Honoring a Life-Changing Education
$5 Million Pledge from SLU Alumnus Establishes New Scholarship Fund for Business Students
David Jacquin (CSB ‘89) lives by Nelson Mandela’s expression that education is the greatest tool to change humanity.
“I’m a walking, breathing example of that,” he said.
Rocketing from working part-time at National Supermarkets for walking-around money while attending Saint Louis University on a music scholarship to founding the independent investment bank, North Point Mergers and Acquisitions, Jacquin can trace his success back to the interest others took in him as a promising young man. So, when it came time to pay things forward, he did the same for the up-and-coming SLU students of today.
“I can’t imagine a greater cause. Helping kids and SLU is more than worthy. I could never give back to SLU as much as it has given me.
— David Jacquin (CSB ‘89)
The newly established Stephen W. Vasquez Accounting or Finance Scholarship will increase access to the type of transformative Saint Louis University education Jacquin received for undergraduate students currently studying at the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business.
Created through a $5 million pledge by Jacquin and his wife, Heidi, the scholarship, once fully endowed, will be awarded with preference given to those demonstrating financial need.
“I can’t imagine a greater cause,” Jacquin said. “Helping kids and SLU is more than worthy. I could never give back to SLU as much as it has given me.”
Inspired by SLU's Impact
Saint Louis University played a significant role in Jacquin’s life, and in his family's life, he said. He chose to name his scholarship for Stephen W. Vasquez, a former School of Business dean and chair of the Department of Accounting who influenced Jacquin’s father, David M. Jacquin Sr. (CSB ‘61).
The first in his family to go to college, David M. Jacquin Sr. chose SLU, putting his son on the path to do the same. When it came time to consider colleges, he said SLU was the only one Jacquin applied to. And he knew he would pursue business, to follow in his father’s footsteps. Once here, he grew interested in adding a law degree, he said. While he was accepted to SLU’s program, Georgetown University — the most exclusive law school in the country at the time — was his reach school. SLU helped make it happen, he said, both through the academic preparation it offered him and recommendations from his professors and Thomas R. Fitzgerald, S.J., who was then serving as the University’s 30th president.
“I got in and that changed my life in a powerful way,” Jacquin said.
Jacquin went on to earn his juris doctor at Georgetown University in 1988. After practicing law with Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York and London and leading merger and acquisitions divisions for Piper Jaffray & Co, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America/Montgomery Securities, Jacquin founded North Point Mergers and Acquisitions in 2004. Representing industry-leading companies in more than $100 billion of transaction value, it counts Starbucks, Jimmy John’s, Teavana, Edible Arrangements, Jamba Juice, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and other household names among its clients.
Impacting Student Experience
In addition to the direct financial support the new scholarship will provide, Jacquin has also provided real work experience to current Billikens through an internship program. In 2024, he extended an inaugural invitation to a SLU student for his North Point Summer Internship; a second SLU student will complete the program this summer.
Read About One SLU Student’s Experience at North Point
These investments of time and funding from alumni like Jacquin are critical, said Chaifetz School of Business Dean Jackson Nickerson, Ph.D.
“The Chaifetz School of Business helps people imagine who they can be and launches them on their journey,” Nickerson said. “David Jacquin’s story epitomizes the importance and impact of this mission. We are so very appreciative of David and Heidi’s gift, because it will spark imagination for so very many deserving students and help launch them on their journeys.”
Scholarship support for SLU students is more critical now than ever, said Sheila Manion, vice president for development. In fiscal year 2025, SLU awarded $16.3 million to 3,785 students through donor-funded scholarships. Nearly all first-year students received some form of financial assistance, and SLU’s average financial aid award amount for freshmen was $45,343 last year.
"Donors like the Jacquins embody the Jesuit principle of magis — doing more for others,” she said. “This new scholarship opportunity will not only help make a SLU education more attainable for our students, but it can also inspire them to do the same in their communities and careers."