Fostering Student Innovation

James G. Boyle, Ph.D., Director

Jim Boyle is a co-founder and the Director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), a business/educational unit within Yale University with the mission of mentoring students with new venture ideas. Prior to forming YEI, Boyle was previously responsible within the Office of Cooperative Research (OCR) for the licensing and venture startup of a number of engineering-based technologies. Before joining OCR, he developed and actively managed the University's largest corporate research alliance, managing a large array of both Yale and external scientists in bioimaging-based collaborations. Earlier, Boyle co-founded and grew a predictive analytics consulting practice, providing both technical and pricing guidance on new product development to a wide array of Fortune 1000 companies in the scientific equipment industry.

Boyle began his entrepreneurial career while still a Yale graduate student, developing novel instruments for characterizing trace biomolecules with the support of the National Institutes of Health, and later commercializing these devices through a wide array of OEM partnerships as part of a Yale startup.

William Weston Bray III (“Wes”), Lead Venture Mentor

Wes Bray is a professional marketer, former CEO, and proven entrepreneur. Over his 30 year career, Wes has worked for marketing companies such as Kraft General Foods, Pepsico and Marketing Corporation of America. He has co-founded, built and sold two marketing services agencies.  He served as CEO of one of the largest global marketing services agencies, Marketing Drive Worldwide. In 2004 he co-founded HipCricket, a mobile technology company, which he helped take public in 2007 and was acquired in 2011 by Augme Technologies. HipCricket is currently the leading mobile services company in North America. Prior to joining YEI, Wes was CEO of another technology start up, Retail Optimization Inc., a software-as-a-service company. Wes has a BA from Yale University and a MBA from Harvard University.

Alena Gribskov, Communications and Program Manager

Alena Gribskov is the Communications & Program Manager at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, where she manages communications and student programs, including the Summer Fellowship Program, a ten-week business boot camp for promising student startups.  In addition, Alena develops and leads academic year initiatives such as the YEI Idea Institute, a series of events and workshops for early-stage entrepreneurs.  

A Yale graduate and former YEI Fellow herself, Alena's past experience includes book publishing and entrepreneurship, including as the cofounder of a digital publishing startup. Most recently, she worked at the west coast office of Writers House Literary Agency, where she supported all phases of the book publishing process, including contributing editorial feedback and assisting in the sale of manuscripts and film/TV, audio, and dramatic rights.

Kimberly Zaweski, Operations

Kimberly Zaweski serves as the immediate point of contact and source of information to students, faculty and other members of the Yale community about the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and its programs and activities. Zaweski works directly on all events and YEI programs, including the summer fellowship, and academic year speaker visits.

Preceding her work at Yale University, Zaweski served as a Photo Editor at Weekly Reader Magazine, the educational magazine designed for elementary, middle school and high school students, where she worked directly with editorial and production groups, art directors and photographers in creating and managing photo lay outs.