This is a defining moment for Rice Business. We’re building the future of business education at Rice, and we want to do it with the Napier name at the foundation. You’ve already made a meaningful impact through the Napier Rice Launch Challenge, which continues to inspire and elevate student ventures year after year. Now, with the construction of the new 112,000-square-foot building that will anchor the next 50 years of growth at Rice Business, we see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to honor your father and his legacy in a way that reflects both where we came from and where we’re going.

Al Napier didn’t just teach business. He shaped it. Alongside Ed Williams, he sparked a culture of entrepreneurship that put Rice on the map and lit a fire in generations of students. You know this better than anyone. And now, with Lanham serving on the Dean’s Board of Advisors and newly appointed to the Rice University Board of Trustees, your family continues to shape the direction of this institution.

It just makes sense to name the new home for Rice Business in honor of the two men who made our entrepreneurial foundation possible: Al Napier and Ed Williams. 

We are honored to present this proposal to you and hope you’ll consider it a starting point for a broader conversation. 
 

Entrepreneurship is now woven into the fabric of Rice. But it began in a single classroom, with two professors and a vision.

Al Napier taught with a rare blend of academic rigor and real-world wisdom, drawing from decades of experience in industry and as a business owner. His course, “The New Enterprise,” became a rite of passage for Rice entrepreneurs.

Ed Williams, with deep expertise in finance and valuation, challenged students to think bigger and believe in their potential. A board director, author and mentor, Ed brought clarity, energy and care to everything he touched.

Together, Al and Ed:

• Designed the first entrepreneurship curriculum at Rice Business in the late 1970s.
• Sparked a culture of innovation that led to the creation of cornerstone programs like the Rice Alliance, the Rice Business Plan Competition, and the Rice Entrepreneur Roundtables.
• Mentored students who went on to pursue entrepreneurship in all its forms — launching companies, leading ventures, and shaping the community in ways still felt today.
• Were named National Educators of the Year by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2016.

As you know, the entrepreneurial ecosystem the world sees at Rice today — with programs like OwlSpark, the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie), and the Napier Rice Launch Challenge (thanks to your family’s generous support) — stands on the foundation that Al and Ed built. These initiatives were born after their tenure, but they are a direct extension of their vision, values and commitment to the future.

Their classrooms became incubators. Their students became founders. Their legacy deserves a physical home where the next generation of Rice leaders will change the world. 

Rice Business respectfully requests a $15 million commitment from the Napier family toward the total $20 million naming opportunity for the building. The remaining $5 million will be raised from a select few members of the alumni community — students who were shaped by Al and Ed and are eager to give back. In recognition of this generosity and commitment to our students’ future, the new building will be named Napier-Williams Hall.

To honor your generosity, Rice will work with you to structure the gift to meet your preferences, with a preferred commitment term of five years. You will also be closely involved in shaping how Al and Ed’s stories are told within the building — through visual displays, donor recognition and programmatic touchpoints. And it will be our honor to announce and recognize Napier-Williams Hall at the building’s grand opening in summer 2026. This space is more than bricks and mortar. It’s a place for people to collaborate, ideas to form and businesses to launch.

Napier-Williams Hall will be the central hub for Rice Business — bringing graduate and undergraduate students together under one roof for the first time. It will be a place for mentorship, hands-on learning and community. A place that reflects the same values your father taught in his classroom: Show up prepared, think big and never underestimate the power of an idea.

Your gift will support:

• A home for innovation: Student-focused spaces that will host such activities as entrepreneurship programs, pitch competitions, student ventures and alumni founders to connect with the next generation.
• Expanded experiential learning: Classrooms and convening spaces designed for collaboration, problem-solving and testing ideas in the real world.
• Deeper community impact: A welcoming place for the broader Houston community to engage with Rice Business — through events, mentoring and partnerships.
• Mentorship across generations: From NRLC judges to guest speakers and founders-in-residence, Napier-Williams Hall will enable students to learn directly from those who’ve built, tried, failed and succeeded.

 In short, this building is a launchpad, and the Napier name belongs on it.