Amy P. Perko
Executive Director
Phone: (910) 551-6809
Email:
Amy Perko became executive director of the Knight Commission in July 2005.
She is a Kannapolis, N.C. native and a Wake Forest University Sports Hall of Fame member. Throughout her career, she has been involved with sports, primarily college athletics. Perko began her involvement with the Knight Commission in 2003.
Perko was a William Louis Poteat scholar at Wake Forest where she graduated summa cum laude in 1987 with a degree in history. She was a Phi Beta Kappa and received the university’s award for excellence in history.
As a member of the women’s basketball team, Perko was named to the Academic All-America team three times and earned All-ACC honors twice. She was named the university’s female athlete of the year in 1987. She was inducted into the Wake Forest Hall of Fame in 2000, and was honored as a Legend of ACC Women’s Basketball in 2005.
After graduating from Wake Forest, Perko earned a master’s degree from the University of Richmond.
She worked at the NCAA for over six years, starting as a legislative assistant before working as an enforcement representative. While at the NCAA, Perko staffed a number of NCAA committees including the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association and the Presidents’ Special Committee on Student-Athlete Welfare, Access and Equity.
Perko left the NCAA in 1996 to serve as the Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at the University of Kansas. She oversaw the administration of seven men’s and women’s sports as well as other operational and business units. Perko also served as chair of the Big 12 Championships Committee and was a member of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Committee.
Perko left Kansas in 2001 to return to North Carolina when she was the first Team President named by the National Basketball Association for one of its men’s basketball development teams, the Fayetteville Patriots. As team president, Perko was responsible for oversight of all of the club’s operations and for working directly with NBA officials on the club’s contractual and financial matters.
An active member of the Fayetteville, NC community, Perko served as President of the Board of Directors for the Partnership for Children of Cumberland County, an organization that focuses on early childhood development and education. The Partnership administers state funds for Smart Start and More at Four. Perko also coaches a girl’s basketball team in a local league.
Perko is married to Rick Perko and they have two daughters: Anna and Kate.
