Holiday

Aaron Holiday, MBA '12, has been selected as a Kauffman fellow finalist by The Center for Venture Education. As such, he will take part in a process to match participants to a venture capital job in order to secure the fellowship.

Kauffman fellows include global executives, entrepreneurs, Rhodes scholars and business leaders from top universities around the world interested in innovation in the fields of technology, life sciences and business commercialization. Only 30 fellows are selected each year, with funding provided by their venture capital firm sponsor.

The Kauffman Fellows Program was established in 1994 to address an industry that is critical to entrepreneurship and innovation, yet one that lacked clear best practices or development infrastructure.

Before returning for his MBA, Holiday worked six years in New York City on financial technology solutions for Goldman Sachs and GFI Group. He currently serves as chief operating officer of the BR Venture Fund, Cornell's seed stage venture capital fund, where he established partnerships with leading venture capital firms, created a new deal screening process and managed BRV's first portfolio company IPO exit -- an $801 million market capitalization.

As an entrepreneur, Holiday is advising an emerging financial technology startup focused on community funding. He is also the co-founder of Cornell Connections Mobile, a private social mobile network that unites members of Cornell's global entrepreneurial and venture capital communities.

Kathy Hovis is a writer/editor for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.