Ann Carlson Khan

Ann Carlson Khan was born in the United States. Beyond this, little information is available on her life prior to attending the University of Illinois and meeting Khan.

Ann’s husband, Shahid Khan, originally hails from Lahore, Pakistan. He was born in a middle-class family on July 18, 1950. His father was an entrepreneur and lawyer and his mother was a mathematics professor. In 1967, when he was only 16 years old, he travelled to the United States to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. During his early years in the country, he supported himself by washing dishes. The job earned him $1.20 an hour. He later joined Flex-N-Gate. After graduating from the UIUC College of Engineering with a BSc in Industrial Engineering in 1971, he was employed as the engineering director by the company. He rapidly rose through the ranks and in 1978, set up Bumper Works, a company that manufactured car bumpers for customized pickup trucks and body shop repairs.

In 1980, he acquired Flex-N-Gate from his erstwhile employer, Charles Gleason Butzow. At the time, it was registering $17 million in sales annually. By 2010, under Khan’s leadership, it had begun generating sales worth $2 billion. Khan, for a long time, was keen on buying an NFL team. He eventually did in January 2012 when he purchased Jacksonville Jaguars from Wayne Weaver for an estimated price of $760 million. In July 2013, he bought English Premier League team Fulham F.C.

Known for his rakish moustache, Khan’s life is the quintessential rags-to-riches story and Ann has been with him at every step of the way. They were college sweethearts, having met while both were attending the University of Illinois. Their courtship lasted for about a decade before they married on January 28, 1981, in Clark, Nevada. Their son, Tony, was born on October 10, 1982, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He presently serves as the Senior Vice President, Football Technology & Analytics of Jacksonville Jaguars. They also have a daughter, Shanna, who was born either in 1986 or 1987. She has worked as a district aide for a congressional representative.

Both Ann and her husband are involved with several charities and fundraisers both in Illinois and their new adopted home Jacksonville. After purchasing the Jaguars, Ann and Khan started contributing to the betterment of the community through the team’s charity foundation. The grants they provide primarily go to children’s and family programs, the NFL/Jaguars Play 60 youth fitness program, military and veterans, women’s health issues, neighbourhood revitalization and other NFL and team-related initiatives. Furthermore, the foundation gives away over 11,000 tickets of their games each season which accumulate to the value of an estimated $500,000 per year.

The Khans donated $1 million to the establishment of the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2016. With their support, a total of $2.25 million was raised for the treatment of breast cancer. Serving as partners in the city’s efforts to deliver comprehensive aid for military service members and their families as they settle back into the civilian life, the Khans have also pledged $1 million to the Jacksonville Veterans Resource and Reintegration Center. Additionally, the Khans have supported North Florida Boy Scouts, YMCA of Florida’s First Coast, Ronald McDonald House of Jacksonville, the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge of Jacksonville, City Year of Jacksonville, the Yeardley Love/One Love Foundation, Edward Waters College, and the Jacksonville Humane Society with six-figure donations.

Ann and Khan have never turned down the opportunity to give back to the school where they were educated and met each other. They have donated to the University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the College of Business, the College of Applied Health Sciences, and the library. Their donation to the College of Health Sciences contributed to the funding of five Khan Professorships as well as the Khan Annex, which is a 24,000 square-foot premise with state-of-the-art laboratories, instructional areas and professional collaboration spaces. Ann also serves as the president of her husband’s charity initiative, the Khan Foundation.