Building Entrepreneurial Leaders
Letter From Kevin Oye
Executive Director, Tufts Gordon Institute; Professor of the Practice; Director, MS in Innovation & Management Program
Dear Derby Entrepreneurship Center Friends,
The entrepreneurial spirit is strong at Tufts, thanks to the Derby Entrepreneurship Center team and all the alumni and friends who have supported our mission. As one of the critical centers in the TGI portfolio, fostering entrepreneurial thinking across the university, from pre-college to undergraduate to graduate students and beyond, the Derby Entrepreneurship Center is essential to our overall mission of building a worldwide community of transformative leaders who are biased to action and capable of discovering and creating new solutions to the challenges our world faces.
Besides continuing to grow existing programs this past year, the Derby Entrepreneurship Center has demonstrated its own entrepreneurial mindset by developing new programming to reach new people. Through early prototyping and rapid iteration, leveraging feedback from our students, the Center has continuously shaped our offerings to be the most impactful for our community. Critical to our success is expanding our inclusion of alumni and friends in our programs, as those who themselves are living entrepreneurial lives make great role models for our students.
My hat goes off to all our alumni, friends, students, faculty, and staff, who have collaborated and worked tirelessly to continue to expand and grow the impact of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center. Onward and upward, may the coming year be even brighter.
Kevin Oye
Dear Innovators and Entrepreneurs,
Letter From Elaine Chen
Reflecting on the 2023-2024 academic year, one word stands out: “choice.” We recognize that our community is made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds, with different interests, resources, and constraints. That’s why we are committed to providing choice—choice to shape their own path, choice to explore new ideas, choice to build their own adventure, and choice to learn in ways that resonate with each individual’s journey.
Over the past year, we haven’t just expanded successful programs, we’ve intentionally introduced new experiments to broaden the spectrum of opportunities available. Programs like the Consumer Product Fair were launched to cater to students running small businesses as side hustles, and there is much more to come. The upcoming year will see us laying the groundwork for even more dynamic academic and co-curricular offerings in 2025.
As we continue to grow, our goal remains clear: to adapt our programming to meet the needs, goals, and aspirations of our diverse student body and beyond. We’re here to offer more than just a traditional curriculum. We’re here to create a learning environment where entrepreneurial leaders can thrive with purpose, with freedom to choose their own path.
Elaine Chen
Cummings Family Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship; Director, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts
Table of ConTenTs
07 Introduction 13 Building Knowledge 17 Building Connections
building enTrepreneurial leaders aT TufTs
Being an entrepreneurial leader means having a bias to action. We inspire our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to identify problems worth solving, come up with solutions, and most importantly, take action by implementing and distributing these solutions to benefit people in real life. We instill in them the courage and self-confidence to take the first step in getting the job done.
our role in The eCosysTem
The Derby Entrepreneurship Center (DEC) is part of Tufts Gordon Institute (TGI). Our collective mission is to develop leaders with the business acumen and technical skills combined with values-centered leadership needed to be high impact, empathetic change makers. DEC works with all communities across Tufts University, including 11 schools and colleges, numerous student clubs, and other centers across Tufts that support student growth.
Beyond Tufts, DEC takes a leadership role in cross-university collaboration in the greater Boston area and beyond. We work with peer institutions to share content programming so our students can take advantage of every resource available to them. We help our students connect and form diverse teams across universities. Our students gain access not only to the alumni network and resources at Tufts, but to that of 10+ universities in our ecosystem.
WhaT We do
Students are at the heart of everything that the Derby Entrepreneurship Center does. We provide a wide range of options for how they engage with us. Our students come from diverse backgrounds and have different needs and goals. We empower them to choose their own entrepreneurial adventure through experiential learning, coaching, competitions, funding, and more.
building KnoWledge
Our two academic minors – the Entrepreneurship Minor and the Entrepreneurship for Social Impact Minor – have sustained double digit growth for the past five years in a row. We are addressing our broadening student interests by diversifying course offerings, increasing capacity, and creating more cross-listed courses.
I
thought
[the
Entrepreneurship Minor] was a great way to round out my college education, as it provided me with important skills that are not taught in other classes. These skills included pitching yourself, finding problems worth solving, being a leader, conducting research, and more.
