The top leader in U.S. collegiate sports, NCAA President Mark Emmert, gave an insightful national perspective on how college athletics serves as a pathway to opportunity and lifelong success as a speaker in the Daemen College Distinguished Leaders Lecture Series.

“As an organization, the NCAA has core values that are inherent in what we do to develop well-rounded studentathletes who are successful in their college studies and in athletic competition,” said Emmert, who also spent time with Daemen student-athletes at an on campus town hall, where he talked about areas of priority for the NCAA.

Other recent prominent speakers in the lecture series include:

• Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown talked about his leadership role as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee and serving in this capacity during the 2016 presidential election.
• Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie discussed education, training, and employment pathways for the state’s youth.
• Citing last fall’s attacks in New York City and New Jersey, then-U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York William J. Hochul, Jr. emphasized the importance of vigilance in fighting terrorism, and pointed to a noticeable shift in the approach used by terrorists to less sophisticated, more quickly implemented attacks.
• Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner Tim Clark pointed to the year’s record high film revenue in Western New York as a sign of the region’s growth in the film industry, and showcased diverse area locales that are attractive to filmmakers, including Daemen House used for filming of the movie “Marshall.”