Candice Storey Lee, B.S. '00, M.Ed. '02, Ed.D. '12
Candice Storey Lee is Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletic director. Named to the position on 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 Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, Lee earned undergraduate, masters, and doctorate degrees from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development.
During her tenure as Athletic Director, she has successfully led the most ambitious fundraising project in the history of Vanderbilt Athletics, the Vandy United campaign that has raised more than $300 million to dramatically upgrade programming and facilities for every Commodore program and student-athlete. She has also added a new varsity sport (women’s volleyball, debuting in 2025) and made head coaching hires in football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s tennis, track and field/cross country, and women’s volleyball.
Beyond her duties at Vanderbilt, Lee is a leader in college athletics at a national level. She has served on the Southeastern Conference’s Council on Racial Equity and Social Justice and on the executive committee of the Black Athletic Directors Alliance. She also formerly served as a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Rules Committee and as chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Committee. Lee has been recognized by peers and media as one of the leading administrators in college athletics. In 2022, she was named Athletic Director of the Year at the Black Student-Athlete Summit. The Sports Business Journal named her to its college sports “Power Players” list in 2019, and Adidas named her to its “NEXT UP” class in 2018.
Lee has also built deep roots as a longtime fixture in the Nashville community. She currently serves or has served on the boards of directors for the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and Nashville Sports Council. She was named a 2019–20 fellow of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association’s executive leadership institute and is a graduate of the 2012 class of Leadership Nashville and the 2012 Vanderbilt Leadership Academy. 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.