- Sydney Weisstuch, E24, ENT Minor
ENT ENrollmENTs & UNiqUE sTUdENTs
1100+ Class Enrollments +14% YoY
700+ Total Students +14% YoY
ENT CoUrsEs / sECTioNs
28 Unique Courses +12% YoY 54 Sections +23% YoY
FaCUlTy
22 ENT Faculty 97 2024 ENT/ESI Minor Graduates miNor GradUaTEs
Taking entrepreneurship classes was one of the highlights of my time at Tufts. The lessons I learned – not just about starting a business, but also about leadership, creativity, and resilience – have really stayed with me. The Derby Entrepreneurship Center always creates such a welcoming and inspiring environment. I’m truly grateful for the time and energy the Center invested in their students.
- Fortune Akinremi, A24, ENT Minor
building ConneCTions
A student’s entrepreneurial journey starts by making connections with people who can help them take their first step. We create opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to connect with each other, and with entrepreneurial faculty, staff, coaches, and mentors. Our student coordinators are instrumental in helping us make this happen.
FosTEriNG HUmaN CoNNECTioNs: enTrepreneur in residenCe program (eir)
Our EIR program engages practicing entrepreneurs who bring experiences from their own businesses into every coaching conversation. EIRs are plugged into real time data and insights, helping students make informed decisions based on up-to-date information.
(From Left to Right) Our Entrepreneurs in Residence: Marcus Johnson-Smith, Idicula Mathew, and Cody Damon
The Derby Entrepreneurship Center gave me incredible opportunities to grow more confident as a student, leader, and entrepreneur. My work with the Center solidified my love for working with people with innovative mindsets, culminating in future career goals to develop my own innovative, user-centered products and experiences.
-
Daniel Tobengauz,
A24, ENT Minor, Former DEC Student Coordinator
Program Spotlight: Tufts Mixers
Derby Entrepreneurship Center probably serves more pizza, sandwiches and tacos than any other department. Through our Entrepreneurial Taco Social, Entrepreneurial Pizza Open House, and similar events, we help students connect with each other, mentors, and coaches.
I enjoyed working with the students as a student leader and seeing their progress. It was a great exercise to teach lectures and modules as it forces a teacher to convey information in an exciting and engaging manner.
- Sebastian Useche, MSIM ‘24, Pre-College Student Leader, 2024 New Ventures Competition Healthcare 2nd Place Winner, Tufts Venture Accelerator Cohort Member
Program Spotlight:
Cross-University Collaboration
Through Cross-University Student Innovator (CUSI) Mixers hosted at Tufts and other local universities such as MIT, Harvard, and Boston University, Tufts entrepreneurs can meet and connect with the larger entrepreneurial ecosystem in Boston.
Program Spotlight: Pre-College Program
The Tufts Entrepreneurship and Innovation Bootcamp is a two-week-long immersive experience where 50 high school students get a taste of how to build new ventures from the ground up, just like university student entrepreneurs.
BUildiNG CoNNECTioNs iN NUmBErs
50+ Events Hosted 3500+ Estimated Participants
20+ Tufts Schools, Centers, and Organizations Partnered With 20+ University Collaborators
helping sTudenTs explore
Our students come with diverse backgrounds and interests. Some students may not be sure how innovation and entrepreneurship might factor into their education and careers. For these students, we offer a variety of accessible entry points into our ecosystem. These experiences include workshops, speaker events, an entrepreneurial internship program, and more – all designed to offer choices for students to build their own adventure.
Program Spotlight:
Entrepreneurial Speaker Series
For entrepreneurial students who are just getting started, hearing stories from the field is inspirational. Our Entrepreneurial Speaker Series features high profile entrepreneurs and recent alumni. Students see firsthand how entrepreneurial leadership manifests in a variety of professional pathways and settings - startups, nonprofits, large corporations, and even government agencies.
Entrepreneurial Internships
Internships allow students to explore entrepreneurship in an immersive environment at a young company where they can get hands-on training while being mentored by experienced entrepreneurs in the company. Many of these internships are hosted by Tufts alumni, forging new connections in our entrepreneurial community.
Joanne’s contributions were instrumental in advancing our product development and testing efforts at Kathalyst. The internship program provides invaluable support to pre-revenue startups like ours. It offers exceptional talent and gives students a hands-on opportunity to engage in real-world challenges.
- Anushka Singh, MSIM
‘23
CEO, Kathalyst
One of the most valuable parts of this experience was the creative freedom I had to experiment with different ideas and approaches to problems. This variety and flexibility to explore, research, and influence the direction of the projects I worked on would have been harder to come by in a large tech company.
- Joanne Fan, A25 Intern at Kathalyst
The EIF grant has been pivotal in empowering the FreeBites team to move forward with confidence and motivation by enabling us to bring our app to life and covering essential costs. Not only has the EIF supported our operational needs thus far, but it also continues to inspire us to invest our time and resources into enhancing the app’s long-term impact and sustainability.
