Gary B. Bettman has served the National Hockey League as Commissioner since Feb. 1, 1993 and has guided the world’s top professional hockey league through nearly two decades of growth and advancement – on the ice and off.

Record revenues, record attendance and a variety of fan-friendly initiatives are just a few trademarks of Commissioner Bettman’s tenure. The innovation of the Winter Classic outdoor game has turned New Year’s Day into a celebration of hockey. The implementation of four-on-four overtime and the ‘shootout’ eliminated tied games during the regular season. The implementation of the two-referee system has revolutionized hockey officiating around the world. Exclusive, original content on the League’s NHL.com website provides fans with original stories, highlights and videos, while the Game Center Live subscription service on NHL.com affords fans the opportunity to watch up to four regular-season games simultaneously and offers such features as “picture in picture,” a DVR function and variable bit-rate streaming options to optimize video quality.

The 2009-10 season marked the League’s fifth under a restructured economic system created by its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the National Hockey League Players’ Association. The campaign also was the fifth under a progressive set of rules implemented to accentuate the speed, skill and creativity of the players. Through the resulting competitive balance, 28 of the League’s 30 Clubs have qualified for the playoffs and a different team has received the most cherished and historic trophy in professional sports – the Stanley Cup – in each of those seasons.

Advancements in the game under Commissioner Bettman’s direction also have included repeated innovations in the area of instant replay and elevations in the study of injuries – concussions, in particular. The NHL was the first major professional sports league to mandate neuropsychological baseline testing to help determine return-to-play guidelines for players who have suffered concussions.

Commissioner Bettman also has focused attention on the League’s international makeup and appeal.  In 1998, he led the NHL to its first Olympic Winter Games, with NHL players stocking the rosters of six world-class teams, and the League has returned to the competition in 2002 at Salt Lake City and in 2006 at Torino. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games, in Vancouver, British Columbia, were played under NHL rules on NHL-sized ice surfaces.

As a further testament to the League’s international appeal, NHL games now are televised in more than 160 countries worldwide. Further, the World Cup of Hockey, which features the top NHL players representing their homelands in an international tournament, was played for the first time in 1996, returned in September, 2004, and is expected to resume in the future.

Before being named NHL commissioner, Commissioner Bettman served 12 years with the National Basketball Association, attaining the position of Senior Vice President and General Counsel.  Prior to that, he was associated with the New York law firm of Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn.

A native of Queens, NY, he graduated from Cornell University and the New York University School of Law.  He lives in New Jersey with his wife, Shelli. The couple has three adult children.

Source: NHL