Lyft Chair Sean Aggarwal to speak at College of Wooster

The College of Wooster will welcome Sean Aggarwal, ’88, college alumnus and chair of the board of directors of Lyft, the transportation app, for the Wilson Lecture Series at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Wilson Governance Room inside the Scot Center, 1267 Beall Ave.

The talk will explore the journey of building a startup from an initial idea to a successful initial public offering. Aggarwal will share stories from the early days of Lyft, the competition with Uber and the significance of the arrival of autonomous vehicles.

Aggarwal, who earned his economics degree at Wooster and MBA at Northwestern University, was the first investor in Lyft and worked with the founders to scale the company from an idea to a $2 billion IPO in 2019. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors.

After graduating from Wooster, Aggarwal began his career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York. He worked for several technology companies during their early days including Amazon when it was a bookseller. He also held roles at PayPal and eBay. He later served as CFO of the online real estate company Trulia, helping lead its IPO and the eventual $3.5 billion sale to Zillow. He also currently chairs Borderless AI, a software company he co-founded in 2022.

Like many Wooster students, Aggarwal’s first jobs were on campus. He spent two years washing dishes at the Lowry Center before earning a promotion to janitor’s assistant, where his primary responsibility was cleaning the ceiling of McGaw Chapel. He also claims to know where secret scrolls are hidden in Babcock Hall.

The lecture is part of the James R. Wilson Lecture Series, which brings distinguished business and financial leaders to The College of Wooster to engage with both the campus and the broader community.

The event is free to attend. For more information email htian@wooster.edu.