- Sarah Jun, A25 Co-founder, FreeBites
&- Sristi Panchu, E25 Co-founder, Freebites
Program Spotlight: Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fund (EIF)
The Tufts Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fund (EIF) provides modest funding to individual students, teams, or student clubs to support them in their entrepreneurial initiatives, including travel and project expenses to support student-led venture creation. The EIF awards grants in the $200-$2000 range with the goal of removing financial barriers to entrepreneurial opportunities.
aCCeleraTing VenTure CreaTion
Students who are on track to build and launch a new venture need tailored advice and support that can help them in the moment. For venture builders, we provide 1x1 coaching, custom mentor matching, competitions, prizes, and a full-time summer accelerator. Our resources support entrepreneurs building not only VC-backed startups but bootstrapped small businesses, nonprofits, and social enterprises in emerging markets.
Program Spotlight: Ideas Competition
The Ideas Competition is a pitch contest for entrepreneurial Tufts students to choose a problem worth solving, come up with a great solution, and deliver a 3-minute venture pitch for a chance to win up to $1,000 in cash prizes.
The Tufts New Ventures Competition is the flagship venture competition at Tufts. Teams led by students, faculty, staff, and recent alumni pitch their new ventures in three tracks: General, Social Impact, and Healthcare & Life Science. This year marked the Competition’s return to a primarily in-person format as teams, judges, and audience members gathered at the Joyce Cummings Center to watch Tufts entrepreneurs compete for $250k+ in cash prizes and in-kind services.
Program Spotlight: Tufts Venture Accelerator
The Tufts Venture Accelerator (TVA) is a full-time, 10-week-long summer venture accelerator that provides structure, accountability, educational experiences, and funding to help Tufts entrepreneurs make rapid progress throughout the summer. Participants receive tailored coaching through all the key stages of venture creation. The Accelerator is an invaluable learning opportunity for founders to develop a bias to action, hone their business acumen, and gain new skills to lead and affect positive change in the world.
The program’s intensive workshops and guidance from industry mentors prepared us for high-stakes negotiations and navigating investment opportunities. Additionally, the Accelerator opened doors to crucial investment opportunities, enabling us to present our venture at key conferences and secure the support we needed to advance our mission.
- Zoe Watson, MSIM ‘24; Co-founder, Microvitality Inc.
The Accelerator has supported us every step of the way and given us the chance to connect with amazing mentors and learn directly from industry experts. As first-time founders, having such a supportive program has been a game-changer. Thanks to the Accelerator, what started as a vision and a big hope has now become a legally established venture in Indonesia.
- Catherine Tikara, MALD ‘24; Founder, Punya Arti
alumni and CommuniTy
The heart of our community is the connections formed between students, alumni, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Boston and beyond. These connections can provide coaching and mentorship to entrepreneurial leaders at any stage of their journey, as well as internships, jobs, and opportunities for knowledge sharing.
Our alumni stay involved in a variety of ways, such as screening applications or judging in business plan applications, speaking in our entrepreneurship classes, providing internship opportunities, joining our Board of Advisors, and more.
We also value our connections beyond Tufts and regularly engage with industry leaders who generously share their expertise with our community.
Under the guidance of inspiring professors like Jack Derby and the dedicated team at the Center, I discovered a passion for innovation and business. They were integral to my success as I joined and started my own ventures and participated in various pitch competitions at Tufts. Now, as a board member of the Boston chapter of the Tufts Entrepreneurial Network, I organize events that unite motivated entrepreneurs.
- Frank Yandrisevits IV, A20; Account Executive, International Business
In my myriad roles within the entrepreneurship community at Tufts - guest lecturer, keynote speaker, event planner, panel moderator, contest judge, and for the past two summers, mentor and guide to participants in the Tufts Venture Accelerator - I have experienced joy, awe, and gratitude for my time with DEC students. As an alumna, I could not be more grateful for these incredible opportunities, or prouder of the fantastic work of Tufts entrepreneurs.
- Ali Trachtman Hill, A98, MPA, PhD; Founder, Sound Advice Women
After three years building my social enterprise startup in D.C., I loved the invitation to give back to the Tufts community as a judge for the Tufts New Ventures Competition. Listening to the heartfelt and well thoughtout pitches was inspiring and a great reminder of the incredible passion for doing good within the Jumbo community. I hope to continue to support the thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus – it’s grown tremendously since my time on the hill. Having worked with a Jumbo undergrad for a summer internship, I hope to continue to support as both an employer, judge, and in the future, mentor.
