Daymond John – entrepreneur, investor and star of ABC’s Emmy Award-winning series Shark Tank – will present Bellarmine University’s 2025 Wyatt Lecture on Thursday, September 4, 2025, as part of the
university’s 75th anniversary celebration.
The 4:30 p.m. lecture in Frazier Hall is free and open to the public [see
campus map]. Reserve your space by completing our
event RSVP form.
John, founder and CEO of the iconic lifestyle brand FUBU (For Us, By Us), has built a career at the intersection of business innovation, community empowerment and public advocacy. In his lecture, John will explore how entrepreneurship can drive economic mobility and how public service and policy play pivotal roles in fostering inclusive economic ecosystems.
Drawing on his own journey from launching a fashion brand from his mother’s house in Queens, New York, to speaking with presidents about entrepreneurship and financial literacy, John will highlight how collaboration between the private and public sectors can empower individuals and uplift communities.
John’s appearance is part of a series of events in the fall semester celebrating Bellarmine’s 75th anniversary, reflecting the university’s mission to prepare students for meaningful lives, rewarding careers, ethical leadership and service to improve the human condition.
The Wyatt Lecture Series at Bellarmine University was created and endowed in 1990 by former Louisville Mayor and Lt. Gov. Wilson W. Wyatt and his wife, Anne D. Wyatt. Wilson Wyatt founded the prominent Louisville law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs and served a term as chair of the Bellarmine Board of Trustees. Anne Wyatt was active in public affairs at the local, state, and national levels.
The Wyatt Lecture Series is intended to bring to campus individuals of national or international prominence who have distinguished themselves in government or public service or who have been important observers and analysts of public affairs and government. During their visit to Bellarmine, Wyatt Lecturers deliver a public address and preside over smaller gatherings for students.
Previous Wyatt Lecturers include author and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists James B. Reston, David Broder and Bob Woodward; Sir Edward Heath, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; television news journalist Andrea Mitchell; PBS NewsHour’s Ray Suárez and Jim Lehrer; and Rebecca Skloot, author of New York Times bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.