Founder Friday: Chuck Davis ’82, Finding Your Passion through Entrepreneurship

Register for the event, here!

For many students, finding your passion often feels like an aspiration. For others, like serial CEO Chuck Davis ’82, P’13, P’16, it’s a way of life, that started back in his days on College Hill. Chuck will impart tips for students and parents on how to enjoy and have fruitful careers once they walk through the Van Wickle Gates.

Join the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship for a discussion with Chuck as he shares how passion guided him through Professor Barrett Hazeltine’s class, to interning at the NFL, to leading four major digital startups, like Fandango and Shopzilla. Learn how he navigated through his career, to his current position as CEO of Prodege (the parent company of consumer rewards sites Swagbucks and MyPoints) and how he instills his entrepreneurial lessons as a Brown parent of two recent graduates.

Pick up a bagged lunch after the talk.

Chuck Davis brings more than 20 years of e-commerce experience to his current position as Chairman and CEO of Prodege, LLC.  As CEO of Fandango from 2006-2011 and CEO of Shopzilla.com from 1999-2005, Davis successfully guided both brands to major acquisitions by Comcast and E.W. Scripps, respectively. Mr. Davis is also a Venture Partner with Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV).  Davis was voted as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004 by Ernst & Young for Los Angeles and currently serves as a judge for its annual competition. He was also the elected International Chairman of the Young Presidents’ Organization for 2012-2013.  Davis was voted into the LAVA (Los Angeles Venture Association) Hall of Fame in 2015. In addition to serving as a board member and advisor for several companies including The Teaching Company and Boingo Wireless (NASDAQ: WIFI), Davis serves as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Harvard Business School, a trustee emeritus of Brown University as well as frequent visitor and lecturer, and a member of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Council. The Davises are a Brown family: Chuck met his wife Jan ’83 here and they are the parents of Jared ’13 and Jenna ’16. Chuck’s father Joel Davis ’56 also served on the Corporation. The Davises have generously donated to the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship building, soon to be located at 249 Thayer.

*All of our events are open to the public.