- Mackenzie Loy, A13; Founder & CEO, The New Majority
Derby Entrepreneurship Center and the Fletcher School at Tufts University have a deep partnership where we work together to help global entrepreneurs build social enterprises. We provide mentorship support for teams applying to the Fletcher D-Prize, a poverty solutions venture competition that awards up to $20,000 to a team dedicated to fighting poverty in an emerging market. We have supported the D-Prize winner in our summer accelerator for the past three years, providing structured programming, 1x1 coaching, dedicated mentorship, and additional funding to help teams execute their summer pilot and set the stage for a sustainable venture beyond the summer.
Derby Entrepreneurship Center with the 2024 D-Prize winning team, Ongeza Zao na Pato. From left: Elaine Chen, Richard Geegbae, Maggie Adomako, Gabriel Waithaka, and Carol Denning
derby enTrepreneurship CenTer aWarded $1 million granT from Cummings foundaTion
The Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts is humbled and honored to share that we are the proud recipient of a 10-year, $1 Million sustaining grant from Cummings Foundation’s $30 Million Grant Program. Having a 10-year grant makes all the difference in our ability to invest in long term programming. We are very grateful to the Cummings Foundation for placing their trust in us and supporting our quest to build entrepreneurial leaders at Tufts.
our Team
Everything we do at the Derby Entrepreneurship Center is made possible by our dedicated team. Led by Elaine Chen and Carol Denning and supported by the insights and efforts of our Entrepreneurs in Residence (Cody Damon, Marcus Johnson-Smith, and Idicula Mathew), we teach innovation and entrepreneurship across Tufts University. We also welcome current students to work with us as student coordinators each year. Thank you to our small and mighty team!
Pictured from Left to Right: Elaine Chen, Marcus Johnson-Smith, Carol Denning, Cody Damon, Idicula Mathew
donor leaderboard
Legacy Gifts
Jack and Jan Derby; Jack and Jan Derby Lobby: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts (2021)
Joshua Kapelman, A12 and Emily Hawkridge Kapelman: Kapelman Collaborative Space (2021)
Stu Birger, A85, A22P and Debi Birger, A22P: Birger Family Seminar Room (2021)
Multi-Year Sustaining Gifts
Earle Yaffa, E61 and Elizabeth Yaffa, J85P
Kimberly Hartman, J85 and Alan Hartman and The Joseph H. Flom Foundation: 10-Year Sustaining Tufts Venture
Accelerator Sponsorship (2021)
Anonymous Donor: 8-year Sustaining Gift to support DEC operations (2022)
Stephen Herrod, Ph.D. and Flavia Herrod, A22P, A27P: 5-year Sustaining Gift to promote the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (2023)
Vivek R. Shah, A94, and Katherine Shah: 3-year Sustaining Gift for Consumer Internet and Digital Innovation (2023)
Grants
Cummings Foundation: 10-year Sustaining Grant (2024)
Prize Sponsorships
Tufts New Ventures Competition General Technology Track
John W. Cuming, A81, Pamela Cuming and the William R. and Ruth D. Cuming Charitable Foundation
Tufts New Ventures Competition Healthcare and Life Science Track
Anonymous Donor
Tufts New Ventures Competition Social Impact Track
The Joseph H. Flom Foundation and Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life
Friedman Prize
Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute at the Friedman School
Stephen and Geraldine Ricci Interdisciplinary Prize
Stephen J. Ricci, E67, E88P, J88P and Geraldine R. Ricci, E88P, J88P
Paul and Elizabeth Montle Prize for Entrepreneurial Achievement
The Montle Family
Cummings Properties Rent Credit
Cummings Properties
Corporate Sponsors and Partners
Event Sponsorships
Epsilon Carbon: Platinum Sponsor
Valley Bank: Gold Sponsor
Silicon Valley Bank: Supporter Sponsor
In-Kind / Discounted Rate Sponsorships
Amazon Web Services
Hubspot
Sound Advice Consulting
Startup Tree
our supporTers
We are deeply grateful to our supporters for their generosity in supporting our efforts to foster entrepreneurship education at Tufts. The funds we raise each year help us pilot, develop, and grow innovative programming to serve a rapidly expanding population of students with diverse experiences, needs and goals.
Platinum Supporters
($10K+ AND ALL BOARD MEMBERS)
Mark Ain
Kofi Asante
Charles F. Auster
Rachel Blumenthal
Benjamin S. Carson, Jr.
