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The Campbell Trophy® Summit will return for its seventh edition July 24-26, 2025. The event is sponsored by Intuit, the global technology platform that makes TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp, and is being held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
 
All past semifinalists, finalists and winners of the William V. Campbell Trophy® are invited to attend, with a special emphasis on the most recent year's nominees. The event provides a powerful opportunity for the recent graduates to interact and learn from many of the nation's top entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley CEOs about the lessons that have guided them to highest levels of success. Organized as a tribute to the late Bill Campbell, the award's namesake, the event serves as a vehicle for the many leaders impacted by Campbell to pass on his insights for leadership and personal growth to the next generation.

Each college in the country is allowed one nomination per year for the Campbell Trophy®, and the requirements include a 3.2 GPA or better and for the student-athlete to be a significant contributor on the team in their final year of eligibility. Covering every college and university from all divisions of play, the nomination process effectively creates a pool of the best student-athletes from each school in the nation who are then invited to attend the Summit.

All accommodations and meals are provided at no charge, and a travel stipends are provided to first-time attendees who need assistance.
 
"Bill was absolutely passionate about [football], and he believed deeply in what you learned from playing the game," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "He never, never took his foot off the accelerator in talking about the benefits of the game. So, we are really thankful that Intuit has stepped forward to fund the summit for a second year as a tribute to Bill's legacy of mentoring. We have received such phenomenal feedback from the participants year after year, and we are really excited to build on that momentum and their experiences."
 
Campbell, who played and coached at Columbia before a switch to the business world, became one of the most influential individuals in Silicon Valley as CEO and Chairman of Intuit and a board member of Apple and Google. He developed a unique reputation, earning the moniker as the "Coach of Silicon Valley" for using the lessons of the gridiron as he mentored Steve Jobs of Apple; Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google; Jeff Bezos of Amazon; Scott Cook and Brad Smith of Intuit; and countless others. His impact and success was recently chronicled in the "Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell," which was co-authored by Schmidt.
 
"Bill Campbell was a one-of-a-kind leader and coach," said Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit's chief executive officer. "He had an incredible impact on so many of us, inspiring us to be the best version of ourselves. Intuit is honored to support this event that celebrates Bill's legacy."
 
MWF Advisors CEO Mark Flynn, a former linebacker at Saint John's (MN) who coached an eighth-grade boys-and-girls' flag-football team with Campbell for 13 years, played the lead role in organizing the event.  
 
"Bill inspired a number of us, and all he ever asked was that we passed on, from one generation to the next, his values," said Flynn. "He had us commit to mentoring this next generation. We decided to gather really bright, talented people who have been part of this Campbell Trophy®, saying let's gather for three days to develop tomorrow's leaders. It was unbelievable how people would make time and change their schedule to be part of Bill's legacy… We are here to create a living legacy to Bill Campbell, and all of the scholar-athletes are in the Campbell Trophy® fraternity for life."
 
A three-day event, the Summit includes leadership workshops, team building activities, and several other social networking activities designed to build relationships, including a non-tackle ultimate football game, a casino night at the Stanford Alumni Center, and a welcome reception at the Stanford Home of Champions. The panels cover a wide range of topics designed to foster leadership, personal growth and the career development of the attendees.

The captain of Columbia's 1961 Ivy League championship team, Bill Campbell found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop and manage talented executives - all lessons learned on the gridiron - proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.
 
Campbell joined the NFF Board in 1978 while he was still a coach at Columbia, and he continued to serve with distinction until his passing in 2016. In 2004, the NFF recognized Campbell's contributions and accomplishments by presenting him with the NFF Gold Medal, the organization's highest honor. In 2009, the NFF renamed college football's premier scholar-athlete award as The William V. Campbell Trophy® in his honor.
 
One of college football's most sought after and competitive awards, the trophy identifies one individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. Made of 25-pounds of bronze and 24-inches in height, the trophy is currently accompanied by a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship.
 
The centerpiece to the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, the Campbell Trophy® was first presented in 1990 and adds to the prestige of the program, which was launched in 1959 as the first initiative in history to award postgraduate scholarships based on a player's combined academic, athletic and community accomplishments. The program has awarded $12.9 million to 938 top athletes since its inception, and it currently distributes around $300,000 each year.