BBA alumnus Lance Uggla receives SFU Outstanding Alumni Award

Lance Uggla, Beedie School of Business alumnus and CEO and co-founder of global financial-services information company Markit, has been announced as winner of the Professional Achievement award in SFU’s 2013 Outstanding Alumni Awards.

Each year, SFU and the Alumni Association honour the most accomplished graduates with the Outstanding Alumni Awards. Since being introduced in 1983, the awards have become one of the university’s most celebrated traditions, with nominations for the awards made by alumni, faculty, staff, students, and the community.

Uggla will receive the award at a special dinner event on February 26, 2014, along with the three other recipients of the 2013 SFU Outstanding Alumni Awards.

An exceptional business leader with an innovative mind and entrepreneurial spirit, Uggla has been widely credited with transforming the credit derivatives market. He received his BBA from SFU’s business school in 1985, before embarking upon a career in the financial sector.

After roles with Wood Gundy, CIBC World Markets and TD Financial, in 2001, Lance spotted an opportunity in the market for a business that would provide transparency around credit swaps and pricing information while significantly reducing customer risks.

He co-founded Markit, and since then has transformed it from a five-person company run out of a renovated barn into a global financial-services giant with over 3000 employees across the globe. Today, Markit provides independent data, valuations and trade processing across all asset classes, and has a client base that includes the most significant institutional participants in the financial marketplace.

Since becoming CEO of Markit in 2003, Lance has seen the company’s valuation rise to over $5 billion. In 2012, he was recognized for his entrepreneurial talents with the Ernst and Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year Award, beating 43 other entrepreneurs to the title.

Uggla fosters an entrepreneurial spirit in Markit through shared ownership, with over 28 percent of the company owned by employees. He is a supporter of a number of charitable causes, primarily focused on giving children a better start in life. Most notably, with his wife, he founded a school in Zambia for street children, which today has over 440 pupils.

For more information on the SFU Outstanding Alumni Awards, visit http://www.sfu.ca/content/sfu/alumni/our-alumni/outstanding.html