Nicholas S. ZepposFormer Chancellor/CEO of Vanderbilt University2008-2019Nicholas S. Zeppos served as the Chancellor/CEO of Vanderbilt University from 2008-2019, and from 2008-15 its integrated academic health system. He is a recognized academic and business leader who transformed Vanderbilt academically and financially. In his role as Chancellor, Zeppos developed substantial expertise in biomedical research, innovation and technology through both start-ups and licensing, drug development, health care, college sports and media rights, investment management, and structured credit.
Zeppos’ tenure as Chancellor was marked by a number of major strategic initiatives that significantly advanced Vanderbilt’s academic stature and dramatically increased Vanderbilt’s financial strength and asset growth. Under Zeppos, Vanderbilt achieved its highest academic ranking ever (14 in US News), and dramatically grew biomedical research funding from the National Institutes of Health to ninth in the nation, the highest in university history. Increasing access to a Vanderbilt education and creating a strong engaged community were central to Zeppos’ academic strategic vision. Despite the challenges of the 2008 recession he instituted and funded a policy eliminating all loans in Vanderbilt financial aid offerings, transforming Vanderbilt’s student body. He also established Vanderbilt’s residential college living learning experience including the Martha Ingram Freshmen Commons, a unique residential college living learning experience for 1600 freshmen, and four upper-class colleges. Faculty excellence and visibility rapidly advanced under Zeppos’ leadership, with the number of members of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences more than doubling during his tenure. A prodigious fundraiser, Zeppos raised over $2.0 billion and added over $4 billion of new book value to the endowment.
As Vanderbilt advanced academically, Zeppos fashioned a new financial, business, and governance profile for the university. Foreseeing dramatic changes in local and national health care markets he led a major restructuring of the university’s wholly owned health care system, ultimately leading to a spin out of its then $3 billion medical business (at the time 75% of total university revenue). The complex transaction, akin to a “management buyout,” created an entirely new independent entity, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he served as a member of the founding board. The medical center transaction also produced substantial inter-corporate funds flows including a substantial trademark license fee paid to the university. Shortly after the restructuring, Zeppos envisioned and executed on an historic securitization of the annual trademark license fee. The initial tranche of the securitization ($1.45 billion) was the largest ever not for profit securitization. From this series of securitizations $2 billion in book value has been added to the Vanderbilt endowment.
Similar transformations occurred in the areas of technology transfer and innovation. Leveraging its $900 million research portfolio, Zeppos rebuilt from the bottom up a new technology enterprise development operation that led to numerous start up and license ventures from university technology, particularly in biomedical sciences and drug development. He began two “large in-house drug development incubators” focused on novel treatments for cancer and neuroscience, which today employ hundreds of scientists and technical staff, have budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and are funded by venture funds, NIH funding, and philanthropy. These incubators spawned a number of new drugs that were either licensed to large international pharmaceutical companies or part of a de novo company. The full range of breakthroughs and new business development includes novel genomics, robotics, software development, drug discovery, and machine learning. Under Zeppos’ leadership Vanderbilt became the first university to take a drug molecule from discovery through phase one clinical trials, all on the same campus.
In 2020 Zeppos returned to full-time teaching and won his eighth teaching award. He currently serves as Chancellor Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science Emeritus. He serves on the board of trustees of McLean Hospital, the number one ranked psychiatric hospital in the nation and a Harvard-affiliated hospital. He also serves as a member of the Massachusetts General/Brigham Hospital Corporation. Prior to joining Vanderbilt Zeppos practiced law in the United States Department of Justice and Wilmer Hale (then Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering) where he represented the executive branch, Congress, and private entities in a broad range of regulatory, statutory, and constitutional matters. He is a widely recognized scholar and teacher with substantial expertise in regulation and administrative process, legislative process, complex litigation, and constitutional law. He is a 1979 graduate of Wisconsin Law School where he served as Editor in Chief of the law review, was order of the coif, and selected by the faculty as the outstanding graduate of his class. He is a 1976 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin where he majored in history.
The mission of the Negro Southern League Museum is to present the history of African-American baseball in an unsurpassed manner by maintaining a world-class facility that recognizes the League’s impact on Birmingham, Alabama and the world of professional baseball. This understanding, along with the acknowledgement of the players’ ability to inspire people of all races and transcend barriers, establishes a blueprint for the Museum to evoke a broad-sense of community and create unparalleled cultural and educational experiences that acknowledge the past, embrace the present, and frame the future.
The Negro Southern League Museum (NSLM) tells the story of African-American baseball in America through the eyes of Birmingham, Alabama. The museum features the largest collection of original Negro League baseball artifacts in the country. NSLM also features an on-site research center that is supported by a research team made up of seven of the top researchers in Negro League and Southern League baseball history. If you are looking for a one-of-a-kind experience please make plans to visit the Negro Southern League Museum. Whether you are a baseball enthusiast or a novice, the Negro Southern League Museum has something for you.
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