Sarah Gardial

Sarah Fisher Gardial joined the Tennessee Justice Center’s Board of Directors in 2020, shortly after moving to Nashville to become the Dean of Belmont University’s Jack C. Massey College of Business. She brought to the Board three decades of business experience, academic research, and management expertise. Until her retirement from Belmont earlier this year, Sarah was responsible for managing undergraduate and graduate programs with an enrollment of nearly a thousand students and one hundred faculty. Even with those demands, she always found time to generously share her expertise and strengthen TJC. She has co-chaired the development committee, increasing donor support during a time of reduced government funding and uncertainty among foundations about future grantmaking.

Sarah has also pressed TJC to improve our performance measurement and accountability, prompting us to make better use of metrics that support management and Board oversight. She has strengthened TJC’s relationship with Belmont and our access to the university’s resources— which includes establishing a collaboration through which Belmont students and TJC staff have compiled and analyzed statewide data on Tennesseans’ health and local social determinants of health. The results are reflected in a data dashboard on TJC’s website that supports and guides our health advocacy and serves as a resource for many other agencies. Sarah has immeasurably improved TJC’s capacity to advocate for justice and inclusion for all Tennesseans.