Harker’s Board of Fellows kicked off its year Saturday night by hosting a special Head of School Gathering with Brian Yager, head of school, and invited members of Harker’s community of entrepreneurs and venture investment professionals, including numerous Harker alumni who have founded their own companies, to attend. Yager explained to the nearly 200 guests in attendance that the purpose of the gathering was “to recognize the outstanding achievements our business and entrepreneurship (B.E.) and economics students and teachers,” and to make a special announcement about the establishment of The Harker Venture Investment Initiative and associated Mehta Scholar Program.
Kelly Horan, assistant upper school division head, gave an overview of the outstanding achievements of Harker’s B.E. and economics programs, and then students and teachers were presented certificates of commendation by members of the Harker Board of Fellows for their hard work, preparation and achievement winning all three of the national competitions they participated in over the past few months.
Following the students’ recognition, Joe Rosenthal, executive director of strategic initiatives, announced the establishment of The Harker Venture Investment Initiative and the associated Mehta Scholar Program. Rosenthal explained that the initial funding has been specifically provided to create The Harker Venture Investment Pool. Harker’s advanced B.E. and economics students will have the opportunity to work with experienced venture investment professionals and entrepreneurs to make early-stage investments, primarily in alumni-founded companies.
The Venture Investment Initiative will leverage and engage Harker parents, alumni, alumni parents and students who are passionate about entrepreneurship and venture investment and will provide a strategic ecosystem to support alumni-founded companies and possibly other startups within the Harker network.
The funding for the Venture Investment Pool will come from the Mehta Endowment in Support of Scholarships and Entrepreneurship and by a few other donors making gifts specifically for this purpose. Rosenthal said, “Neil and Jasheen Mehta have given $5 million to establish their endowment, and in addition have generously offered to match every dollar that the community contributes.”
The Capital Fund by matching those contributions to increase their endowment up to an additional $5 million. If $5 million is raised for the Capital Fund, the Mehtas’ original endowment would become $10 million.” See the full story on the Mehta Endowment.
For more information, contact Harker’s Advancement department at advancement@harker.org.