Dartmouth has established an Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame in order to recognize exceptional alumni who have shown unparalleled entrepreneurial success throughout their career. Four alumni will be among the first to receive the honor.
An initiative of Dartmouth’s Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship, the Hall of Fame will recognize alums’ innovative thinking and impact on their industries and on society, says Jamie Coughlin, Magnuson’s executive director.
President Sian Leah Beilock says the new venture aims to motivate the next generation of students and faculty to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams with passion and purpose, no matter what their field of interest.
“Dartmouth has a strong history of entrepreneurially minded individuals, and with the Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame we’ll celebrate Dartmouth’s distinctive combination of innovation and impact in producing exceptional entrepreneurs,” says President Beilock.
The inaugural honorees are James Coulter ’82, Keith Dunleavy ’91, Steven Hafner ’91, and Shonda Rhimes ’91. Beilock is attending a ceremony on September 7 at Julia Morgan Ballroom, San Francisco to induct Coulter & Hafner.
“The induction ceremony promises to be an evening of inspiration, insight, and celebration, uniting Dartmouth luminaries from the world of business, academia, and innovation,” Coughlin says. This event is part of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurs Forum that takes place in San Francisco every year.
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The trailblazing entrepreneurs embody the spirit and values of entrepreneurship.
The Attribution
Jeff Crowe ’78, Dartmouth trustee
It is the 10th anniversary of the event, which attracts alumni, staff, faculty and students from Dartmouth around the globe. Beilock will join other speakers on the Entrepreneurs Forum, which takes place in San Francisco, Sept. 8. Discussions and panels are planned to cover topics such as biosecurity and climate tech.
Dunleavy will receive her induction at an event in New York City, on 9 May. In May, the Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame event is followed by an annual spring forum. Normally, it takes place in Dartmouth, East Coast. But, because of this inaugural Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame, they will hold the special presentation on New York City.
“In its past, present and future, Dartmouth supports and contributes to professional pursuits with impact,” says Coughlin. “Our milestone events not only celebrate the achievements of these four exceptional individuals, they also serve as a catalyst for fostering a culture of entrepreneurship at Dartmouth. I am particularly pleased to note that our four Hall of Fame alums work across diverse industries—finance, technology, media and entertainment, and health care.”
Magnuson’s advisory board selected the hall of famers.
“We are thrilled to induct these outstanding alumni into the hall,” says Jeff Crowe ’78, a Dartmouth trustee and chair of Magnuson’s Board of Advisors.
“These trailblazing individuals exemplify the spirit of entrepreneurship, embodying resilience, creativity, and leadership. Their journeys from Dartmouth to the pinnacles of success inspire aspiring entrepreneurs and ignite the entrepreneurial flame in each of us,” he says. “This is a big moment for Dartmouth, and we thank each of our inductees for their inspirational examples.”
Inductees of the newest class:
James Coulter ’82, co-founder and executive chairman of TPG
Coulter serves as the executive chairman and founder partner of TPG. TPG operates in San Francisco and Fort Worth. TPG, founded in 1992, manages over $140 billion of assets and employs 1,100 professionals across 12 offices. It is also a leading equity investor for more than 200 businesses headquartered around the world.
Since the firm’s founding, Coulter and his partners have grown TPG from a traditional buyout firm to a multisector global alternative asset firm, scaling more than a dozen distinct investment strategies including impact investing, growth equity, real estate, Asia buyouts, life sciences, and more.
As well as his responsibilities as a control shareholder of TPG, Coulter today leads the firm’s industry-leading $18 billion Rise impact investing platform. He was the driving force in 2020 behind the creation and conception of the TPG Rise Climate Fund. This is the largest fund of private equity focused on the acceleration clean energy transformation.
Coulter, throughout his career, has been on over 40 corporate boards.
Keith Dunleavy ’91, founder, CEO, and director of Inovalon
Dunleavy’s is a medical doctor who founded and runs Inovalon. Inovalon provides cloud-based data analytics and health care software.
Dunleavy was driven to improve clinical outcomes, economics and pharmacy for more than 20 000 health plan, hospital and provider systems customers. Dunleavy also led Inovalon to become the industry leader in cloud-based, advanced software platforms. Uniquely designed to aggregate and leverage the industry’s largest connected primary-source health care dataset, Inovalon’s software and analytics are trained and informed by data pertaining to more than one million physicians, 640,000 clinical facilities, 372 million unique patients, and 78 billion medical events.
After founding the origins of Inovalon in 1998 while in residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dunleavy grew the company to become the nation’s largest pure-play health care SaaS and data analytics company, taking Inovalon public on the NASDAQ in 2015. Inovalon, a health care SaaS and data analytics company founded by Dunleavy in 1998 while he was completing his residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, became the nation’s largest pure-play healthcare SaaS business. In 2015, Inovalon went public on NASDAQ.
Dunleavy received a bachelor’s degree in biology modified with engineering, with high honors, from Dartmouth. Dunleavy earned a doctorate of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in The Johns Hopkins Hospital and is board-certified in internal medicine.
Steve Hafner ’91, co-founder and CEO of Kayak
Hafner founded the travel-search company Kayak. Booking Holdings acquired it in 2013 for $2.1 Billion. Hafner oversees OpenTable, Inc., an online restaurant reservation system. In 1999, he co-founded the online travel company Orbitz, Inc. and was a part of its executive management team up until its $1.3 billion IPO in 2003. Seatgeek, Inc., which is a platform for live events, Fisher Island Community Association, and he was a board member at Trulia, Inc., Blade LLC, etc.
Hafner has a B.A. in economics, from Dartmouth University (1991), and a MBA from Kellogg School of Northwestern University (1997). He is the father of five daughters, including Wilson Hafner ’22.
Shonda Rhimes ’91, TV creator and producer, author, and founder and CEO of Shondaland
The award-winning CEO of a global media company, Rhimes is the first woman to create three television dramas—Grey’s Anatomy, Private PracticeThen, Scandal—that have achieved the 100-episode milestone. In 2017, she shifted the entertainment industry’s business model, leaving network television for an agreement to produce streaming content in partnership with Netflix.
Bridgerton, Shondaland’s first scripted series with the streamer, has become a worldwide franchise, with seasons of Bridgerton The prequels are also available. Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte is a Story of Bridgerton Netflix currently holds three out of 10 spots for the top English-language programming. Rhimes broadened her company’s content landscape, launching the culture website Shondaland.com in partnership with Hearst Digital Media and Shondaland Audio to produce podcasts content in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Her memoir is one of the New York Times bestsellers. Year of YesShe has created partnerships with leading brands such as Dove St. John Masterclass Microsoft Mattel and Mattel. She was on TIME 100’s most influential list three times.
A Dartmouth trustee, Rhimes received her BA in English literature and creative writing at Dartmouth and has an MFA from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
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