Alumni couple endows a scholarship to honor all that the UW made possible for them
AJ Maestas and Lacey Bundy discovered love, inspiration and the foundation for successful careers at the University of Washington. Now, the devoted Husky fans are “paying it backwards” so that UW student-athletes can benefit from the same transformative educational experiences that launched AJ’s and Lacey’s lives.
The couple met in the late ’90s in Professor Bill Resler’s tax accounting class at the UW Foster School of Business. The attorney and esteemed lecturer — who retired in 2016 after more than 30 years as one of the School’s most beloved and longest-tenured faculty members — also was well known for holding court at one of the U-District’s oldest hangouts, The Duchess Tavern.
“You look back at forks in the road, and our time in Bill’s class, at the UW, at Husky games were all incredibly meaningful for both of us. We realize that the lives we’re living today wouldn’t be possible without everything we experienced at the University of Washington,” recalls AJ, who owns Navigate Research, a company that analyzes the value of sports and entertainment partnerships — including the recent Alaska Airlines Field deal for the UW.
Contemplating ways they could honor both their alma mater and their old professor while making a difference for students, Lacey and AJ had only to look back at their own lives. Without college scholarships, neither of them could ever have been able to afford a UW education.
So, they established the Bill Resler Endowed Scholarship for Dukes and Duchesses to be awarded to a Husky student-athlete who will pursue a degree in business.
“We are so passionate for all things Husky and so tremendously grateful to the UW and the Business School for playing such a critical role in where we are today,” explains Lacey, who serves as general counsel for Express, one of the nation’s largest apparel retailers. “The endowment links it all together, all these things that are so important to us.”
By endowing a scholarship, the couple’s gift to Husky Athletics remains intact and the interest funds the costs of a student’s tuition and fees at the UW.
“From now until the end of time, it’s going to serve student-athletes longer than we’ll be around,” AJ says.
Both alumni shake their heads humbly in near-disbelief of all they have accomplished. Each has notched many accolades and awards for their business acumen. Again and again, they credit the UW for so much of it — including the way that sports helped them bond as a couple. They live in Chicago but are “glued to the TV” when the Huskies play and travel to at least one football game every year.
“A lot of student-athletes wouldn’t be able to attend a school like the UW but for their scholarships. We really do believe that education is the great equalizer and that finances should never be a barrier to anyone to attend school,” Lacey says.
“Education opens doors to a life you never knew was possible,” AJ adds. “We’re so grateful. It makes sense to pay it backwards to the UW.”
Your impact on endowments
Nothing makes a longer-lasting impact on someone’s life than a college education. And nothing makes a bigger impact on the scholarships that give our student-athletes access to a UW education than establishing a scholarship endowment. Rule changes approved last year by the NCAA now require us to cover the full cost of college attendance for our student-athletes. This rule change added more than $800,000 to our annual scholarship costs, making scholarship endowments more important than ever before. Today, our scholarship endowments total $63 million and pay out $2 million a year to cover a quarter of the annual cost. With your support of our quarterly costs, The Game Changer Campaign for Husky Athletics will increase our endowment total to $100 million and move us far closer to the goal of endowing all our scholarship costs. Learn more about how you can support game-changing scholarship endowments.
