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Harry Holt ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™78, co-founder and owner of Columbia Air Services, Inc., which sells, services, stores, and fuels private aircraft, visited the University to evaluate business studentsÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™ pitches and proposals.

March 6, 2019

By Renee Chmiel, Office of Marketing and Communications

Gina Lippolis ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™19, a global studies major, and her teammates stood in the front of a classroom in Echlin Hall, pitching the launch of an accredited flight program at the University of New Haven. They cited increasing interest in aviation and a shortage of pilots as reasons for starting the program, and they proposed a partnership between the University and Tweed New Haven Airport.

The group presented the idea and their research to Harry Holt ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™78, the co-founder and owner of the Groton, Conn., based Columbia Air Services as part of its Shared Live Client Experience (SLiCE) capstone project. The experience, which was part of the studentsÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™ management and organization class, gave them the opportunity to get immediate feedback about their ideas and their presentation.

"It was very insightful to hear Mr. HoltÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™s feedback," said Lippolis. "I learned more about aviation and the challenges of building a program like this."

This was the first of four presentations that Holt evaluated, along with Darell Singleterry, the studentsÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™ instructor.

"The aviation industry is as complex as it gets. We are not making widgets ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ“ you canÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™t turn up the volume to make more money. I think everyone learned a lot from this exercise."Harry Holt ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™78

"I think the utility of this exercise is teaching students that business is extremely complex," said Holt, who earned a bachelorÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™s degree in public administration and completed a minor in aviation management. "The aviation industry is as complex as it gets. We are not making widgets ÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ“ you canÐÓ°ÉÔ­°æ™t turn up the volume to make more money. I think everyone learned a lot from this exercise."