Previewing Charlottesville’s Seventh Annual Tom Tom Founders Festival

By Jay Hodgkins


The University of Virginia Darden School of Business and its Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation are long-time partners of Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Festival. As such, the School has borne witness to and been a part of the ever-growing event’s expansion in its seventh year into a sprawling, multifestival happening with 500 speakers, including news icon Dan Rather and comedian John Cleese, all packed into six days from 9–15 April.

UVA Today previewed the “smorgasbord” of events on tap, and included W.L. Lyons Brown III i.Lab at UVA Director David Touve’s take on this year’s schedule.

Touve … said so many things will be happening at this year’s festival “that it’s almost impossible to decide” what he is most looking forward to.

“Every great city or compelling city needs a great happening in town — something that brings the community together and even people from outside of it to collaborate, connect and think about what’s possible,” Touve said. “And to me, that’s what’s important about Tom Tom.”

Read the full article from UVA Today.

Highlights of Darden’s engagement with the festival include:

Darden will also collaborate with the Tom Tom Founders Festival to present:

  • Tom Tom Founding Stories, a day of inspiration and learning with entrepreneurs who have revolutionized industries and enriched our world.
  • Crowdfunded Pitch Night, an annual, community-focused, entrepreneurial competition sponsored by the i.Lab at UVA that has spun off dozens of diverse, local businesses since its launch in 2012.
  • Youth Summit, co-sponsored by the i.Lab at UVA, which brings together high school students and educators with entrepreneurs and civic leaders to share inspirational stories from the young entrepreneurs, and collaborate on problem-solving competitions.
About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

Press Contact

Molly Mitchell
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Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu