Lanham Napier ’93

Alumni Trustee
CEO, Project 23
BA 1993, Rice University
MBA 1997, Harvard University

Get to Know Lanham

Executive Biography

Lanham Napier earned his bachelor's in economics from Rice and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is executive chairman and co-founder of BorderPlex Digital, a Texas-based company that owns and operates vertically integrated digital infrastructure campuses. He is also co-founder and chairman of BuildGroup, an operating company that builds and funds technology businesses with modern business models. Previously, Napier served as CEO of Rackspace, where he led the company’s growth from $1.5 million to $1.5 billion in sales. Outside of his professional endeavors, Napier has served on several nonprofit boards including St. Mary’s Hall, St Mary’s University Forum on Entrepreneurship and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He and his wife established the Napier Family Foundation to provide financial support for first-generation Americans to attend university.

What part of serving on the ARA Board are you most excited about?

Rice has been a transformational force in my life, and I am thrilled to serve it. I look forward to helping the Rice community thrive.

What is your favorite “Only at Rice” memory or story?

I have a bunch that I probably should not share broadly...I would love to share some of my memories from the pub, but they are a little foggy.

If you could give one piece of advice to Rice students, what would it be?

I would encourage Rice students to lean into challenging things offered by Rice to discover where their natural talents reside. Treat Rice as a laboratory and run some experiments to understand what you love doing. This will help inform students about what to do after graduation. If I could trade places with students and do it all again, I definitely would!