NEW YORK — Val Ackerman has been through this type of challenge before, helping turn a startup organization into a major success.

The former WNBA president plans to do the same with the reconstituted Big East Conference.

“I am very sure that the new Big East Conference will be a force,” Ackerman said Wednesday during a conference call to officially announce her hiring as the 10-team league’s commissioner.

Ackerman was the founding president of the WNBA, the women’s professional basketball league that was created in 1996 and enjoyed a steady rise in popularity since.