The 37th Annual Richard W. Leopold Lecture will be delivered by Admiral (ret) Lisa M. Franchetti on October 8, 2026, at 4:30 pm in Galvin Recital Hall.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Admiral (ret) Lisa M. Franchetti '85, U.S. Navy
33rd Chief of Naval Operations
A native of Pittsford, New York, Lisa Franchetti is an experienced military leader, global strategist, and national security expert. She most recently served as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, retiring in March 2025 after nearly 40 years of dedicated service to the Navy and the Nation. As the Navy’s senior military officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Franchetti advised the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on national security matters. She ensured the Navy’s over 600,000 Sailors and Civilians were ready to execute the Nation’s missions in peace, crisis, and war.
A 1985 graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Franchetti commissioned through the NROTC program at a time when roles for women in the military were constrained by the Combat Exclusion Act and limited to non-combatant ships and aircraft in the Navy. When Congress repealed that law in 1993, she was among the first women to a serve on combatants and went on to lead at every level. With nearly 20 years of at-sea experience, Franchetti commanded USS Ross, Destroyer Squadron 21, U.S. Naval Forces in Korea, two Aircraft Carrier Strike Groups, U.S. SIXTH Fleet, and Striking and Support Forces NATO. Ashore, she served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Force Development, the Director, Strategy, Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff (J-5), and the 42nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Known for her visionary leadership, Franchetti focused the Navy on warfighting, warfighters, and building the foundation needed to support both. As CNO, she mobilized the Navy to meet the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China through her Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy. She drove efforts to grow the size of the Navy’s Fleet, integrate robotic and autonomous systems, improve shipyard maintenance performance, resolve long-standing manpower and infrastructure challenges, modernize command and control centers, and improve the quality-of-life for Sailors, Navy Civilians, and their families.
Franchetti is the founder of Franchetti Strategic Solutions, LLC, and serves as a strategic advisor to Kearney, Lockheed Martin, ServiceNOW, the Center for Naval Analysis, Defense Unicorns, and Corridian. She is an Independent Board Director at Cincinnati Financial Corporation and serves on the Advisory Council of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Passionate about developing the next generation of leaders, she is a Fellow at the University of Chicago and will be a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Northwestern University’s Roberta Buffet Institute for Global Affairs in 2027.
Franchetti holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She completed the Harvard Kennedy School’s National and International Security Program and was an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow. She is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal in 2019, received the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Award in 2024, was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement in 2024, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Northwestern University in 2025.
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