The American Conference Board of Directors voted unanimously on April 2, 2024, to select Tim Pernetti as the second commissioner in conference history. Commissioner Pernetti replaces Mike Aresco, who has served as commissioner of the American since the reconstitution of the conference in 2013.
Commissioner Pernetti officially began his tenure with the American on June 3, 2024.
Commissioner Pernetti is a dynamic and veteran leader who brings over three decades of collegiate athletics, professional sports, business and media leadership to the American.
Most recently he served as the president of IMG Academy, the world’s leading sports education brand anchored by its 600-acre campus in Bradenton, Florida. IMG Academy provides intentional personal development opportunities for student-athletes through its boarding school, sport camps and college recruiting services. As President, Pernetti played a key role in the sale of IMG Academy to BPEA-EQT for $1.25B in 2023. Under his leadership, IMG Academy has made sweeping changes to student-athlete and staff experiences including a $100M of campus capital expansion, integration into the launch of digital products such as IMG Academy+ and the acquisition of athlete recruiting company NCSA and the addition of the Academy’s 15th sport, girls’ volleyball. Pernetti also served as chief operating officer for IMG Academy from 2022-2022, where he led a successful navigation of the Academy through the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping IMG Academy open and fully operational and closing the historic agreement to host the 2020 WNBA season on campus.
Prior to joining IMG Academy, Pernetti served in multiple leadership roles at Endeavor (NYSE: EDR). From 2019-20, he was the executive vice president, overseeing Endeavor and IMG sports, event, and entertainment properties within the IMG Events & Media team in North America and globally. From 2015-2019, Pernetti was the president of IMG College, leading dealmaking with university presidents, conference commissioners and athletic directors and successfully negotiating hundreds of commercial partnerships. Pernetti led the IMG College business through its historic merger with Learfield in 2019.
From 2013-2015, Pernetti was the chief business officer of the Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion club New York City FC (NYCFC), co-owned by Manchester City Football Club and the New York Yankees. He helped to build the club from the ground up and oversaw all business operations through its first games in March 2015. Under his leadership NYCFC broke records for fan engagement, partnerships and completed the most significant jersey sponsorship in league history, to this day.
A former football student-athlete at Rutgers University from 1989-93, Pernetti returned to his alma mater in 2009 as the youngest director of intercollegiate athletics in college sports. He oversaw 24 sports, all business functions and relationships with the NCAA, Big East/Big Ten Conference, donors, alumni, and constituents. As athletic director from 2009-2013, Pernetti most notably designed the vision and strategy that resulted in his pitch, negotiation and successful agreement and entry into the Big Ten Conference for Rutgers University.
Pernetti began his career in television, dealmaking, and programming. From 1995-2009 he held numerous executive positions in media. He served as the director of programming at ABC Sports where he oversaw all college sports, PGA Tour Golf, and other programming relationships. He was one of the first employees for startup CSTV (College Sports Television) in 2003. In 2009 he served as the executive vice president of content overseeing all relationships, deal-making, programming, and talent. CSTV was sold to CBS Sports for $325M and is now known as the CBS Sports Network.
Dedicated to community service, he served as a Board Member of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for Spinal Cord Research (2013-2019) and continues to serve on the Board of Advisors for Team LeGrand (foundation of former Rutgers football student-athlete Eric LeGrand), and on the Board of Directors for Reed Academy, a school in his hometown of Oakland, NJ for children and adults on the autistic spectrum.
Pernetti also serves on the Board of Directors for MYOS, a biotechnology company in New Jersey that develops natural products and supplements to improve the longevity and muscle growth in canines and other animals.
Pernetti earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Rutgers University, where he was a four-year letter-winner on the Scarlet Knight football team. He was a 2008 recipient of Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40 award and was a finalist for that publication's Athletic Director of the Year award in 2013.
He and his wife, Danielle have three children, Conor (24), a graduate of the University of South Carolina, Max (22), a former basketball student-athlete at Gettysburg College, and Natalie (17), a rising senior lacrosse student-athlete at IMG Academy.