Condoleezza Rice to speak in Indy as part of Economic Club series

Condoleezza Rice (Photo courtesy of the U.S. government)

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to speak in Indianapolis next month as part of an event series highlighting local and national leaders.

Rice, who has worked in Republican political and policymaking positions since the mid-1980s, is expected to participate in a discussion with Mitch Daniels, the former  Indiana governor and Purdue University president, as part of the Economic Club of Indiana’s monthly luncheon on Sept. 3.

From 2005 to 2009, the entirety of President George W. Bush’s second term, Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, making her the second woman and first black woman to hold the post. She previously served as Bush’s national security advisor, the first woman to hold that position.

From 1989 to 1991, she served on the National Security Council staff for President George H.W. Bush, as well as posts as director and senior director of Soviet and East European Affairs. Prior, she was a special assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff director.

And from 1993 to 1999, she served as provost of Stanford University. She later became a faculty member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a director of its Global Center for Business and the Economy.

Rice, 69, also has extensive connections to the sports world. In 2018, Rice led the Commission on College Basketball, which examined the state of the Indianapolis-based NCAA’s Division I men’s basketball program. She was a candidate to take over as president of the NCAA to replace Mark Emmert, who stepped down in February 2023 (former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker was ultimately picked for the post).

Rice served four years on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee from 2013 to 2017. And in 2022, she became a part-owner of the Denver Broncos as a part of the Walton-Penner family ownership group.

Rice is one of the several prominent local and national figures expected to participate in the upcoming Economic Club luncheon series, now in its 50th year. The 2024-2025 series also includes National Urban League President Marc Morial and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Individual tickets for the event, held at the Indiana Convention Center, are $75, while a table for eight costs $600.