Trinity’s Entrepreneurship Center, founded in 2022, is an initiative aimed at pairing the liberal arts with experiential learning in order to encourage students to “turn ideas into action.” The center focuses on “real-world, applied immersive learning experiences” by making use of Trinity’s Hartford-based partners to introduce students to training and internship opportunities as part of their undergraduate education. The Entrepreneurship Center also engages with a network of successful Trinity alumni who form relationships with students and share their own experiences in their chosen field.

The Center is located in the Nutt Math, Engineering, and Computer Science Center (MECC) and is currently led by inaugural director Danny Briere, who has served on the board of the Duke University Fuqua School of Business’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship initiative, and has experience in multiple tech, health, internet, and education industries. In an interview with Hartford Business Journal, Briere outlined the goals of the Center in two parts: “first, we want to build inventive, innovative, and entrepreneurial mindsets in all Trinity students; and then, for those who want to take the extra step in pursuing product and company launch, we will support that direction as well.” The Center includes space for student collaboration, teaching, and mentoring, and the Trinity College Entrepreneurship Club has its home-base there.

Funding for the inauguration of the Center was donated by Lou Shipley ’85, a Trinity trustee who has served in executive roles at various technology companies, as a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as being a member of the President’s Commission for Trinity’s Future. Shipley voiced his commitment to the project, stating that “All of the highly successful entrepreneurs I’ve worked with, mentored, or led have liberal arts educations…They have curiosity, think broadly, and are passionate, resilient, and adaptable, which are all hallmarks of a Trinity education.” The Center was born out of the Trinity Plus Curriculum, introduced by President Joanne Berger-Sweeney in 2021, which has the goal of pairing experience in the workforce with a liberal arts education by introducing three “plus credits” focused on preparing students for “life after Trinity.”

One of the Center’s first projects was funded by a founding member of the Center’s advisory board, Kathryn George Tyree ’86. She endowed the Tyree Innovation Fellowship, a two-year competitive program aimed at guiding students towards business opportunities during and after their undergraduate years. One of the marquee programs of the Tyree Fellowship is the Summit Innovation Challenge, in which the fellowship’s participants design their own inventions which are presented to a live audience and judges, who choose a winning creation. The winner of the January 2024 competition was Alexander Cacciato ’25, whose startup Flippit “uses mobile technologies to allow air travelers to send prohibited items to themselves quickly and securely rather than surrender them at security checkpoints.” The runner-up was Nathan Sykes 25’, whose start up The People Company sources offshore workers for domestic sales teams to supplement a company’s administrative workforce.

Trinity College: Entrepreneurship Center

Trinity Reporter, Spring 2023.

Trinity Reporter, Winter 2023.

Hartford Business Journal: Trinity College launching new entrepreneurship center by Skyler Frazer, 9-6-2022.