Honoring a special donor

Tom Lewis with MBA fellowship recipients

UNC Kenan-Flagler honored Thomas W. Lewis (MBA ’73) with a celebration to commemorate the MBA fellowship program and professorship he created.

In 2005 he established The T.W. Lewis MBA Fellowship Fund – awarded annually to students based on their academic achievements and leadership potential – and endowed The T.W. Lewis Distinguished Professorship, currently held by Ted Zoller, T.W. Lewis Clinical Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

During his visit to UNC Kenan-Flagler, Lewis met with Zoller and others to develop a collaboration strategy for a research project in entrepreneurial leadership and also presented a lecture to Entrepreneurs Lab students.

“Tom Lewis is inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders at UNC Kenan-Flagler. His insights and lessons of experience provide our students with a model to follow in Tom’s footsteps and build high-impact, socially-responsible entrepreneurial careers.”

At the celebration, fellowship recipients Andrew Archer (MBA ’16), Josephine Manlangit (MBA ’17), Jill Murphy (MBA ’17) and Graham Sharpe (MBA ’16) joined faculty and staff to recognize Lewis’s contributions to the School.

Lewis created the fellowship because he had received a scholarship years earlier in memory of a student killed in a plane crash and wanted to pay it forward. His generosity has inspired Manlangit to want to do the same, she told Lewis and attendees at the event.

“I wouldn’t have been able to attend graduate school if I didn’t have a scholarship. I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity to learn and to invest in myself,” she says. “When I applied for this scholarship, I made a sincere commitment to opening opportunities for others. I will continue to strive for success so that I can give in the way that he has given to me.”