Gary Lew MBA 98 Honored with Outstanding Service Award
Alumni Association acknowledges peer and lecturer for service to community
By Sarah Colwell
Gary Lew, a consultant in the aviation finance industry who also serves as lecturer for UC Davis Graduate School of Management, has been recognized with the 2021-22 Outstanding Service Award.
The GSM Alumni Association presents this annual award to honor an alumnus/a who has made an impact and is a true advocate and champion of the School.
“It is such a tremendous honor to be nominated for this award by my peers,” Lew said at the award ceremony during the School’s Peer-to-Pier event in San Francisco. “To me, it’s never felt like service. Service implies work and obligation, and I’ve always felt like service is an opportunity. It’s been an honor to serve GSM.”
Lew, who has more than 20 years of experience in asset finance and investment management, earned his MBA in 1998 with a concentration in finance and accounting.
“I’ve always felt like the GSM changed my life. It gave me confidence at a point in my career and my development; it gave me opportunity both academically and professionally; and, most importantly, it really gave me the trajectory to take my career to a different level.”
Before becoming a consultant, Lew worked as a principal and executive vice president of Finance and Capital Markets at Vx Capital Partners. He was part of the founding team at Vx Capital Partners as its first employee.
During his 18 years at Vx, Lew led corporate finance, capital markets and administration and was primarily responsible for sourcing and structuring equity and debt capital to support the VXF investment fund and portfolio transactions. Vx Capital invested over $1.5 billion in aviation-focused assets and Lew led Vx efforts to raise its first institutional equity fund and executed an evolutionary asset-backed securitization.
Lew’s prior experience includes business development and investment analysis as a director at GATX Capital, fixed income research at the California Public Employees Retirement System, investment management at Merrill Lynch and appointments in both the Governor’s Office and U.S. Senate. Lew earned his B.A. from UCLA.
He served on the GSM Alumni Association Board of Directors for more than three years and currently serves on the School’s Dean’s Advisory Council.
“I’ve been so happy to serve the School,” Lew said. “Now that I teach, I tell the students all the time, ‘Whether they are students, alumni, administration or staff, I feel the same level of family I did 25 years ago. I’m fortunate to still be part of this School.”