Pacific-10 Conference Commissioner Tom Hansen will retire next year as the longest-serving leader of a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Conference, completing his 26th year as leader of the league before stepping down June 30, 2009.

He will depart after a total of 33 years of service to the conference, which was known as the Athletic Association of Western Universities when he joined its staff for a seven-year stint as public relations director beginning in 1960. He returned as the league’s fifth commissioner in 1983 after a 16-year stint on the NCAA national office staff.

“Tom Hansen has led the Pac-10 for 25 years, through a remarkable period of accomplishment, winning more national championships than any other conference, as well as developing many new programs,” said Stanford President John Hennessey, chair of the Pac-10 CEO Group. “We have been fortunate to have such a strong and capable commissioner.”

Under Hansen’s leadership, Pac-10 teams have won 204 NCAA championships -- a total outstripping any other conference by a wide margin. He also has overseen the inauguration of the Pac-10’s nationally prominent women’s sports programs and dramatic expansion of the conference football and basketball television programs, played a prominent role in the development of the Bowl Championship Series, and led the establishment of relationships with bowl-game partners.

“It has been a unique opportunity and an honor to be associated with the 10 outstanding institutions of higher education which comprise the Pac-10 Conference,” Hansen said. “It has been a privilege to collaborate on advancing the conference’s interests with the chief executive officers, faculty athletics representatives, directors of athletics, senior women administrators, coaches and other staff members of the member institutions. Each is outstanding in his or her role, and together make the conference eminently successful, academically and athletically.

“I want to thank them for the opportunity to be Pac-10 Commissioner, a position I have held with pride, and for their support of the conference and its programs during my tenure. I also thank the members of the excellent conference office staff who have been supportive of me and work at the highest professional level to benefit the Pac-10’s members and its student-athletes.

“This combination of excellence on campus and on the part of the staff has assisted Pac-10 teams and student-athletes in winning unparalleled team championships and individual honors.

“Being able to observe the accomplishments of the Pac-10’s student-athletes has been a special benefit of the position and has supplied many moments of joy inspired by the athletic feats of these immensely talented young people.

“Another highlight has been the friendships I have enjoyed during my career with the commissioners of other conferences, NCAA and Pac-10 staff members, administrators and coaches at universities across the nation, representatives of the bowl organizations who volunteer their time to benefit college athletics and the executives of the media companies with whom the NCAA and Pac-10 have had relationships.

“The conference currently is in particularly good shape competitively. The Pac-10 has won 13 NCAA championships during this academic year, still is in contention in baseball and has strong teams in men’s and women’s track and field. It could equal or surpass its Division I record 14 titles won in 1996-97. It also has won non-NCAA national championships in men’s and women’s rugby and synchronized swimming this year.

“The Pac-10 will continue to be an outstanding conference, and I will enjoy its future successes from another vantage point.”

Active in NCAA affairs since leaving the national office staff, Hansen has chaired and served on numerous Association committees, including the NCAA Oversight and Monitoring Group, the Division I Task Force on Recruiting, the Governance Subcommittee, the Diversity Leadership Strategic Planning Committee, the Gender Equity Task Force, the Amateurism Clearinghouse Advisory Group ,and the Nominating and Special Events Committees, among others.

He also has served as president of NCAA Football and the Collegiate Commissioners Association and been on the board of directors of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He is a member of the board of directors of the Northern California Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, and served on that organization’s national Honor’s Court.

Among the honors bestowed on Hansen during his tenure at the Pac-10 are the NACDA Award for Administrative Excellence, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award, and the Foundation’s Northern California Chapter Distinguished American Award.

While at the NCAA, where he was an assistant executive director, primary assignments included administration for the football television program, the men’s basketball championship and the Committee on Women’s Athletics. He also represented the NCAA in Washington, D.C.