The University of California, Riverside School of Business has named Matt D. Lyons ’87, Byron Pollitt ’73, and William E. Thomas its Executive Fellows for the 2018-2019 academic year.
The Executive Fellows Program aims to connect distinguished business leaders with students and faculty to enrich the learning experience. Fellows serve a one-year term, during which they give guest lectures, act as mentors and consult with students and faculty.
UCR School of Business held a ceremony on May 31st in honor of the outgoing 2017 -18 Executive Fellows Beverly Bailey and Candace Wiest, and welcomed the incoming Executive Fellows.
“This program reflects our commitment to professional excellence and our inter-dependent relationship with distinguished alumni, senior business leaders and the business community,” said School of Business Dean Yunzang Wang. “It is our mission and promise to deliver an excellent and relevant business education. These Fellows are successful leaders and extraordinary professionals in their respective fields and we are honored to have their commitment and contributions to this program.”
Matt D. Lyons has worked in the equity trading area for The Capital Group since 1995. Currently, he is the Global Equity Trading Manager, responsible for trading operations in the US, Europe and Asia. Matt has worked on the FIX protocol U.S. steering committee, STALA board of directors, NYSE Institutional Trading Advisory, and is currently the chair of the ICI equity markets advisory committee.
Byron Pollitt retired as CFO of Visa Inc. in 2015. During his tenure, Visa completed the largest IPO in US history and was added to the Dow 30 Index. Prior to Visa, he served as CFO of Gap Inc. and CFO of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Byron was selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of the Best S&P 500 CFOs and was ranked a Top CFO seven times by Institutional Investor. He currently serves on the Board of Voya Financial and on the Finance Commission of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
William E. Thomas is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the KPC Group of Companies which owns and manages a diversified portfolio of hospitals, medical groups, ancillary medical providers and real estate in Southern California and India. Prior to partnering with the KPC Group, William was the Founding and Managing Partner of the law firm of Thomas, Luebs & Mort in Riverside.
Founded in 1992, the Executive Fellows reflects the business school’s commitment to professional excellence and its interdependent relationship with business leaders.
