- Pritzker Fellows
- Current Fellows
- Lisa Franchetti
Lisa Franchetti
U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.) & 33rd Chief of Naval Operations
Biography
Lisa Franchetti is an experienced military leader, global strategist, and national security expert. She most recently served as the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, retiring in March 2025 after nearly 40 years of dedicated service to the Nation. As the Navy’s senior military officer and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Franchetti advised the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on national security matters. She ensured the Navy’s over 600,000 Sailors and Civilians were ready to execute the maritime service’s mission in peace, crisis, and war.
Known for her visionary leadership, Franchetti focused the Navy on warfighting, warfighters, and building the foundation needed to support both. As CNO, she mobilized the Navy to meet the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China through her 2024 Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy. She drove efforts to grow the size of the Navy’s Fleet, integrate robotic and autonomous systems, improve shipyard maintenance performance, resolve manpower and infrastructure challenges, modernize command and control centers, and improve quality of life for Sailors, Navy Civilians, and their families. A people-focused leader, she cultivated a culture of excellence across the Navy that delivered historic levels of recruiting and retention.
A 1985 graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Franchetti was commissioned through the NROTC program at a time when roles for women in the military were constrained by the Combat Exclusion Act and limited to non-combatant ships and aircraft in the Navy. When Congress repealed that law in 1993, she was among the first women to serve on combatants and went on to lead at every level. With nearly 20 years of at-sea experience, Franchetti commanded USS Ross, Destroyer Squadron 21, US Naval Forces in Korea, two Aircraft Carrier Strike Groups, US SIXTH Fleet, and Striking and Support Forces NATO. Ashore, as a Flag Officer she served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Force Development (N-7), the Director, Strategy, Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff (J-5), and the 42nd Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Franchetti holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She completed Harvard Kennedy School’s National and International Security Program and was an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow. She is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal in 2019, received the Naval War College Distinguished Graduate Award in 2024, was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement in 2024, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Northwestern University in 2025.
Seminars
"All the Tools in the Toolbox: The Surprising Strength of Military Soft Power"
Given its reach and resources, how do and should we use the military “tool” as an effective arm of foreign policy, diplomacy and relationship maintenance around the world? Meet Lisa Franchetti, the first female officer to rise to the Navy’s top job of chief of naval operations, who traveled the world over her 40-year career - much of it at sea - where she learned first-hand how to leverage soft power, create space for diplomacy to work, open doors and build trusting relationships. While Lisa is a leading expert in warfighting, deterrence and the national security remit of the military, these seminars will emphasize a less-understood role of the armed forces by civilians and follow her journeys around the Pacific, South America, Africa and beyond in support of diplomacy and global understanding. Together we will address with clear-eyed candor when the military is a massive help and when it is a hindrance long term to communities abroad.
Seminars are off the record and open to current UChicago students only.
We all know that the U.S.
military’s mission is to defend the United States, its territories and
interests by deterring aggression, ensuring national - including economic -
security and being ready to fight and win against any adversary. But what I
found to be equally interesting is its other less appreciated purpose:
diplomacy. This likely seems surprising - even eye rolling - to those who are
not familiar with this aspect of the military’s mission life, but let me
explain how this is true and how we will unpack it over the next several weeks.
Let me start with my own story - why I chose this path, how I rose to its
highest ranks and yes, how it came to an unpleasant end driven by the very
politics I was taught to avoid. Some believe the military has a role in soft
power while others insist that the military is disruptive to long term
development. We shall discuss.
On December 26th, 2004 at 7:58am, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck with an epicenter off the West Coast of Ache in northern Sumatra, Indonesia - the deadliest tsunami in history, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history, killing an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries. The U.S. military’s response began immediately, led by the Navy and Marine Corps, via Operation Unified Assistance, with 16,000 personnel, 26 ships, 58 helicopters and numerous fixed-wing aircraft to set up a logistics backbone. The effort required close coordination with the affected governments, international partner nations, civilian agencies and non-governmental relief organizations and set a precedent for large-scale, rapid-response military-led humanitarian assistance, improving future responses and interagency cooperation. But knowledge is perishable once familiar processes slip into the background as people move on and memories fade. How could that knowledge be preserved and processes captured and practiced? Enter the U.S. Pacific Fleet and what would become “Pacific Partnership.”
