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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 7, 2025—James Lyons, who led the Silicon-Valley based Santa Clara University’s fundraising and development efforts through a successful $1 billion fundraising campaign and strong growth in alumni engagement, is retiring from his post as vice president for university relations in summer 2026, after a 40-year career in higher education. 

Under Lyons’ 12-year leadership at Santa Clara University, the school achieved the rare distinction of raising more than $1 billion in its comprehensive fundraising campaign, “Innovating with a Mission,” which ended in early 2024.  Santa Clara is only the fourth Catholic University and among the fewer than 5% of  American universities to have accomplished this feat.

The University also has enjoyed steady increases in alumni interest, connection, and engagement during Lyons’ tenure, including more than 40%  growth in the number of  alumni chapters. Grand Reunion also has become a premier program, boasting more than 50 events each year and steadily increasing attendance each reunion cycle. 

A Transformative Campaign

The campaign enabled the University to add 750,000 square feet of new state-of-the art facilities, including the largest STEM complex in the West dedicated primarily to undergraduate education—the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation—as well as new athletics, arts, law, residence hall and student facilities. 

It also helped the University meaningfully expand access for talented students by providing $280 million in scholarships and financial aid, and increasing by one-third the number of awarded scholarship funds. Additionally, the resources raised in the campaign helped create extensive new internships and experiential learning opportunities for students.

“Jim has been a trusted, highly effective and accomplished leader for Santa Clara University for the past dozen years,” said President Julie Sullivan. “His energy and enthusiasm, relationship-building, compassionate leadership, and expertise have been vital to supporting our goal of becoming the world’s leading Jesuit university. We are deeply grateful for all Jim has done for our university.” 

Lyons oversees the University’s development; corporate and foundation relations; alumni relations; and event planning. For 10 years, he also oversaw the University’s marketing and communications department. 

In order to achieve a $1 billion campaign, he presided over a scaling of Santa Clara’s fundraising operation from just over $34 million a year when he arrived at Santa Clara to its current average of $100 million a year. Following the close of the $1 billion campaign, Lyons led a restructuring of the unit to further expand its capacity to meet the needs of the University’s Impact 2030 strategic-plan targets for fundraising, including raising $500 million in scholarships and $150 million in new endowed chairs and professorships. 

“The Santa Clara alumni and donor community is extraordinary, and embraced me from the moment I arrived here 12 years ago,” said Lyons. “I am so thrilled at what we have been able to accomplish together with an incredibly talented and dedicated team in University Relations. I’d like to especially recognize the support I have received under the amazing leadership of President Sullivan, as well as the two co-chairs of “Innovating with a Mission,” John A. Sobrato ’60 and Jeff Miller ’73, MBA ’76. It has been a joy, and even more so, a blessing, for me to have played just a small part in contributing to Santa Clara’s rise from regional to national and global prominence, while always keeping a laser focus on attracting and opening our doors to the widest possible array of talented students.” 

A Start in Admissions

Lyons came to Santa Clara from the University of Portland in 2013, where as vice president for university relations he launched and helped orchestrate the university’s largest-ever fundraising campaign, which surpassed its goal and raised $182 million in 2014. He started his career working in enrollment and admissions roles at Seattle University and Sonoma State University before serving as the University of Portland’s first dean of admissions for seven years. 

A first-generation college graduate, Lyons attended Seattle University where he flourished in part because of mentorship from a Jesuit priest. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration and a master’s degree in public administration from the Jesuit-affiliated Seattle University. 

Lyons has and currently holds leadership positions in several professional organizations, including chair of the Jesuit Advancement Administrators (JAA) and board member of the Bay Area Council (BAC). He is a member of the Rotary Club of San Jose and previously has served as president of the National Catholic Colleges Admission Association, Catholic Charities of Portland and San Jose, and Global Ade. He is a past president of the North Portland Rotary Club.

“Support for higher education has never been more important,” said Lyons. “Our world needs the ethical professionals, critical thinkers, and human-focused problem solvers that Jesuit education has produced since Jesuits started creating colleges nearly 500 years ago. I am so very proud of the team that works every day to expand the access and opportunity for future generations of Broncos who share that mission.”

The University will launch a search for his successor in the coming weeks. 

About Santa Clara University
Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Ranked among the top 15 percent of national universities by U.S. News & World Report, SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars and four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. www.scu.edu.

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Communications | dlohse@scue.edu | 408-554-5121