Joe Bertagna has been a collegiate hockey administrator for more than 30 years. Since 1997, he has served as commissioner of Hockey East, the preeminent conference in college hockey, whose member schools have earned seven NCAA championships under his leadership. Before his move to Hockey East, Bertagna served 15 years with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), where he held the positions of tournament director, executive director, and commissioner. Both with ECAC and Hockey East, Bertagna has been a champion of women's hockey, having initiated ECAC Division I and Division III league play and led the formation of the Women's Hockey East Association, whose championship trophy is named in Bertagna's honor.

In addition to his commissionership of Hockey East, Bertagna is executive director of the American Hockey Coaches Association, a position he has held since 1991. He also serves on the board of directors of both USA Hockey and the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation. For 40 years Bertagna has operated his own clinics for thousands of goalies of all ages.

Bertagna began his professional coaching career in 1985 with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Boston Bruins, where he was goaltender coach until 1991, and then again for the 1994-95 season. He also was assistant coach for the U.S. men's national team at the 1991 Canada Cup, the U.S. Olympic men's ice hockey team at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and the International Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals from 1994 to 1996.

As a player, Bertagna was a standout goaltender for Harvard University. After graduating in 1973, he played professionally for the Milwaukee Admirals and in Cortina, Italy, where the team won the Italian Ice Hockey Championship in 1975.

Bertagna and his wife, Kathy, reside in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with their three children.