Former Governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam co-chairs the Project along with faculty members Samar Ali-a leading voice at the intersection of civil rights, national security, and economic development-and Jon Meacham, an acclaimed scholar on leadership and the American presidency. The co-chairs provide strategic advice and engage a diverse spectrum of scholars and thought leaders to advance the conversation about unity and American democracy.
The Project is under the management of John Geer, Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science, and Gray Sasser, JD '98, the project's Executive Director and former partner at Frost Brown Todd LLC in Nashville. He previously served as senior vice president for congressional affairs of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
A 26-member advisory board spanning multiple backgrounds and fields-from former Texas Governor Jeb Bush and biographer Walter Isaacson to Grammy-winning artists Faith Hill and Tim McGraw-is committed to the Project's mission to elevate facts and evidence-based reasoning into American political discourse.
Co-Chairs
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Bill Haslam
Former Governor of Tennessee
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Jon Meacham
Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in American Presidency
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Samar Ali
Former White House Fellow and Research Professor of Political Science and Law
Advisory Board
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Kofi Appenteng
President, Africa-America Institute
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Allida Black
Distinguished visiting scholar at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, adviser to Hillary Clinton, human rights activist
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Robert Boisture
President and CEO, Fetzer Institute
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Erskine Bowles
Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
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David Brooks
Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times
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Gov. Jeb Bush
Founder and chair of ExcelinEd, former governor of Florida
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Rodney Ferguson
President and CEO of Winrock International
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Alice Fisher
Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, fmr. assistant attorney general, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Criminal Division
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Lt. General Jack Gardner
U.S. Army (Retired)
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Alberto Gonzales
U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush, dean of Belmont College of Law
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Warren Gorrell
Senior counsel, former CEO of Hogan Lovells
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Dr. Forrest E. Harris
President of American Baptist College, professor and director, Kelly Miller Smith Institute, Vanderbilt Divinity School
Advisory Board (Cont'd)
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Faith Hill
Recording artist, actor
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Lt. General Scott Howell
U.S. Air Force (Retired), former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command
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Walter Isaacson
Biographer, former editor of Time, former president of the Aspen Institute, professor of history at Tulane University
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Callie Khouri
Academy Award-winning film and television writer, director, producer
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Gary Locke
Former U.S. ambassador to China, former secretary of commerce, former governor of Washington, interim president of Bellevue College
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Martina McBride
Grammy-nominated and CMA Award-winning country music artist
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Ebie McFarland
Owner, founder of Essential Broadcast Media
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Tim McGraw
Grammy Award-winning music artist, actor and author
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Susan Nadler
Former music industry executive, award-winning creator and author
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Jonathan Nez
President of the Navajo Nation
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Valerie Rockefeller
Chair of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and former chair of Rockefeller Brothers Fund
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Deondra Rose
Associate professor of public policy, political science and history; director of Polis: Center for Politics, Duke University, Sanford School of Public Policy
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Darren Walker
President of the Ford Foundation
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Peter Wehner
Contributing opinion writer, The New York Times, The Atlantic; fmr. White House speechwriter, President George W. Bush; senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
University Leadership
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John Geer
Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science
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Gray Sasser
Executive Director, The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy