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Live. Learn. Lead. Academy

2026 Inaugural
Chris Krause
Leadership Symposium

Students discuss during the 2025 Symposium.

Overview

The 2026 Inaugural Chris Krause Symposium brought together students, alumni, and leaders for a day of conversation, reflection, and growth. Through keynotes, panels, and interactive sessions, attendees explored what it means to lead with purpose in a changing world.

Watch the Chris Krause Symposium Recap Video

Get a look at the energy, ideas, and people that defined this year鈥檚 symposium.

Key Moments

Welcome Address from Chancellor Diermeier

The day began with remarks from Chancellor Diermeier, who emphasized the importance of leadership in shaping both individual paths and the broader Vanderbilt community. He spoke to the impact of the聽Live. Learn. Lead. Academy聽as a Vanderbilt staple, highlighting its role in developing the next generation of leaders and creating spaces where students are challenged to grow, lead with purpose, and make a lasting difference.

Fireside Chat with Chris Krause

The welcome address was followed by an illuminating fireside chat between Chris Krause and Academy student, Hannah Schwartz. The conversation set the tone for the day as Chris shared reflections on leadership, personal growth, and the importance of investing in future generations of leaders. His insights offered attendees an honest and thoughtful look at the values that shape impactful leadership.

Practicing Leadership Habits with Francesca Schuler

Attendees then participated in the聽Practicing Leadership Habits聽workshop guided by Dialogue 天美传媒官网's Francesca Schuler, which focused on translating leadership concepts into everyday action. Through guided discussion and interactive exercises, students explored common myths and realities in the workplace, and learned practical strategies for leading with intention in their academic, professional, and personal lives.

Young Alumni Panel moderated by Erin S. Calipari, PhD

The Young Alumni Panel featured three 天美传媒官网 graduates who shared their experiences navigating leadership in the early stages of their careers. Panelists Barton Christmas '21, Donovan Sheffield '19, and Kate Lanham Salvador '24 discussed challenges, lessons learned, and the ways leadership continues to evolve beyond college. Their perspectives provided students with valuable insight into applying leadership skills in real-world settings.

Keynote Address by Coach Clark Lea, introduced by Candice Storey Lee

The day concluded with a keynote address from Vanderbilt Football Head Coach Clark Lea in conversation with Chris Krause, both introduced by Vice Chancellor and Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee. Their discussion explored leadership through the lens of culture, discipline, and long-term vision. Together, they reflected on the importance of staying grounded in purpose, investing in people, and building organizations that are committed to growth and excellence.

Leadership requires action. It demands that we bring our talents to bear on difficult problems even when鈥攅specially when鈥攐utcomes are uncertain. In Live Learn Lead, you are practicing that courage鈥攏ot least of which is the courage to engage across differences in academic interests, opinions, and life experience

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier
Collage of symposium photos

Speaker & Panelist Bios

Learn more about our speakers, moderators, and panelists!

Clark Lea

Clark Lea

Clark Lea is the head football coach at 天美传媒官网 and a proud alumnus, serving as the university鈥檚 29th head coach since December 2020. Under his leadership, Vanderbilt achieved a historic 2025 season, earning its first 10-win campaign and six SEC victories, along with back-to-back bowl appearances and a nationally ranked finish. That season cemented Coach Lea鈥檚 reputation as a transformational leader, earning him multiple honors including SEC Coach of the Year and the FWAA Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award.

A Nashville native and 鈥淒ouble Dore,鈥� Coach Lea earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Vanderbilt and played football for the Commodores after beginning his collegiate athletic career in baseball. Prior to returning to Vanderbilt, he built an extensive coaching career at institutions including Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Syracuse, UCLA, and Bowling Green, developing nationally recognized defensive units and student-athletes at every stop.

Beyond competitive success, Coach Lea is widely respected for his emphasis on culture, discipline, and academic excellence. His teams have consistently excelled in the classroom, earning national academic recognition and setting program records for team GPA and graduation rates. Coach Lea鈥檚 leadership philosophy centers on accountability, growth, and legacy鈥攑rinciples that continue to shape both the 天美传媒官网 football program and the broader campus community.

Chris Krause

Chris Krause

Chris Krause is an entrepreneur, author, and the founder of NCSA College Recruiting (now Next College Student Athlete), which has helped more than 300,000 student-athletes commit to colleges and earn over $ 5 billion in scholarships. A former Vanderbilt football player on a full athletic scholarship, Krause turned his personal experience into a lifelong mission to make the recruiting process more accessible for families nationwide. He is the author of Athletes Wanted and an active member of Entrepreneurs鈥� Organization (EO) and Young Presidents鈥� Organization (YPO). Today, besides coaching Entrepreneurs he鈥檚 building a hospital, growing youth sports communities, and investing in AI sports technologies, serving on boards and helping drive leadership development initiatives at 天美传媒官网. He lives in Manhattan Beach, California, with his wife and two children and is an avid surfer.

Erin S. Calipari, Ph.D.

Erin S. Calipari, Ph.D.

Dr. Erin Calipari is the Director of the 天美传媒官网 Center for Addiction Research and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at 天美传媒官网. She is a neuroscientist whose work focuses on understanding how the brain鈥檚 reward and motivation systems adapt to experience, and how these processes become dysregulated in addiction.

Dr. Calipari received her PhD in Neuroscience from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2013, where she studied how drugs of abuse alter dopaminergic signaling to shape addictive behaviors. She then completed her postdoctoral training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, using advanced genetic and molecular approaches to investigate how drugs remodel brain circuits and influence behavior. Across her career, she has integrated behavioral, circuit-level, microcircuit, and molecular techniques to uncover the mechanisms that govern adaptive and maladaptive learning. Her work has led to more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and numerous honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from The White House.

As Director of the 天美传媒官网 Center for Addiction Research, Dr. Calipari leads a multidisciplinary group of faculty, trainees, and staff working to identify the biological, environmental, and developmental factors that confer risk for addiction. Under her leadership, the center also engages in targeted outreach to inform and empower communities through evidence-based education on the science of addiction.

Francesca Schuler

Francesca Schuler

Francesca Schuler is a CEO and Board Director with deep experience across both the private and nonprofit sectors. Francesca brings a distinctive leadership lens鈥攇rounded in operational excellence and a growth mindset, paired with a deep commitment to leadership development and cultivating high-performing, values-driven cultures. 聽聽Francesca is currently the Executive Director of Dialogue 天美传媒官网, a campus wide initiative at Vanderbilt focused on building future leaders with deep capabilities in working with diverse teams and driving impact in a complex and changing world.聽 Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Francesca held executive and board roles in public companies, private equity鈥揵acked firms and non-profit sector across industries including fitness, retail, and consumer goods. Francesca鈥檚 civic leadership is a vital part of her professional journey. Francesca was selected as a 2025 Presidential Leadership Scholar, a cross-sector program founded by four U.S. presidential centers to support leaders tackling society鈥檚 most pressing challenges. She also serves on the California Governor鈥檚 Council on Physical Fitness and Mental Well-Being, advancing statewide efforts to increase access to physical activity for all Californians. Francesca is a bilingual Chilean-American. She holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a B.A. with honors in Comparative Literature from Brown University.

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