Hillsborough Sun

DURHAM, N.H.—The University of New Hampshire will induct five alumni into its Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Friday, Oct.7, 2022, during Homecoming Weekend.

“The committee was impressed with the increased number and quality of nominations this year and tasked with the difficult process to only select five.,” said Ian Grant, executive director of UNH’s Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) and chair of the selection committee. “That said, these inductees represent the true spirit of UNH and the entrepreneurial endurance needed to succeed in their respective industries. We are excited to welcome them back to campus to celebrate.”

The 2022 inductees, in alphabetical order, are:

Jerome Dubois ’96 is the co-founder and former co-CEO of 6 River Systems (6RS), a collaborative robotics and software solutions company for the warehouse industry. With over 25 years of supply chain technology experience, he was a key early contributor at successful supply chain technology companies Yantra Corporation (now part of IBM) and Kiva Systems (now Amazon Robotics) prior to co-founding 6RS in 2015. While at 6RS, Dubois led all commercial and product activities including marketing, sales, customer success and product management. In 2019, 6RS was acquired by Shopify, the global commerce technology company, for $450M. Dubois is now responsible for scaling Shopify's logistics offerings as vice president.

Fred Forsley ’83 is the co-founder and owner of Shipyard Brewing Company, one of the largest breweries in Maine and a national leader in the craft brew industry. He also owns the award-winning Sea Dog Brewing Company/Brew Pubs (7 locations) as well as a number of other businesses. With experience from an internship in real estate, he started Fred Forsley Realty and became one of the youngest real estate brokers in Maine to own his own firm. Following that, he assisted in the development of the largest recycling operation in the state and later served on the board of directors that fostered the sale of this business. Forsley founded Liberty Financial Group, which is involved in syndicating government housing projects, and is the president of Harborview Properties, a 20-broker real estate firm.

Scott Knightly ’86 is the founder and president of EnviroVantage, Inc. He started the award-winning environmental specialty contracting and demolition firm in 1984 while a junior in the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, now the UNH Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. Knightly was instrumental in writing policies and procedures that were adopted as state regulations during his time on a N.H. Senate subcommittee. He served on both the state’s asbestos and lead advisory boards while also impacting the abatement, remediation and demolition industry nationally and internationally as president of the National Demolition Association. EnviroVantage works in 30 states and on some international projects.

Tonya Knightly ’91 is CFO of EnviroVantage, Inc., a national environmental demolition firm servicing commercial, industrial and federal clients. Knightly has been instrumental in moving the company accounting platform to a specialized program necessary to work with the complexities of multi-state federal contracting and helping grow the company from four employees to over 120. Knightly is dedicated to giving back to the community, serving on the board of directors for Annie’s Angels, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting families through disease, illness and disability, and volunteering with Northeast Passage, a nonprofit that empowers people with disabilities through adaptive sports. In 2014 she won the title of Mrs. New Hampshire America on a platform of “see beyond disability.”

Tom Moulton ’77 is a consummate entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience successfully founding, leading and growing companies in manufacturing, real estate development and construction. He is currently CEO and president of Sleepnet Corporation, which designs and manufactures masks for sleep-disordered breathing and other ventilation needs. Moulton is also president of De Niro Construction, a building contractor firm that provides commercial and residential construction services to customers throughout northern New England, and an active real estate investor as well as one of the founding partners of Planet Fitness. In 2021, he was named the Paul J. Holloway Entrepreneur of the year and received the N.H. Business Review Award of Excellence for small business manufacturing.

Alumni selected for the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame (a) have achieved entrepreneurial success with ventures as a founder, co-founder or owner, and (b) have given back to the community in a meaningful way. The definition of “ventures” includes economic or social value in for-profit and nonprofit entities.

The ECenter is the co-curricular heart of ideas, innovation and entrepreneurship at UNH. Not part of any one college by design, its goal is to create the next generation of leaders with an entrepreneurial mind-set who can see opportunities and identify creative solutions others have missed, one idea at a time. The ECenter delivers unique hands-on experiential programming that inspires, nurtures and mentors students from any major, at every step of process, anywhere from idea development to company creation.

The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 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 $260 million in competitive external funding in FY21 to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.

Original source can be found here.