A pioneering and award-winning administrator, Candice Storey Lee is the Vice Chancellor for Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director at Vanderbilt University.
Appointed May 21, 2020, Lee is Vanderbilt’s first female athletic director and the first Black woman to head an SEC athletics program.
A team captain, four-year letter winner, and five-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection as a member of the women’s basketball team who earned three Vanderbilt degrees, Lee is an inspirational leader in athletics and the broader university and Nashville communities.
Lee is committed to a vision that one of the world’s preeminent academic institutions in one of the nation’s most vibrant cities can thrive in the most competitive conference in college sports. Working in partnership with Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, she developed and implemented the Vandy United campaign. Vandy United’s initial phase raised more than $375 million to reimagine facilities and enhance the student-athlete and fan experiences. Under Lee’s leadership Vanderbilt Athletics recently initiated a bold new phase of Vandy United and launched Anchored for Her, a dedicated effort to secure the university’s place as the premier destination for women’s collegiate sports.
Following Vanderbilt’s historic competitive and philanthropic success in 2025–26, which included the school’s best finish in nearly two decades in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, Lee was honored as the 2026 Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year and the 2026 Tennessean of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Previously, she was a recipient of the 2024-25 NACDA AD of the Year Award, 2024 Sandy Barbour Nike Division I FBS Executive of the Year and 2022 Black Student-Athlete Summit’s Athletic Director of the Year.
During the Vandy United era that Lee has spearheaded, beginning with the 2020–21 academic year, Vanderbilt student-athletes have won four team or individual NCAA championships and 13 team or individual conference championships.
Led by two-time SEC Coach of the Year and 2026 Eddie Robinson Award winner Clark Lea, among Lee’s first hires, the football team set a record by winning 10 games for the first time in the program’s 135-year history, achieved its highest AP ranking since 1947 and reached back-to-back bowl games for the first time 2013. Under consensus national coach of the year Shea Ralph and former Skip Prosser Man of the Year Mark Byington, both hired by Lee, women’s and men’s basketball earned back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and enjoyed record-setting 2025–26 campaigns. Additionally, Lee initiated and oversaw the return of varsity volleyball after a 40-year absence, highlighted by the team’s home debut in a nationally televised outdoor match on Wyatt Lawn.
Lee graduated from Vanderbilt with a bachelor of science in human and organizational development in 2000, received her master’s in counseling in 2002 and a doctorate in higher education administration in 2012. A mainstay of Vanderbilt athletics administration since 2002, serving first as academic advisor and then compliance director, she also previously served in roles including senior woman administrator and deputy athletic director under the late David Williams II, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the athletic department and serving as the sport administrator for football and women’s basketball.
Lee is a leader in college athletics at a national level. She currently serves on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee and previously served as a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Competition Committee, NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Committee. She also previously served on the executive committee of the Black Athletic Directors Alliance.
Additionally, she serves on the board of Women Leaders in Sports and is an honorary board member of the Playmakers Nashville nonprofit.
Lee has put down deep roots in the Nashville community since arriving as a first-year student in 1996. In 2025, she was inducted into the 33rd Academy for Women of Achievement by the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. She serves on the advisory board of the Nashville Sports Council and the board of directors of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. In 2021, Lee received Peabody College’s Distinguished Alumna Award.
Lee is married to Sean Lee, the executive director of a Middle Tennessee housing authority. They have an adult son, Andrew.