DonorSpotlight

“We can win a national championship. There's no doubt, there's no reason we can't,” said Matt Audette, the CFO and President of LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer platform in the country. He points to the alignment strongly bonded between the university and the athletics department, with Coach James Franklin leading the charge, as proof the pieces are falling together the right way.

In addition to the favorable trajectory of the football program, the Audettes base their giving in the hopes to pay their positive student experience forward for future generations of Hokies.

“A lot of it is what Virginia Tech provided to me in my education and opportunities,” Matt recalled, who grew up in Virginia Beach before coming to Blacksburg. “We want to make sure that we are giving back.”

He also backs the family's athletic philanthropy, specifically to football, in the belief that winning seasons in Lane Stadium will elevate the status not only of Virginia Tech Athletics as a whole, but also the academic prowess of the entire university. The Audettes are members of Team First, a superbooster group created to provide Virginia Tech Football with the resources necessary to compete at the highest level.

“A dollar in athletics can turn into an additional dollar for the rest of the university,” Matt said. “It's incredibly clear and proven, and everybody wins.”

Blacksburg isn't just a college town for their family. It's home, the starting point of a wonderful journey. It's where Matt met Rachel, where two of their four children have gone on to become Hokies themselves, and where a passion for Hokie sports began.

“I was a freshman in the fall of '92,” Matt said. “We went 2-8-1. From that point forward was the start of the Beamer era of winning, and it was an amazing time to be there. It changed the campus, changed the atmosphere, changed the culture.”

Rachel had a front row view to the momentum surrounding Virginia Tech Football as well, serving as a member of the Marching Virginians. The two met within the first few weeks of her freshman year, got engaged the summer before their senior year, and were married shortly after graduating together in 1997.

Nearly three decades later, the same pride for the Hokies still pulls the Audettes back to Blacksburg. Now based in New York City, the family makes the trip south often, filling weekends with time on campus, talks with Pamplin College of Business students, and a Saturday tailgate with a wide circle of Hokie friends.

“It's just a big part of our family and our lives,” Matt said.

That connection runs through the next generation. Their eldest daughter, Amanda, graduated in mechanical engineering and starts at Northrop Grumman this fall. Son Andrew just finished his freshman year at Virginia Tech with Pamplin. Daughter Jessica charted her own path at the University of Delaware, and youngest daughter Samantha, a rising high school junior, is weighing her own college options.

Matt and Rachel see a direct line between the lessons of athletic competition and the traits that build careers: discipline, structure, performing under pressure, and learning to respond to failure.

For Hokies weighing whether to give, their advice is simple: start now and give to what genuinely moves you.

“It matters so much. Anything you can do matters,” Matt said. “Look inward on what you're passionate about, what improvements you want to leave to the world. For us, that's scholarships and it's investing in athletics, because I know it rises and improves the university overall.”

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