Darpan Kapadia ’95, a business leader whose support has lifted William & Mary to new heights as a national model for internships, will welcome new students this month at Opening Convocation.

Kapadia, chief operating officer of LS Power and vice chair of the William & Mary Foundation Board of Trustees, will give the keynote address at the event on Aug. 27 in the Wren Yard. The ceremony marks the start of the academic year and welcomes new members of the campus community. Undergraduate classes begin the same day.

In his role at LS Power, Kapadia helps lead one of the largest power generation, transmission and energy infrastructure companies in the United States. The company is committed to powering a sustainable future by investing in, developing and operating renewable energy projects and leading energy solution platforms.

William & Mary is currently celebrating the Year of the Environment, a yearlong observance to advance sustainability efforts on campus and expand the university’s impact around the world.

“Darpan Kapadia is at the forefront of transformation in the energy sector,” said President Katherine A. Rowe. “His path from William & Mary exemplifies the power of a liberal arts and sciences education to cultivate innovators who redefine their fields and industries. We warmly look forward to welcoming Mr. Kapadia back to his alma mater in the Year of the Environment.”

A dedicated alumnus, Kapadia has served in many capacities at William & Mary, beginning with his election as class president when he was an undergraduate. A member of the William & Mary Foundation Board of Trustees, he currently chairs the foundation’s development strategy committee.

Kapadia, who graduated from William & Mary with a degree in economics, will become the chair of the William & Mary Foundation this October. By raising private support and diligently managing those funds, the foundation advances the work of William & Mary’s students and faculty, providing vital resources for scholarships, professorships, research, programs and capital infrastructure.

In 2023, he made a generous commitment to support career development at the university. The gift to the Career Center Student Internship Fund has had a transformative impact on internships at William & Mary, increasing the funding levels of individual internship grants while also quadrupling the number of students who can receive university funding for internships and applied learning opportunities each year. Careers is one of the cornerstone initiatives of William & Mary’s Vision 2026 strategic plan with the goal to guarantee a funded internship for every undergraduate. In 2023 and 2024, William & Mary met all student requests for internship funding.

Kapadia’s philanthropy is rooted in his own formative experiences as an intern at law firms and with policymakers in New York. After graduating from William & Mary, he began his career as a senior consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He later earned an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management before becoming a vice president at Goldman Sachs in its investment management division. 

Since joining LS Power in 2004, Kapadia has shaped the company’s growth, initially as head of strategy and now as chief operating officer, serving on both the firm’s management and investment committees. He also serves on the board of directors for several LS Power-backed companies, including electric vehicle charging company EVgo Inc. and renewables and energy storage platforms REV Renewables and Clearlight Energy.  His work in the sustainable energy space was featured in the spring 2024 issue of the W&M Alumni Magazine.

Beyond William & Mary, Kapadia contributes to higher education through service on Northwestern’s Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council, the Board of Leaders at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and the USC Marshall Business of Energy Initiative Advisory Council.