Ackerman was as a member of the New Jersey Senate from 1905 to 1911, serving as president in 1911. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions at Chicago in 1908 and in 1916 and a member of the board of trustees of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1916-1920. He was also a Federal food administrator for Union County, New Jersey during the First World War and a member of the New Jersey Board of Education 1918-1920.