A venture capitalist with a solid grounding in the liberal arts and a quarter-century experience in business has joined UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences as its first executive in residence.
Henry Doss, an alumnus who earned his bachelor’s degree in English in 1977 and who spent decades in the banking and telecommunications industries, serves in a voluntary capacity. A North Carolina resident, Doss is past president of UNC Charlotte’s Alumni Association board of directors and a current member of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) advisory council.
“Henry brings a unique, thoughtful perspective to our work,” said Dean Nancy Gutierrez. “His main priorities are to coach and mentor students, expand our college’s global reach and provide counsel to the college leadership and faculty on initiatives. He is spending significant time learning about the college by meeting with department leaders, faculty and students.”
Doss will maintain his position as chief strategy officer and executive-in-residence with Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm T2VC. He also is a current graduate student in liberal studies, with a concentration in Renaissance studies. Nine members of his family, including his wife and two daughters, earned degrees at UNC Charlotte.
“The college and Dean Gutierrez created this position to discover new ways to support students, faculty and administrators, to get at what it means to have a liberal arts education," Doss stated.
“I've been thinking about David Foster Wallace and what he said about the liberal arts,” he added, referencing a noted writer who died in 2008. “As Wallace said, we all know the old cliché about the liberal arts teaching you how to think. This is just shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea. Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose how you construct meaning from experience."
For Doss, a priority in his executive-in-residence role will be to participate in conversations with students and faculty about students’ learning experiences.
“I intend to be challenging and provocative and to support thinking about careers, life calling and purpose,” said Doss. “I'm as concerned as anyone about making sure our students graduate fully prepared for their futures. One of the most critical parts of that is providing real-world experience and lasting interactions with global leaders and ideas.”
His liberal arts education gave him the knowledge and insights that were essential to his successes in business and life. “I think an abiding sense of the power of narrative is as important to a business career as anything else you can take from your education,” he says.
“The real issue is how you help students prepare not only for their most immediate career paths but also for the ones that are yet to be created,” he explained. “Students must learn how to be deeply accountable for constructing their own paths to becoming educated and engaged. We need to help them learn to think critically and expansively and to encourage them to discover possibility.”
In addition to his support for the University and college, Doss currently is second vice chair for AdvantageWest Economic Development Group, the state’s regional economic development commission in Western North Carolina. He also serves as the chair of the Board of the National Committee for the New River. He previously served in volunteer leadership roles with Habitat for Humanity, Hospice, Olivet College, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, the United Negro College Fund and Project Head Start.
He also is a musician who performs occasionally as a singer-songwriter. Two of his original recordings achieved Top 40 status on national adult contemporary radio charts.