Strategic Gifts Strengthen The Center for Entrepreneurship’s Summer Program for High School Students

Thanks to the founding gift by Spencer Lake, BSBA ’84, Suffolk’s Center for Entrepreneurship launched its Summer Entrepreneurship Program for High School Students in 2022. This college pipeline program offers a three-credit summer course that introduces Boston-area high school students to entrepreneurial practices while providing them with opportunities to interact with the Boston business community.

Participating students gain confidence as they acquire college-level skills and academic credits, helping them to see a four-year undergraduate degree as attainable. The number of enrolled students has grown from the first cohort of 30 to the 54 rising high school seniors who attended the immersive program in summer 2026. Following Lake’s initial investment, he recently committed to a second gift of more than $190,000 to support the program for the next five years beginning in 2027.

Lake is especially drawn to the program’s emphasis on serving underprivileged Boston students who would be the first generation in their families to attend college. More applicants than ever are applying to the program, and Lake is delighted that “it’s now aspirational to be a part of this wonderful experience.” Among the benefits of the program for participants are coaching and mentoring by Lake and his family members as well as other alumni volunteers. “So many teenagers,” Lake remarks, “don’t know exactly what they want to do—or have only tentative ideas about being an entrepreneur. This program is a great boost for them. Even if they eventually veer away from being an entrepreneur, the program gives them a concrete way to think about their future.”

A Second Donor Is Inspired

Other funders have been attracted to the Summer Entrepreneurship Program for High School Students, which is gratifying to Lake as well as to Chaim Letwin, JD, PhD, Carol Sawyer Parks Endowed Chair, and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. Recently, The Kathy & Jerry Wood Foundation awarded a grant of $50,000 that complements Lake’s donation by providing generous scholarships to students who complete the summer high school program and then matriculate at Suffolk. Susan Oyloe, the Foundation’s vice president, notes that although they support many trade schools and universities—this was the first time that they had funded a summer high school entrepreneurship program. Suffolk’s program, Oyloe said, is “fully aligned with the Foundation’s mission and we’re thrilled to partner with it.”

Chaim Letwin comments that “We greatly appreciate the synergy and generosity of both Spencer Lake and the Kathy & Jerry Wood Foundation. Their commitment to Boston-area youth is outstanding and is going to impact so many high school students.” In addition to the new Kathy & Jerry Wood Foundation scholarship, Fetch, the rewards app company, offers one student per year $5,000 if they matriculate at Suffolk.

Lake’s Path to Success

Throughout his working life, Lake has demonstrated a talent for re-casting himself to take advantage of new opportunities—from peaks of global finance to high-impact philanthropy. He points to Suffolk University as a key source of the confidence and skills that empowered such agility.

Raised in rural Newfoundland, Canada, Lake’s family sent him to Massachusetts for prep school. Thereafter, Lake’s initial foray into college was shaky, and he took time off to work around the world as a fish-packer, welder, and truck driver. When he was ready to resume college, Suffolk gave him a crucial second chance. Lake earned a BSBA in Finance and Marketing while working at a hotel to support himself. Later, he received an MBA in International Finance at New York University.

Suffolk’s location at the nexus of financial institutions, law firms, and government, gave Lake “a sense of a world out there that’s real and that one can aspire to join.” His fellow Suffolk students were “people who didn’t come from super-elite backgrounds” and who were ready to apply themselves. It was, Lake says, “an ideal place to pull up my socks and seriously get to work.” Beyond his business studies, subjects like psychology and sociology gave Lake “a better understanding of myself—but also of other people and how to identify issues that concerned them.”

Lake V1.0: Banking Arenas

Lake’s career path has brought him to some of the world’s financial giants. During and after graduate school, he was employed by JP MorganChase. Subsequently, Lake was hired by Merrill Lynch in New York City, where he worked in investment banking for 17 years. He transferred to Hong Kong, focusing on public bond markets. Two of his three children were born there. Then Lake was promoted to Merrill Lynch’s London office, where he advised governments on financial issues—and where he has lived ever since.

In 2006, Lake accepted a job at HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations. There he oversaw, successively, their global financing and public sector businesses; market division; and finally, banking division. Eventually, HSBC promoted Lake to group general manager, a role held by only 34 of the company’s 240,000 employees—and ultimately, he was named Vice Chairman.

Lake V2.0: Investor Realm

After nearly three decades, Lake retired from banking and turned his attention to fintech, where technology and financial services intersect. As an “angel investor,” he invested in two dozen companies. Encouraged by his wife Heather to deepen his involvement in venture capital, Lake deliberated while on a Himalayan trek. The outcome: in 2019, Lake helped to launch 13books Capital. Thirty-five companies in early-stage development are in the portfolio with total investments to reach more than $600 million.

Lake V3.0: Sustaining His Roots with Philanthropy

When he was just 11 years old, Lake’s grandmother bequeathed him her house on Newfoundland’s southwest coast, and he has maintained it as the Four Winds Inn. To bolster the province’s rural areas, Lake created the Saltwind Foundation, which aims to grow the economies of four coastal towns. Lake’s foundation will invest in tourism, indigenous-led businesses, and traditional commercial fishing.

A path to the future was Suffolk’s gift to Lake decades ago. As a self-described “underdog” back then, Lake believes that “the University got me back on track from an unpromising start.” He concludes that “Suffolk was utterly vital when I needed someone to believe in me. And I’m so grateful that they really did. It motivates me to give back as much as I can.”