Gonzalo García

When Gonzalo García arrived at London Business School in 1993, he was an engineer seeking to sharpen his management skills. What he found was far more than a business education – it was a complete shift in mindset “LBS exposed me to a different way of thinking about problems, a multicultural, multi-background type dimension, which I thought was very interesting and helpful for my life, and it really opened the door to new possibilities I hadn’t even thought about.”

Before arriving in London, García had never considered a career in investment banking. “I had no idea what investment banking was all about until I came to London Business School,” he recalls. “Then I thought it was interesting and intellectually appealing, and I ended up having a 30-year career in investment banking after that.”

For García, London Business School has become a family story. When he and his wife, María Eugenia Gajardo, came from Chile to the UK in 1991 to study, he at LBS and she at the London School of Economics for an LLM, finances were tight. García had a partial scholarship but “we were short on money when we came here,” he says. “We didn’t have much time to enjoy all the options that London Business School offered. And we had two children at the time.” Years later, their daughter Josefina followed in his footsteps, attending LBS and deepening the family’s ties to the School. By contrast, Josefina “took advantage of every single opportunity the School offered,” he says. “She went on I don’t know how many trips abroad, enjoyed the clubs and did a lot of extracurricular activities. She got to enjoy the full experience that London Business School has to offer.”

García’s commitment to LBS goes well beyond his time as a student. A member of the School’s Governing Body and of the Forever Forward Campaign Leadership Board, he and his wife have supported scholarships that help students from Latin America, particularly women, study at the School. “I came with a scholarship from the British Council to the UK,” he explains. “It completely changed our lives. So, when the opportunity came up to think about charitable contributions, London Business School was the obvious place to look.”

The couple initially established a scholarship for students from Latin America. “We didn’t make it specific to women. Two or three years later, we decided that we should use this to promote more women coming to London Business School, especially from Latin America, which is still a very macho society.”

The initiative has been, as he puts it, “a great success.” Many of the recipients have stayed in touch, and Gonzalo and María Eugenia regularly meet with them in Chile and in London. “It’s been a very satisfying experience,” he says.

Reflecting on the LBS alumni community, García points to the deep and lasting relationships formed during the programme. “The links and the bonds that you form with the people, particularly those who you’re very close to, my study group, in my case, I think they last a lifetime,” he says. One lesson from his student days has stayed with him: “The school that you went to is going to brand you for the rest of your life. It’s in everybody’s best interest to support the school and make sure it stays at the top.”

García believes alumni play an essential role in that effort. “If you think something needs to be done, then get involved,” he says. For García, LBS remains central to his story, and to the values he hopes to pass on. “People come to London Business School because either they want to change their career or they’re seeking something additional in their education,” he says. “The more success we have in helping people achieve their goals, the more people will want to come here and do the same.”