This U.S. Navy-led humanitarian civic assistance mission in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands - started in 2006 - just completed its 21st mission in 2025. Let’s take a deep dive into the planning, execution and results of Pacific Partnership 2010 and its visits to Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia x 3, Timor Leste and East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. We’ll do deep dives on the mission’s stops in Indonesia with USNS MERCY and in Papua New Guinea with HMAS TOBRUK, discuss how this mission has evolved over the years and the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to copy it.
The 2022 National Defense Strategy emphasized a strategy of “by, with and through” our African partners, and as the Dept. of Defense prioritized other regions, an interagency discussion ensued about the value of military presence and engagement in underwriting other efforts in Africa. The State Dept. was concerned about losing U.S. military presence as an enabler; the Dept. of Defense was prioritizing resources and making hard choices. In 2020-2021, almost all U.S. troops were withdrawn from Somalia, and by May, 2024 they had withdrawn from Niger. There are currently about 6,500 U.S. military personnel in Africa, 4,000 of them in Djibouti. Recurring military exercises like African Lion, Obangame Express and others continue to provide opportunities for engagement and access. With the military drawdown, closure of USAID and the 2025 National Security Strategy shifting its limited focus to resources vice development, what does the future hold and how should we be thinking about the levers of power available to compete with the expanding presence of the PRC and Russia?
After the end of the Cold War, and then later after 9/11, U.S. military operations around South America generally decreased, with the region being considered a lower priority until very recently. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Over those decades, South America has become a key prize in great power competition with China: resources like copper, markets, telecom networks and even telescopes were on the PRC’s “to do” list. How could the U.S. compete, and how does the U.S. military enable that competition? How are we doing? How is this dynamic changing with the 2025 National Security Strategy’s re-orientation toward the Western Hemisphere?
Military leaders learn the importance of building relationships with each other and their international peers early on. From Service Academies and War Colleges to Exchange Programs and Bi/Multi-lateral joint operations, to training and exercises and one-on-one engagements and symposia, military leaders lay the foundation for long term relationship stability and interoperability in peace, crisis and war. But this doesn’t happen automatically. What does a military global engagement strategy look like? How do you align it with broader U.S. priorities, and what happens when they change? Most importantly, how do you assess its effectiveness? Let’s look at the differences between Europe, Asia and the Middle East and discuss the stresses and strains on these relationships as political priorities and policies change.
No matter where you choose to serve or work, relationships matter. Nowhere is this more true than in the interagency environment. Aligned under a National Security Strategy, every agency still has its own priorities, perspectives, processes, personalities and culture. As a leader, how do you work in a way that reinforces your organization's priorities and unifies/inspires your team while also creating an effective, collaborative environment to get “stuff” done with leaders in other agencies? Can you work effectively in the interagency, bridging across different perspectives, approaches and resources? How do you navigate political transitions? Leadership is a journey; let’s talk about some best practices and lessons gathered over the years.
American women have been attending our Military Service Academies since 1976 and serving - officially - in combat roles in the Air Force/Navy since 1993 and in the Army and Marine Corps since 2015. Even though that lauded military force includes roughly 18 percent women, the debate about their ability to serve in combat and meet standards has resumed. Our joint military force is clearly the most powerful in the world: it deters would-be adversaries around the world; and, just in the past few years, it defeated over 200 Houthi maritime attacks, defended Israel against a massive Iranian attack, extensively damaged Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, struck over 70 suspected ISIS targets in Syria and captured Nicolas Maduro, always with women. We’ll look at the historic, evolutionary and current roles of women in the U.S. military and discuss the realized and potential impacts of contemporary DEI politics on our apolitical, non-partisan, all-volunteer force.