But these are unsettled times, and now, more than ever we need your support as a LUMS Investor in Excellence to provide the chance to grow and develop in new, otherwise impossible, ways. As alumni, we will never underestimate how much your valued support helps us safeguard our School now and for future generations. Your assistance provides new opportunities to help keep LUMS at the forefront of management education, ensures your successors can benefit from the same internationally renowned education as yourselves, and allows us to build upon our achievements of the past 50 years. Our aim is to provide significant philanthropic support for our students, researchers and the LUMS estate by inspiring 10% of our alumni to become LUMS Investors in Excellence. This will be a major achievement by our alumni community and will mean increasing support levels from less than 0.5% to an amazing 10% participation rate.

Through your regular giving as a LUMS Investor in Excellence, you will be allowing the School to pursue new strategic initiatives and achieve our highest priorities, enabling us to provide the best opportunities for thought leaders, support for those students most in need, and the best facilities for all of our stakeholders.

Your support is a catalyst for continued success and progress. It enables us to continue shaping the next generation of our alumni community and to be the go-to Management School for cutting edge knowledge of which everyone wants to be a part.

Thank you for being a LUMS Investor in Excellence.

Professor Claire Leitch

Executive Dean, Lancaster University Management School

Having taken a lead with tech start-up Critical Sense, Aman worked for JPMorgan Chase and Expedia in the USA. He has been CEO of global internet domain registrar and small business technology provider GoDaddy since September 2019, leading their mission to empower entrepreneurs everywhere to make opportunity more inclusive for all.

He hopes his involvement with the Investors in Excellence programme can help give back for the benefits he gained from his studies.

“I have the best memories of Lancaster, and when I talk to my old classmates, I think most of us look back at our experiences with good thoughts and a sense of belonging, a sense that they like the version of themselves who went to that school.

“There are things that I am passionate about, and I know the university is passionate about as well. To have something you are connected to in a very personal way and to have others who have shared that experience, being involved as an Investor in Excellence and as an alumnus is a great way to recall and recreate those moments a little bit.

“I’m learning karate, and my Sensei teaches half karate and the other half, life philosophy. One of the things he has taught me is to divide your life into three phases: the first 20 to 25 years are about learning; the next 25 are about accumulating; and the last 25 years should be about giving back.

“In many ways, I’m at the end of the second phase and the start of the third, and one of my ways is to give back to the school and the community who helped me become who I am. I spent one year at Lancaster, out of 45 years, and that might not seem like much, but it was pivotal for me, and to have the opportunity to help others who are following me at Lancaster is a big thing for me.”

You can read more about Aman’s time at Lancaster and its effects on his career here.

"I chose to support this initiative primarily because I believe very strongly in education, and in particular assisting students who otherwise would not have a chance to pursue a university education. The fact that the Investors in Excellence Campaign is directed toward a world-class management school is another reason for my support. I am want to see Lancaster continue to excel.

"As Lancaster alumni, we have a responsibility to support the University to foster excellence. My wife and I have successful careers due, in large part, to the quality and calibre of education we received from Lancaster and to its reputation as a world-class university.

"I believe Lancaster’s reputation for top-quality education will continue to grow. But I also believe that, as alumni, we have a responsibility to foster this growth through continued financial support. Every one of Lancaster’s students and faculty is responsible for its top-notch reputation and for helping the University to excel in its role in developing the best researchers and talent to make the world a better place."

“The area which really hit home was around scholarships and hardship,” said Thomas. “I was privileged to be able to go to higher education, but I understand that personal financial situations can sometimes limit access. I think everybody should have the same opportunity to study and achieve their full potential; I hope the modest contribution I am making can help give someone that opportunity.

“I’ve seen people who would have benefited from this sort of support; have seen the impact it can have on careers. Without support, they might take out massive loans and then have to choose a job that might not be the one they wanted but rather the one that allowed them to pay off their debts, so Investors in Excellence gives me the potential to support students in that situation.”

“I learnt many valuable things at Lancaster, academically and personally, and it is an experience which gave me the opportunity to completely change the trajectory of my life. I received a partial bursary which allowed me to reduce the student debt I left with, and I am happy to now be in a position to repay that to someone else, who I am sure will go on to do great things with their life and career. I hope more alumni join us and support students as well as great quality research.”