R STAR
A Single Act of Kindness
Wally Bakare’s journey from Lagos to leadership of the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees
By Sarah Nightingale
A n informal check-in with a professional mentor changed Wally Bakare’s life forever. As a 23-year-old college graduate working at a computer consulting company in Nigeria, Bakare stopped by his mentor’s office for a casual chat. He left with an application for the U.S. government’s Diversity Immigration Visa Program and a nudge to “fill it out and put it in the mail.”
You could say the rest is history in Bakare’s journey to becoming a regional vice president at Spectrum, founder of the Tilga Foundation, and chair of the UC Riverside Foundation Board of Trustees. But it’s the long and winding parts that matter most.
Growing up in Lagos, Bakare dreamed of studying in the U.S., a goal his father supported but couldn’t finance. Instead, Bakare stayed home, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1991, a master’s in international law and diplomacy in 1994, and setting his sights on a career in foreign affairs.
Bakare’s plans shifted after he married, leading him into a job selling computers and designing networks for large corporations. He was in his first year with the company when his mentor handed him the form for the visa program, and another year passed before he received a response. Of a million applicants worldwide, 55,000 were chosen in that green card lottery. One of them was Bakare.
“It happened because of the thoughtfulness of one person,” Bakare said. “That single act of kindness not only changed my life, but the lives of my family, my children, and generations to come. It’s a knowledge that has guided me ever since.”
Bakare and his wife — the couple has since divorced — arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on a frigid Saturday in November 1995 with $300 and an offer to stay with a cousin for a month. Spurred by a sense of urgency, he hit the pavement on Sunday to find work; by Monday, he was delivering flyers for a nearby pizzeria.
Despite his master’s degree and almost two years of experience, Bakare’s early applications for jobs in computer sales and electronics went largely unanswered. After a stint selling vacuum cleaners, he signed on with a temp agency and was offered work as a file clerk at Nextel Communications; within a year, he was hired as a full-time accounting supervisor.
From there, Bakare’s 30-year career in telecommunications took flight. A seven-year managerial role at Comcast Cable led to a vice president position in Southern California, and later, Columbus, Ohio, with Time Warner Cable. In 2014, Bakare relocated back to Southern California to work for Spectrum with responsibility for the California market. In 2016, Spectrum acquired Time Warner Cable and Bakare took on the management of the combined company’s Los Angeles and Orange County market.
Bakare’s job with Spectrum took him to Denver for three years and then back to LA in 2024. He now oversees the company’s field operations serving residential and business clients in Southern California, Hawaii, and Arizona.
“Part of the secret to my success is the flexibility to go after the opportunities,” he said. “If you want to do well in the corporate environment, you can’t expect the opportunities to come to you, you have to go where they are.”
Creating those kinds of opportunities for others has since become a driving purpose for Bakare. It was on a flight from LA to Ohio in 2011 that he was first inspired to embark on his philanthropic mission. Flipping through a copy of Black Enterprise magazine, he was struck by a statistic: roughly 33%-40% of Black male students enrolled in four-year degree programs graduate.
“I thought, ‘That can’t be right,’” Bakare said. “So, I called a friend who worked at Ohio State University, and she confirmed it.”
Reflecting on his own path, from his challenging early job search to often being the only person of color in senior leadership, Bakare knew he wanted to help. He started by establishing scholarship programs and teaching leadership seminars at Ohio State, expanding into other volunteer and philanthropic efforts in education, youth services, and the arts.
When he relocated to LA in 2014, he sought a local partner.
“I started Googling universities across Southern California. I saw that UCR had an impressive minority graduation rate, and I wondered what they were doing differently,” he said.
Bakare picked up the phone, connecting first with then-director of UCR’s African Student Programs Kenneth Simons and later with university leadership. For more than a decade now, Bakare has been a steadfast UCR supporter.
His first contribution to UCR was through Tilga scholarships, which are funded through a foundation he created to honor his father. More recently, he has partnered with UCR’s Office of Undergraduate Education to develop the Excel+ Career Readiness and Leadership Program. This campuswide initiative offers professional development and internship opportunities that help turn UCR students into competitive job candidates. The program has already grown from 120 students to more than 1,500, and Bakare said he values the program’s scalability.
“At the end of the day, you are coming to college so you can get a good job,” Bakare said. “The curriculum that you learn in your major gives you expertise. Excel+ gives you the skills and competencies to show up in the workplace on day one and be ready to work and to lead. That is what I want for all our students.”
Bakare has been a member of the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees since 2018, currently serving as chair for the 2024-2026 term. In this role, he’s engaged with deans to learn their priorities and reshaped the board as a fundraising entity that advocates for the university’s financial needs.
“We have the results to prove that UCR is a worthy investment,” Bakare said. “We have high graduation rates among minority and first-generation students, rising rankings, and a reputation for social mobility. An investment here creates an immediate, visible impact.”
Support the Next Generation of Leaders, Innovators, and Changemakers
Founded by Wally Bakare, the Tilga Grant and Excel+ programs bridge common gaps between education and industry. Help ensure that every UCR student has the tools to turn dreams into reality by giving to these programs at donate.ucr.edu/spring2026.