Friend of Stevens Award

Thomas H. Scholl

As a successful entrepreneur, venture capitalist and technology innovator, Thomas H. Scholl has been friends for decades with some of the best engineers and along the way, he noticed a number of them attended Stevens. After his friend, Dr. Nariman Farvardin, became Stevens president, Scholl was interviewed by the Stevens Board of Trustees Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and was asked to join the Board, the first non-alumnus to do so.

In 2012, he established the Thomas H. Scholl Lecture series by Visiting Entrepreneurs, which features notable entrepreneurs and executives whose successful business performance has helped change the world for the better. Directly involved in more than 40 startups as founder, chairman, CEO, board member or investor, Scholl was the perfect benefactor to create and guide the Lecture Series. To date, four lectures have been presented. They are open to all and include a classroom setting where students and faculty can informally interact with the speaker.

In 2013, Scholl became Chair of the Stevens Board of Trustees Research Enterprise & Technology Commercialization (RETCOM) committee. “This is an exciting committee because it represents a huge growth opportunity for Stevens. Our job is to put Stevens “on the map” in the areas of basic and applied research, entrepreneurship and technology licensing. But the personal reward comes in the form of faculty and students generating original ideas, starting new companies and inventing licensable technologies other people are dying to pay for,” he said.

Scholl received a B.A. in philosophy and literature and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Purdue University. He holds patents relating to software, the Internet and digital telephone systems. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering. In 2011, Scholl was awarded the Venture Capital “Friend of the Entrepreneur’’ award by Washington Business Journal based on nominations from entrepreneurs who know him.