have been elected to the foundation's board. Drysdale and Sanders began their three-year terms in October, and Baker will begin in January. Those additions increase the number of directors to 23.

"We are very pleased to add these three outstanding women, increasing the female representation on the foundation's board," said David R. Gavitt, president of the foundation. "It is particularly timely given the growth of women's athletics programs in the NCAA."

Baker

Nancy Kassebaum Baker served three terms as a United States senator from Kansas from 1978 to 1996. During her tenure, she served as chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee and was one of the first senators to propose a one-year, across-the-board budget freeze. She also focused her efforts on improving education and reforming the health-care system. Baker's introduction to politics occurred at an early age. Her father, Alfred M. Landon, was Kansas governor from 1933 to 1937 and the 1936 Republican presidential nominee.

She received a B.A. in political science from the University of Kansas and an M.A. in diplomatic history from the University of Michigan. In December, Kassebaum married former Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee.

Drysdale

The athletics career of Ann Meyers Drysdale has been dominated by "firsts." As a basketball player from 1975 to 1978 at the University of California, Los Angeles, she was the first four-time Kodak All-American; the first woman to sign with an NBA team -- the Indiana Pacers; the first woman inducted into the UCLA Sports Hall of Fame; and the first team-athlete to be inducted into the Woman's Sports Hall of Fame. She also competed on the first women's Olympic basketball team in 1976 and helped the U.S. team win a silver medal.

Since 1979, Drysdale has worked extensively in broadcasting. She has been the color commentator and cohost of a variety of network and ESPN sports events and programs, including the 1984 Summer Olympics and men's and women's NCAA basketball. Drysdale is a UCLA graduate.

Sanders

Elizabeth A. "Betsy" Sanders has been an executive management consultant since 1990, specializing in the development and implementation of leadership resources. From 1978 to 1990, she was vice-president and general manager at Nordstrom, Inc.'s, most profitable division in Southern California. Some of her accomplishments during that time included building business to $1 billion in annual revenues; increasing the employee base from 350 to 11,000; and locating, planning and opening 19 stores.

Sanders sits on several boards, including The J.F. Ahmanson Company, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Gettysburg College. She received the Directors' Choice Award in 1995 from the National Women's Economic Alliance and was named Woman of the Year in Business and Industry in 1988 by the YWCA of North Orange County. She has a B.A. in German language and linguistics from Wayne State University (Michigan) and a master's degree in secondary education from Boston University. She also has earned a certificate of management from the University of Washington's Graduate School of Business.

The foundation, a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1988 to generate funds for NCAA-approved programs for student-athletes. Programs for which the foundation provides support include degree-completion awards, CHOICES, CHAMPS/ Life Skills and sports journalism scholarships.