‘Something I Needed to Do’

Lorna Boucher ’86 had come a long way from working at her family’s diner as a teenager in Lowell. It was the early 2010s, and the UMass Lowell business alumna was living in Manhattan, well established as an executive director of global equities strategy and communication at Swiss-based investment bank UBS.

That’s when she got a call from Steven Rogers ’20, senior director of development at UML. He was going to be in New York meeting with alumni and was hoping to get some time on Boucher’s calendar.

“Yeah, absolutely,” she said.

Up to that point, Boucher had been so focused on her Wall Street career that she had all but lost touch with her alma mater. Rogers’ invitation spurred her to do some “soul searching” about how important UML had been to her success.

“I came to UMass Lowell, got a bunch of Pell Grants and scholarships, and walked out of school debt-free—except for the Mastercard I used for all my clothing purchases,” Boucher recalls with a grin. “Finally, at this juncture in my career, I started thinking about how I owed it to the university to pay it forward. It was just something I needed to do.”

Boucher began by gifting some of her UBS stock to the university. Then she started “grilling” Rogers about the number of women enrolled in the Manning School of Business. 

“I noticed a trend of fewer women going to business school at the time, and that’s a real problem,” she says. “Diversity is massively important in business. It demonstratively improves performance and makes the environment more hospitable for everyone.”

Boucher was invited to see for herself the direction of the Manning School by sitting in on an advisory board meeting. Enthused by what she saw, she joined the board—and in 2015 became chair.

“The minute I got back to campus and saw the students, I was hooked,” she says. “I find so much energy and excitement every time I come to campus.”

Born and raised in Lowell, Boucher dreamt of going to college on the West Coast. But faced with the reality of her family’s blue-collar finances, she decided to give UML a look. Before she applied to what was then the College of Management Science, she met with Braxton Hinchey, an international business faculty member.

“While I was meeting with him in his office, he picked up the phone and called the registrar and fast-tracked my application. It was kind of amazing,” says Boucher, who found a mentor in Hinchey. He created a field study class that gave her enough credits to double-major in marketing and international management, and he connected her with internship opportunities.

“That level of hands-on care is still a hallmark of what the university does, and I personally experienced the power of that. To have that at a public university is phenomenal,” says Boucher, who also credits the late Stuart Mandell, the college’s first dean, with sparking her interest in marketing. 

Recipient of the University Alumni Award in 2017, Boucher has given back to the university in many ways. She established the Lorna Boucher ’86 Endowed Scholarship, which benefits deserving students in the Manning School. She was a keynote speaker for UMass Lowell’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference, and a volunteer judge for the university’s DifferenceMaker competitions. She has shared career advice with students at networking events. And in May, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award at Commencement, the university's highest alumni honor.

“She could be doing a lot of things, but she chooses to be on the Manning School of Business Advisory Board, giving not only her treasure, but her time and her talent,” says Rist Family Endowed Dean of Business Bertie Greer. “We’re all better for it.”

When speaking with students, Boucher is often asked what it’s like being a woman in the male-centric finance industry. She likes to share a story about when she was 28 years old, working as a consultant for a firm in Boston. She and her CEO were meeting with a group of businessmen in New York.

“We walked into the room and there were all these guys in gray suits. The senior-most guy looked at me and said, ‘Before we start, how about some coffee?’ and he just looked at me pointedly. And I said, ‘I would love some. I take it with milk and sugar’ and I sat down,” Boucher recalls.

“When we left, my boss said, ‘I can’t believe you did that.’ I said, ‘Did what? He couldn’t have been asking me to get him coffee.’ I didn’t even realize I was being a goof. But I think the point was, people can only patronize you when you’re complicit.”

After serving as head of product branding strategy at KCG Holdings, Boucher became chief marketing officer at another New York-based global financial securities company, Instinet, in 2016. But last year, after three decades in New York, she decided it was time to “spread out and have more access to nature.” So she moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, and took a job as chief marketing and communications officer for Imperative Execution, a financial technology company that operates 100% remotely.

Now, when she’s not working from home, Boucher is working on her home—which was built in 1742.

“Isn’t that crazy?” she says. “I’ve always wanted to renovate an ancient house.”

She’s come a long way, indeed, from working at her family’s diner in Lowell.

Taking calculated risks, digging in and moving forward have been constants from Boucher’s undergraduate days to her success in business. On campus recently to speak to students about careers, she encouraged them to do the same.

"Lots of people just show up, try not to take risks, and go home at the end of the day. They don’t bring it. Just bring it,” she said.