For Michael “Mike” Arnold ’08, the track where he competed as a Franklin & Marshall student-athlete is more than a place to race. It reflects the transformative power of Division III athletics programs at scholar-focused institutions — and the kind of lasting impact he hopes to create for future generations of student-athletes.

Mike and his wife, Dana, have pledged $1 million to support the development of the new Arnold Family Track on F&M’s north campus. Founder and president of The Tynan Travel Company and a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, Arnold becomes the youngest F&M graduate to join the College’s Founders Society, in recognition of lifetime giving exceeding $1 million.

“I ran and rowed here, and I never forgot what that demanded of me,” said Arnold, a two-sport athlete for men’s track & field and crew. “A new track is not just a facility; it is a promise that the next generation of Diplomats will be formed the same way — by discipline, by teammates, and by a standard high enough to travel with them after they leave. Athletics at F&M is one of the College’s most visible classrooms. When those programs are excellent, they do more than win meets. They tell the country who we are: a liberal arts college that takes both the mind and the body seriously.”

“F&M’s track is an extraordinarily important resource for our athletes, our campus, and our Lancaster neighbors.” said President Andrew Rich. “I am enormously grateful for the investment Mike and Dana have made in the development of a new facility and for the benefits it will yield for recruiting, for our athletes, and for the community.”

The new track & field facility will be adjacent to Shadek Stadium and the future Shadek Varsity House and Mehlman Center for Strength, Conditioning, Wellness, and Performance. The facility will include an eight-lane, all-weather track as well as dedicated throwing and jumping areas and a natural grass, multipurpose field. 

The Arnold Family Track will be available to the entire F&M community and the Lancaster community, with facility and safety improvements that will enable the College to once again host the Centennial Conference Championships. The existing track at Sponaugle-Williamson Field, a resource utilized by both F&M’s campus and the Lancaster community, will remain open and in operation through the planning and construction process of the Arnold Family Track.

“Construction of the Arnold Family Track will provide an incredible asset and advantage for Diplomat Athletics,” said Director of Athletics & Recreation Lauren Packer Webster. “Modernizing our facilities and bringing them to this section of campus adds another championship-level venue essential for recruiting top-tier talent. This gift will provide us with a world-class training ground, helping to continue positioning Franklin & Marshall as one of the very finest institutions in the Centennial Conference and in our division.”

A Pivot to Passion, Made Possible by F&M

Arnold was recruited as a hurdler to Franklin & Marshall by Head Track & Field Coach Carl Schnabel. His experiences as a student-athlete formed what he calls his guidepost, a foundation for his college years that shaped his perspective on and connection to F&M in the years that followed. 

He credits the College’s admission team in advocating for him and helping his family secure a pathway that made his F&M journey possible. That  life-changing opportunity inspired Arnold to become a sustained philanthropic support of the College.

At F&M, Arnold entered with a plan to major in Business, Organizations, and Society. He didn't count on a joint major in Classics, but an introductory class with Shirley Watkins Steinman Professor of Classics Alexis Castor fascinated him and fueled his interest in history. He later participated in an F&M-sponsored Etruscan archaeological dig in Tuscany, where he would meet his future wife, Dana, then a student at Southern Methodist University (SMU). 

Mike and Dana dated through graduation and his first job at British Airways, which he landed after a networking conversation with fellow F&M graduate Woody Harford ’85. After two years in New York working in finance, marketing, brand management, and sales, Mike moved with Dana to San Francisco to help lead the airline’s West Coast operations. When Dana began law school, they moved to Dallas, where Mike eventually helped establish an energy-focused private equity firm and focused on providing capital to oil and gas operators. The firm grew rapidly, reaching nearly $1 billion in assets under management in just six years.

Professionally, Arnold was thriving, but he wasn’t finding the challenge as fulfilling as he once had. Dana encouraged him to explore his unrelenting interests in travel and aviation as a part-time project. He then founded the Tynan Travel Company (a reference to his middle name), unsure of where exactly the venture would lead but excited to try a new entrepreneurial project. After just a year, he saw the start of something special.

“I found myself re-energized with creating a passion project from scratch and taking a new risk,” said Arnold, “That is the quiet power of the liberal arts. F&M did not just train me for one profession. It equipped me with a perspective on how to adapt and assemble a profession from whatever I had already lived. The pivot was possible only because the College had already taught me that range is not a detour. It is the point.”

Today, Tynan is among the largest and awarded in-house luxury leisure travel agencies in the United States. Exclusively catering to family offices and ultra-high-net-worth clients, the travel management firm provides global travel services and support to a select roster of principals, households, athletes, and celebrities whose itineraries demand privacy, precision, and privileged access.

Shared Equity: Philanthropy as Alumni Investment

From his earliest days as an alumnus, Arnold has sought opportunities to become more involved in the life of the College, acting as a regional volunteer as his career progressed and he moved across the country. He first joined the College’s Leadership Council in 2011, and in 2014 he was named the College’s first GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) Trustee, where he served for three years before returning to the Leadership Council. Arnold served on the Franklin & Marshall Fund Global Steering Committee, and in 2020, he was named a recipient of the College's Alumni Development Volunteer Award for his efforts to engage other graduates in raising financial support for F&M. He joined the Board as a full member in 2023 when he was unanimously elected as a Trustee.

"A gift to F&M is a return on the investment previous generations made in every one of us."

- Mike Arnold '08

Arnold’s philanthropy is a responsibility he’s carefully considered since his days as a student. He recalls attending a State of the College event hosted by F&M’s 14th President John Fry, in a room full of students and alumni. In his address, Fry asked who in the audience considered themselves the benefit of donor support. As Arnold recalls, only a small number of hands went up. Fry countered that every hand should be raised, as every person in the room had an experience made possible thanks to the generosity of the generations that preceded them.

“A gift to F&M is a return on the investment previous generations made in every one of us, stretching back to the earliest days of the Republic. That is the tradition I want to grow: the understanding that philanthropy is intrinsic to this community. We put capital back into the College because we have equity in it—and because it still serves a greater good for the country. Stewarding this institution has been one of the most rewarding parts of my professional life.”