Daniel Neal Lewis

OUR FOUNDER'S BIOGRAPHY

Daniel earned three undergraduate degrees with cum laude honors in Finance, Biology, and Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University. While at MTSU, he was the sole Tennessee nominee for Golden Key’s prestigious International Scholar Laureate Program and its Dubai Delegation on Business, and he led a team of MTSU investors to the final round of the Nashville Junior Achievement Investment Challenge. During this time he also spent a summer studying organic chemistry at Harvard University, where he was a member of the Harvard Summer Chorus.

After leaving MTSU, Daniel then earned an MS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the Columbia University Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where he gained an in-depth understanding of complex financial analysis from, among others, a McKinsey consultant, the former Commissioner of NYC’s Department of Transportation, and a Managing Director at Citigroup/Citibank. Daniel can leverage his incomparable grasp of business and the mathematics behind it to negotiate the best financial solutions for his clients. 

Daniel then simultaneously earned his JD from the Vanderbilt University School of Law and MBA from the University of Tennessee at Martin, even maintaining a perfect grade point average in the MBA program. Despite the time commitments of pursuing two concurrent degree programs, Daniel combined his passions for impact and change to become an influential and extremely involved leader on campus at VLS. He served as Treasurer and Representative for the Vanderbilt Bar Association, which offered governance to all the student organizations at VLS. He was also a member of the VLS Hyatt Fund Board, which endeavored to bring high-profile speakers to campus for inter-disciplinary programming. Furthermore, he was Vice President of the Federalist Society, Vice President of the Health Law Society, Vice President of the 2ndAmendment Club, and the business school liaison for the Law & Business Society. Finally, Daniel was elected by his law school peers as Mr. Vanderbilt Law School, performing a rousing rendition of “Trouble” from Meredith Willson’s musical The Music Man.

During his law school summers, Daniel devoted himself to public service in the pursuit of making Tennessee a better place to live, working with the District Attorney’s office in his hometown on a death penalty case, as well as performing legislative research for the Tennessee Senate’s Judicial Committee. Daniel first worked with the District Attorney’s office for the 24th judicial district of Tennessee, where he was intimately involved with the multi-defendant death penalty case for the tragic and nationally-publicized kidnapping and murder of Holly Bobo near Parsons, Tennessee. He also took part in a $100,000+ MediCare fraud case, a $10,000+ firearms theft case, and multiple vehicular homicide and domestic assault cases. Daniel second worked performing legislative research for the Judicial Committee of the Tennessee State Senate under Senator Brian Kelsey, where he researched and provided solutions for problems affecting our state. For example, he investigated viable legislative alternatives to the real property tax. He also took part in several policy overhaul efforts, including examining over-criminalization within the Tennessee Code Annotated outside of the Tennessee Criminal Code, and exploring the problems of expanding donor disclosure loopholes for anonymous pass-through entities donating to political action committees (PACs).

Being a part of where you live is important to Daniel. He lives in the historic Hope Gardens area of Nashville with his rescue dog, Desi. He has served as the Vanderbilt Representative for the Tennessee Bar Association’s Young Lawyers’ Division, as well as a board member of Nashville’s Friends of the Ballet. He joined Buchanan Lodge #772 in 2007, received his 32º in Nashville, and is a member of the Al Menah Shriners. 

One of Daniel’s proudest achievements in life is earning the rank of Eagle Scout, during which time he also earned the United Methodist religious emblem and the prestigious Order of the Arrow service award. His commitment to serving the BSA has continued into adulthood, and he now serves on the board of directors for the Middle Tennessee Council and is a unit commissioner for the James E. West District. As a lifelong outdoorsman and adventurer, Daniel has gone whitewater rafting in Argentina, begun his private pilot’s license, and climbed mountains in South America.