The Founder’s Table: Making a Personal Connection
The Founder’s Table stands as one of the Dyer Center’s most unique offerings. This program gives students an exclusive opportunity to engage in intimate, conversation-driven meals with entrepreneurs from diverse fields. These informal, interactive dinners provide a unique chance to ask questions, exchange ideas, and gain firsthand insights into what it truly takes to build something from the ground up.
This past academic year, the series featured inspiring leaders from tech, finance, and local business, consistently highlighting the powerful connection between Lafayette alumni and emerging student entrepreneurs.
In Conversation with Alumni and Industry Leaders
Our guests represented a wide spectrum of entrepreneurial excellence:
- Alison Williams ’03 (AMP Worldwide): As a Lafayette alumna and music industry leader, Alison shared her journey navigating the creative and business sides of AMP Worldwide, a firm that provides comprehensive creative and strategic services for major artists and music brands.
- Marc Lisi ’93 (Suvoda): As a fellow Lafayette alumnus, Marc brought valuable insights from the technology sector, discussing the challenges and triumphs of scaling Suvoda, a company that provides advanced clinical trial software for the life sciences industry. His experience offered students a deep dive into the corporate entrepreneurial environment.
- George Boyajian (Mussel Polymers): Students visited the offices of Mussel Polymers, where George shared insights into leading a biotechnology company focused on creating high-performance, non-toxic underwater adhesives inspired by mussels. His talk highlighted the intersection of deep science and entrepreneurial strategy.
A Local Taste of Entrepreneurship
The series also celebrated local success and the spirit of community. At the first Founder’s Table of the Spring 2025 semester, ten Lafayette students visited ThreeBirds Coffee House in downtown Easton for an inspiring conversation and a nourishing meal with Founders Jennifer Murray and Joe Langdon. The cozy café setting in the historic Bull Mansion provided the perfect backdrop for Jennifer and Joe to share their founding story and the hard work required to build a vibrant local business.
The evening left students with several gems of wisdom for their own journeys:
- “You can’t think yourself through every problem.”
- “Being open to being taught was really important to the process.”
- “Tea is to cooking what coffee is to baking.”
The Founder’s Table series reinforces the Dyer Center’s mission to foster deep, candid connections that illuminate the path from idea to enterprise.
Interested in joining us? If you are a founder, small business owner, or innovative leader interested in sharing your story with our students at a future Founder’s Table event, please email the Dyer Center at dyercenter@lafayette.edu.