Stu Francis admires the University’s “clear vision” as it approaches this new campaign. “It’s a competitive world,” he says. “Princeton is at the top of its game, but others are trying to catch us. It would be a mistake not to undertake a campaign at this time.”

He knows a thing or two about competition—competitive golf has been an important component of his life. Co-captain of golf at Princeton, and a 1973 All-American golfer, Francis is a three-time club champion at Cypress Point Golf Club in Pebble Beach, California, and a former San Francisco Golf Club champion. His abiding interest in the sport, and in Princeton, inspired him several years ago to endow the Stuart Francis ’74 Competitive Golf Fund, which, he says, “helps the team participate in national tournaments.”

Currently vice chairman of Lehman Brothers in Menlo Park, California, Francis serves clients in the global technology sector. Throughout his career as an investment banker, he has worked with the senior executives of major technology companies to advise their decisions on acquisitions and financing.

After graduating from Princeton with a BA in economics, he earned an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and later served on its advisory council. He joined Lehman in 1991.

Francis and his wife, Diana Stark, have two children, one a junior in high school and one, he is happy to note, a freshman at Princeton.

Francis says he is “deeply grateful” to the University for the many ways it has influenced him: “It taught me to approach issues analytically, and made me a much broader thinker and confident decision-maker.” He also made life-long friends at Princeton, he says, adding, “I would have a much less rich life without Princeton.”

Francis manages to be a volunteer on both coasts. At Princeton, he has been a longtime special gifts solicitor for the Class of 1974, and is former chair of his class’s Special Gifts Committee. In the Bay Area, he is chair of the board of trustees of Menlo School, a private middle and high school in Atherton, California; he is also vice chair (and a former chair) of the San Francisco Ballet.