Madeleine K. Albright, former United States Secretary of State, best-selling author and principal of The Albright Group LLC and chair and principal of Albright Capital Management LLC, has been named recipient of the 2009 Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor the NCAA bestows.

The award, known as the “Teddy,” will be presented January 15 at the NCAA Honors and Delegates Reception during the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C. The Teddy is presented annually to a former NCAA student-athlete for  whom competitive athletics in college and attention to physical well-being after graduation have been important factors in a distinguished career of national significance and achievement.

The award is named after President Theodore Roosevelt, whose concern for the conduct of intercollegiate  athletics led to the formation of the NCAA in 1906. Past recipients of the Teddy have included a variety of  public- and private-sector leaders including Byron R. White (1969); Omar Bradley (1973); Althea Gibson (1991); Bill Richardson (1999); William S. Cohen (2001); Eunice Kennedy Shriver (2002); Sally K. Ride (2005); Paul Tagliabue (2007) and former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower (1967), Gerald R. Ford (1975), George H.W. Bush (1986) and Ronald Reagan (1990). Last year’s award recipient was John H. Glenn, Jr., former United States senator and NASA astronaut.

Jack Ford, Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist and nationally recognized trial attorney, author and teacher, will serve as emcee of the event. Ford, a former Yale football student-athlete, has served on the NCAA Honors Committee  and was named a 1997 Silver Anniversary Award honoree.

Albright served as the 64^th Secretary of State of the United States. She was the first woman Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of U.S. government. As Secretary, Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights and promoted American trade and business, labor and environmental standards abroad. Serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet and National Security Council for eight years, she was the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997.

Albright is a principal and founder of The Albright Group LLC, a global consulting firm. She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. She co-chairs the UNDP’s Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute and the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security.

Albright earned a bachelor’s degree with Honors from Wellesley College, and master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government, as well as a certificate from its Russian Institute.