Agenia Walker Clark

Dr. Agenia Clark, announced as the 18th President of Fisk University in September 2023, brings a wealth of experience to Nashville’s oldest institution of higher education. Dr. Clark’s unwavering commitment to higher education began with her volunteer instructional work at Fisk University. This dedication led to a gubernatorial appointment to serve a six-year term on the Tennessee Board of Regents, where she oversaw the state’s six universities (excluding the University of Tennessee system), all the state’s community colleges, and technology centers. Her work with the Regents was followed by her tenure on the board of trustees for Simmons University, a women’s liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts, and Nashville’s Belmont University. She is a trustee emerita of the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business Advisory Board.Dr. Clark’s outstanding contributions to her community were recognized when she was honored as the 2021 “Nashvillian of the Year” and one of “Nashville’s 100 Most Powerful People” in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023 by the Nashville Business Journal. An inductee into the Academy of Women of Achievement, she was also named one of Nashville Post’s In Charge Leaders from 2014 to 2022 and in 2025, an honor recognizing Nashville’s most influential individuals. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors (WCD), where she has served as the co-chair of the Tennessee chapter, a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF), Nashville’s Agenda, and a member of the 2016 Class of Leadership Tennessee, as well as the 1998 Class of Leadership Nashville. Dr. Clark was the former president and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, the vice president of human resources for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation, and the senior director of human resources at Vanderbilt University. She held numerous leadership roles at Nortel Networks, a Canadian multinational telecommunications corporation. Dr. Clark serves on the corporate board of directors for FirstBank Financial Corporation (NYSE: FBK). On the FirstBank board, she serves as an independent director, sitting on the Risk Committee, the Compensation Committee, and the Nominating and Governance Committee. Before joining FirstBank, she served as a founding corporate director for Avenue Bank (2007), one of Nashville’s fastest-growing banks, which underwent an IPO offering in February 2015 and a merger with Pinnacle Bank in September 2016. Dr. Clark earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and completed her doctorate at Vanderbilt University. She currently resides in Brentwood, Tennessee, with her husband, Charles Clark, Jr. They have two adult children.