Oct. 14, 2016
Vanderbilt Athletics will host a special roundtable discussion featuring five influential women in collegiate and professional athletics Sunday, Oct. 23.
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women in Athletics Leadership will include Vanderbilt Deputy Athletics Director Candice Lee with Tennessee State University Athletic Director Teresa Phillips, Nashville Predators Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer Michelle Kennedy, Ohio Valley Commissioner Beth DeBauche and SEC Associate Commissioner Tiffany Daniels.
The five women are in the midst of remarkable careers. Lee, Phillips and Kennedy are all former Vanderbilt student athletes and holders of multiple academic degrees.
Lee was named Deputy Athletic Director a year ago having steadily risen in Vanderbilt’s administrative ranks. Phillips has led Tennessee State’s athletics department for 14 years. Kennedy has seen her responsibilities grow since joining the Predators franchise in 2008.
Daniels, a University of Georgia graduate, serves as the SEC’s Senior Women’s Administrator and DeBauche, a former Vanderbilt compliance director and veteran of the SEC and NCAA home offices, has been the OVC Commissioner since 2009.
The roundtable will be moderated by former ESPN commentator and current Vanderbilt women’s basketball associate coach Carolyn Peck.
There will be an informal meet and greet reception beginning at 3 p.m. in the McGugin Center on Vanderbilt’s campus with the roundtable on major topics in today’s sports industry starting at 3:30. The discussion is expected to last one hour.
McGugin Center is located immediately south of Jess Neely Drive near Hawkins Field. The forum is free of charge.
This forum precedes an appearance on campus later the same day by ESPN senior vice president Rosalyn Durant, who among her responsibilities oversees ESPNU, SEC Network and Longhorn Network.
Durant will appear at 7 p.m. in the Student Life Center as part of the Crawford Lecture Series speaking on Diversity and Leadership in Collegiate Athletics. That event is also free of charge and open to the public.
Durant’s talk is sponsored by the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, Vanderbilt Athletics and the Panhellenic Council.
