UNH 2023 Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Inductees and ECenter Champion Award

Thursday, October 5, 2023

DURHAM, N.H. — The University of New Hampshire (UNH) announces four inductees into its Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, as well as the inaugural inductee of a new ECenter Champion award. All of the inductees will be recognized for their prestigious careers and accomplishments at a ceremony and reception on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, during Homecoming Weekend.

The UNH Hall of Fame is housed within the UNH Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) and recognizes alumni who have achieved significant entrepreneurial success as founders, co-founders or owners of various ventures, while also giving back to their communities in a meaningful way. The new ECenter Champion award honors a remarkable individual who has had a marked impact on the ECenter and its students, ensuring long-lasting influence in the future.

“It’s been another impressive year of nominations, and the committee had the difficult task to limit the inductees to only five,” said Joshua Cyr, interim director of UNH’s Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center and chair of the selection committee. “This year’s new members exemplify the entrepreneurial mindset and ambition that the ECenter works to foster for the next generation of business leaders and mentors.”

The 2023 inductee for the newly established ECenter Champion award:

Bob Phillips ’76 is managing partner and CTO at 3EDGE Asset Management, LP. He is a member of the investment committee and responsible for all of the firm’s operations including the investment modeling platforms. Prior to 3EDGE, Phillips was acting CTO at HBX, the Harvard Business School online education platform, SVP at Windhaven Investment Management, EVP & CTO at Windward Investment Management and Senior Vice President at Fidelity Investments. Bob is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of New Hampshire’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) and is the former chair of the CEPS Advisory Board. He currently chairs the UNH Foundation Board, as well as the ECenter Advisory Task Force.

The 2023 inductees for the Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame are listed below:

Andre Beaupre ’75 is co-founder of Beaupre & Co., a national communications firm, which was acquired by Brodeur Partners and Omnicom Group, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange Fortune 200 company. In 2017, he co-founded Soulful Advantage, a strategic consulting firm that helps businesses expand social impact, increase stakeholder support, improve workplace culture and meaningfully communicate purpose to gain competitive advantage. Beaupre is the author of “The Purposeful Nine and Soulful Advantage”, a best-selling business book that tells the stories of nine inspirational business leaders. He is an avid photographer, history aficionado, explorer and live music enthusiast. He and his wife Karen live in Dover Point, N.H.

Erik Dodier ‘92 is co-founder and CEO of RafterOne, a Salesforce partner specializing in delivering multi-cloud commerce solutions in the retail, technology and manufacturing industries. RafterOne is a Summit level partner for Salesforce, their highest-level partner status. Prior to founding RafterOne, Dodier worked at Cabletron Systems in sales and training. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UNH’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, as well as a minor in psychology. Dodier spends summer weekends in the lakes region of N.H. and winter weekends skiing in the White Mountains. He lives on the seacoast with wife Rachel, two children and two dogs. 

Jill Gravink ’06 is the founder and executive director of Northeast Passage, a nationally recognized leader in the field of recreational therapy and adaptive sports. In 1990, Gravink founded Northeast Passage as a private not-for-profit and in 2000, after years of successful collaboration, merged Northeast Passage with the University of New Hampshire to become a service and research branch within the College of Health and Human Services. Jill also serves as a clinical faculty member within the Recreation Management and Policy Department. 

David Hallal ’88 is a 30-year veteran in the biopharmaceutical industry with expertise in early-stage company-building as well as operating large multinational biotech companies. He is chairman and CEO of ElevateBio as well as chairman of AlloVir. He is also active with several additional boards, including serving as chairman of Scholar Rock and iTeos Therapeutics and as the lead independent director of Seer Biosciences. Hallal is also an advisor at MPM Capital. 

To learn more and register for the event, log onto: http://sbf.dektinary.com/ecenter/hof

The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 49 states and 82 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts, and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. A Carnegie Classification R1 institution, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF, and NIH, and received over $210 million in competitive external funding in FY23 to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea, and space.