A 2026 Cornell reunion event offered the chance to celebrate one of the founders of Entrepreneurship at Cornell and note the impacts the program has had on alumni. The June 5 networking breakfast, also sponsored by the Cornell Entrepreneur Network, brought more than 75 alumni together in the eHub space on the first floor of Kennedy Hall.

Robert W. Felton ’61, one of the original group of alumni who founded and funded the program in 1992, was back on campus celebrating his 65th reunion, along with son Todd ’91 and grandson Timothy ’21.

“There were people working in the entrepreneurship area, but Cornell didn’t have a formal program,” Felton said about his decision to fund the university wide program. “And now it’s just taken off.”

Credit: Patrick Shanahan

Felton, a mechanical engineering major, spent eight years in the U.S. Navy submarine service after graduating from Cornell, qualifying as a nuclear engineer during his service. He founded three companies, all focused on providing software and information management systems to nuclear plants and other high-risk industries. He was named Cornell’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998.

Felton also hired many Cornell students as summer interns over the years, including Anne Kayani Mathew ’96, a nutritional sciences major in the College of Human Ecology. Mathew was also on campus for reunion 2026, so she dropped by Kennedy to visit with Felton, saying that her internship with him during the summer of 1995 changed the course of her career.

“The work he was doing in engineering and technology was so interesting, even though it had nothing to do with what I was studying,” she said. “It gave me a chance to be immersed in working with databases to help automate internal processes and to get a good sense of the inner workings of being an entrepreneur. He opened my eyes to what was possible.”

She came back to Cornell knowing that she wanted to pursue a business career, rather than medical school, and ended up working with Price Waterhouse Coopers after graduation. She then joined two tech start-ups and worked with pharma and healthcare companies before starting her own marketing consulting company.

Other alumni at the reunion event took the opportunity to share about their companies during an open-mic period, asking fellow alums for connections, intros or advice.

Credit: Patrick Shanahan

Leroy Butler ’86, an electrical engineering grad, recently started a business helping small to medium business owners find talent, adopt new technology and become more productive.

“I’ve had a lucrative career, but I don’t want to quit,” said Butler, who worked for GE, Mass Mutual and Prudential, as well as a multinational consulting company.

“I got the entrepreneurship bug and decided with my partner to found a company,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of this work over the years and have taken all of those learnings and am applying them to new companies.”

Kat Carter ’90, a School of Hotel Administration grad, spent most of her career in for-profit companies, but wanted to start something to help non-profits, whose very existence is so mercurial, she said. “Earning revenue in a non-profit is not illegal. Why don’t we build revenue sustaining non-profit models?” she said. “We want to provide access and opportunities for our under-represented and under-served entrepreneurs.”

Carter’s organization, Verite Foundation, will initially focus on food and restaurant businesses on the east side of Buffalo, her hometown. She came to the reunion event for connection – “you never know in a roomful of people who might be interested in the same thing, who has the resources you need or the tools or the partners you need.”

Usman Piracha LLM ’16, a law school alum with degrees in computer science and management, is starting a company that uses artificial intelligence to provide cost-effective legal services with safeguards to improve accuracy and “human-in-the-loop” features. 

“Our focus is on startups and content creators,” said Piracha, who networked with others during the reunion event, hoping to find people for his board of directors.

The reunion event is an annual tradition for Entrepreneurship at Cornell, allowing alumni entrepreneurs from many classes to connect. This year’s event was the largest ever. 

“It’s great to be able to update alumni on all of the things happening on campus related to entrepreneurship, but also give them a chance to connect with each other,” said Zach Shulman ’87, J.D. ’90, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell. “Alumni are vital to the health of the entrepreneurship ecosystem at Cornell and we appreciate all that they do for our students, faculty and programs.”