Ron Stephenson served as the commissioner of the Big Sky Conference from 1981-1995. The Idaho native brought instant credibility to the league office after spending a decade in athletic administration at Boise State. During his time at the league’s fourth commissioner, Stephenson served on the NCAA Special Committee to Review Membership Structure, the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Committee, and served a two-year term as President of the University Commissioner’s Association from 1988-90. He was also on the Division I-AA FCS football and Division I men’s basketball regional advisory committees. 
 
In 1994, Stephenson was honored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) with an award for Administrative Excellence, the equivalent of the NACDA “Hall of Fame” for association and conference administrators.
 
While Stephenson was commissioner, he managed the merger of women’s sports programs into the Big Sky Conference from the Mountain West Athletic Conference. In 1988, the Big Sky Conference began sponsoring women’s sports and championships. 
 
The Big Sky Conference added Eastern Washington University in 1987, under Stephenson’s watch. During Stephenson’s reign as Commissioner, the league became a well-respected men’s basketball conference, with the University of Idaho rising to sixth in the nation in the Associated Press and United Press International Polls in 1982. Big Sky Conference teams won games in the NCAA Tournament in 1982 and 1995.
 
Stephenson was born in Burley, Idaho in 1943. He graduated from Twin Falls High School. He earned degrees from Boise Junior College (1963), Idaho State University (1965) and the University of Idaho (1971). From 1965-71, Stephenson served as Idaho’s assistant athletic director, tennis coach, wrestling coach and ticket manager. He was the Big Sky Conference Tennis Coach of the Year from in 1967, ’68, ’69 and ’70. His Vandals won the Big Sky Championship each of those seasons and he compiled an overall record of 74-23. In 1971, he moved to Boise State to serve as an assistant athletic director. 
 
Stephenson died on May 4, 2011, at the age of 67 of cancer.