Harvard Business School (HBS) has announced a $10 million gift from alumnus Ian K. Loring (’93) and his family to establish the Loring Family MBA Pathways Fund.

The fund will promote educational diversity and opportunity in business leadership by supporting activities aimed at making the school’s MBA program more accessible to a wider range of students. To that end, the gift will endow the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP) and complementary initiatives focused on supporting students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

SVMP is a free program that brings 180 college students to campus to experience HBS for a week during the summer through intensive case studies, career sessions, and interactions with current students and alumni. All SVMP alumni who later enter the HBS MBA program will be eligible for an additional $20,000 scholarship on top of their need-based scholarship and will be known as Loring Fellows. 

“We are deeply grateful to Ian and Isabelle Loring for their ongoing dedication to the school, which has enabled us to provide scholarships to talented students from a wide array of backgrounds and experiences,” said HBS dean Srikant Datar. “This new gift broadens their potential future impact by giving young people an opportunity to see how, through the pursuit of a business education, they can become leaders who will make a difference in the world.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Denis Tangney Jr.)