The Founders’ Forum is a new series of weekly conversations with innovators tackling important problems held every Tuesday at 6 p.m in Page Commons in the Fall of 2025. We welcome students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and friends from other academic institutions to join us! Unable to join in person? Please RSVP to receive the virtual meeting link.
Lessons from Leading a Mission-Driven Bank with Neil Kiely, CEO of Androscoggin Bank. Under his leadership the bank launched an Islamic-compliant mortgage solution, was profiled in BBC News, pioneered Sustainable Impact Program, and cut carbon emissions by 63%.
Building financial access for international students with Sara Schmitt, COO and Co-founder at Adro – the financial on-ramp for international students, workers, and businesses coming to the US. Sara is an active philanthropist, angel investor, business advisor, and graduate-level educator.
Steven Koltai, Managing Director of Koltai & Co. LLC, Serial entrepreneur, investor, Creator of the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship program, and Author “Peace Through Entrepreneurship.” Shares lessons from scaling telecom, entertainment, and event tech ventures, and how those experiences informed building entrepreneurship ecosystems across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Jen Millard ’90, CEO and Founder of mainelove, where she is creating a sustainable product from a natural resource and penetrating a crowded market by focusing on community-building and creating jobs in Maine, a Serial entrepreneur, and Colby Board of Trustees.
Laura Cococcia, HR Venture Advisor, SemperVirens Venture Capital, a former HR leader at GE, Amex, and Google serving as a moderator for two HR tech founders, James Gibson ’20 (English Major & Economics and Chinese minors, Colby Track team), COS, Epoch and Brooks Gammill (Colby men’s hockey, transferred to Trinity following injury), Co-Founder, RecruitU, about how they help jobseekers and how to create and keep a great work culture as their startups grow.
Danny Wasserman ’09 is the Global Head of Enablement and Programs at Pigment; and external advisor to Yoodli AI. This liberal arts tech leader talks about the power of public speaking skills – and how they are building AI tools that democratize access to this superpower.
Discover how healthcare entrepreneurs are turning breakthroughs in diagnostics, AI, and clinical innovation into ventures that improve lives—sharing lessons in science, strategy, and startup grit with Graham Powis ’90 P’23, Managing Partner of Brookline Capital Markets, Lori Zablow Salles, JD P’27, Associate General Counsel and Head of Compliance for global pharmaceutical firms Eisai, and Micahel Paul, Ph.D. ’87, CEO of MARAbio.
Learn the real playbook for winning your first customers. Hear from marketing and sales experts who’ve built brands from scratch, closed enterprise deals, and hacked growth with AI-powered tools.
Drew McKechnie ’04 is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Colby’s Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship and the Global Lead for Consulting Services Commercialization at Google Cloud.
Larry Patrizio ’17 is a tech entrepreneur focused on making AI tools simple and accessible for everyone. He’s the founder of Srva, a platform that lets anyone build and share bite-sized AI apps in minutes.
Sylvia LePoidevin is a marketing leader who’s helped build two tech startups now worth over $2 billion combined. As CMO at Kandji, she joined as employee #4 and helped grow the company from idea to global scale.
Discover how today’s intrapreneurs turn corporate resources into startup-style innovation. Elisa and Connor share how brand and product managers launch revenue-driving ventures inside major companies. Innovate on your company’s dime!
Elisa Chiniara ’07, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Colby’s Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship and the Founder of Office Hours, is a brand builder and general manager who’s led marketing for some of the world’s best-known consumer brands — from Band-Aid and Aveeno Baby to Harry’s and Whisps. She’s launched new products, created ad campaigns, and helped fast-growing startups find their voice. A Colby graduate with an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, Elisa recently founded Office Hours, where she helps brands and people reach their next big goal.
Connor Clancy ’15, Director of GTM Strategy & Growth Initiatives at Workday, played football at Colby, was a campus leader (SGA Executive Board, Student Rep to Board of Trustees) and began his career at PwC in M&A Deal Strategy. He received his MBA at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) which led to a series of progressively demanding roles at Workday, where he now leads Workday Value Consulting, a strategy and operations group that consults with C Suite executives to help them define, communicate, measure the strategic & economic value of a Workday technology investment.
Meet the young alumni AI founders of class of 2024 & 2018 who began their entrepreneurship journey while at Colby, and are in early stages of their venture.
Grab a front row seat to their pitch, followed by truth-y conversations as they discuss:
– Their Why?
– Their struggles in early stage ventures.
– How their liberal arts education equips them to tackle big challenges.