Karen J. Cassel
John W. Cuming
Jack Derby
Michael J. Doyle
Christine Overholt Dunn
Pamela W. Goldberg
Paul S. Halpern
Kimberly A. Hartman
Stephen Herrod, Ph.D and Flavia Herrod
Karen C. Howe
David J. Jen
Joshua W. Kapelman and Emily Hawkridge Kapelman
Nancy Karp
Jordan C. Kivelstadt
Sarah D. Kugelman
Stephen McDermid and Katherine J. McDermid
Andrew K. Merken and Gail Merken
Kenneth M. Nova and Janet Nova
Catherine Popper and D. Noah Eckhouse
Stephen Remondi and Kristen Remondi
Peter H. Rothschild
Felice Shapiro
Forrest Snowden
Omer Trajman and Lily Trajman
Tracy K. Wang
Alexander S. Wulkan
Earle Yaffa and Elizabeth Yaffa
Gold Supporters
($1K+)
Stuart Birger
Alexandra Drane
Kenneth Fan
George Hawthorne
Ola Holmstrom
Lisa Levine
Rishabh Mehrotra
Robert Paisner
Nicholas Pianim
Marilyn Salzman
Amy Schneider
Josef Volman
Thank you to all of our supporters for their generosity which supports entrepreneurship eduation at Tufts University!
faCulTy
Frank Apeseche Professor of the Practice
Moneer Azzam Lecturer
Gavin Finn Professor of the Practice
Tim Buntel Lecturer
Luke Fraser Lecturer
Elaine Chen Cummings Family Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship; Director, Derby Entrepreneurship Center
Jack Derby Professor of the Practice, Derby Entrepreneurship Center; CEO, Derby Management
Phillip Ellison Lecturer
Betsy Goodrich Lecturer
Amir Alexander Hasson Lecturer
Stacy Lennon Senior Lecturer
Beth McCarthy Senior Lecturer
Andy O'Brien Lecturer
Alex Ocampo Lecturer
Tina Weber Senior Lecturer
Usha Pasi Lecturer
Kate Weiler Lecturer
Kendall Reiss Professor of the Practice
Thomas Van de Velde Lecturer
Joe Volman Lecturer
Josh Wiesman Professor of the Practice
Julianne Zimmerman Lecturer
board of adVisors
Chairman of the Board
Chuck Auster Founder & Partner, Runtide Capital
Members of the Board
Kofi Asante VP of Business Development, Arc
Rachel Blumenthal Cofounder and Entrepreneur, Advisor & Angel Investor
Ben Carson Jr. Cofounder and Partner, Fvlcrum Funds
Jack Derby Professor of the Practice, Derby Entrepreneurship Center; CEO, Derby Management
Mike Doyle CEO, Predict Health, Inc.
Christine Dunn Head of External Communications, Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Pamela Goldberg
Former President and CEO, MDC; CEO, Goldberg HealthTech Advisors; Member, Executive Committee; Chair, Finance & Fundraising Committee
Paul Halpern Chief Marketing Officer, JP Morgan Wealth
Karen Cassel President and CEO, MedicAlert
John Cuming
Former President, Cuming Microwave Corporation
Kim Hartman Owner, KH Designers; Cofounder, Mask Ready
Steve Herrod Partner, Juxtapose
David Jen
Managing Director - Finance and Corporate Development, X, The Moonshot Factory
Josh Kapelman
EVP and MD, Hilldun Corporation; Chair, Development and Governance Committee
Nancy Karp
MP of Development and Operations, Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design
Jordon Kivelstadt
Managing Partner, Bohemian Highway Travel Co.; Proprietor, Bloom Carneros; Founder & Proprietor, Kivelstadt Cellars; Managing Director, TUBS - Wins and Spirits by the glass
Sarah Kugelman
Founder, AllGolden Beauty, The Pink Factor, skyn ICELAND & gloss.com
Steve McDermid
Managing Director, Emerson Collective
Steve Remondi
Founder & CEO, Xphera Biosciences
Peter Rothschild
Partner, East Wind Advisors; Managing Member, Daroth Capital
Felice Shapiro
Founder and Publisher, Better After 50 (BA50)
Forrest Snowden
Chairman and CEO, Aria Gems
Andy Merken
Shareholder, Polsinelli
Omer Trajman
Founder, AskFora
Kenny Nova
Founder & Investor, Stat Scientific
Tracy Wang
Strategic Advisor for Nonprofit Executives
Catherine Popper
Early Stage Investor, Advisor and Board Director, Launchpad Venture Group
Alex Wulkan
Cofounder and COO, Estateably
Earle Yaffa
Former MD, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meager & Flom LLC