About SEA
Celebrating 39 years of entrepreneurship development!
The Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy was created to support students and early stage startups from the Sacramento Region. Founded in 1986 by real estate developer Jim Corbett, SEA is a nonprofit corporation. Local business leaders see the SEA as a way to give back to the community by helping produce the next generation of entrepreneurs.
In essence, SEA provides an entrepreneurial fast track for fellows; they learn what it takes to start and run a business and spend an academic semester developing a business plan. Unlike the typical classroom setting, SEA fellows learn from seasoned entrepreneurs who give their time and experience to these future business leaders. This is a team-based bootcamp model: Project-based group learning produces the deepest mastery available. This is a great way to compliment your academic training or take your business to the point that it is investable.
Through SEA’s program, fellows gain knowledge and self confidence about business opportunities and professional business environments to give them an edge in business entrepreneurship. Over 800 fellows have graduated from the SEA program; many are now running their own businesses or plan to in the near future.
Energy. Dedication. Focus.
Select fellows, whether working professionals or students from local universities, have an incredible opportunity to participate in a five-month entrepreneurship education program designed to fast track them on the road to entrepreneurship.
SEA Showcase: Save the Date!
The 2024 Showcase is set for May 2, 2024, at the Elks Lodge
Leadership
Board of Directors
The Academy Board of Directors are local entrepreneurs and business professionals. Representing diverse industries, board members are typically CEO’s of prominent companies. Board members volunteer their time and expertise along with an annual financial contribution in support of the program. Board members offer fellow internships and serve as mentors and advisors.
If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact sea@sealink.org.
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Laurie Dakin
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Anthony Garcia
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Jenny Ly
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Christopher Chediak
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Bryan Jacobson
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Eric Sharp
Retired
ericsharp@sbcglobal.net
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Michael Wong
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Deanna Daly
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Maurice Thomas
Director
California Association of Realtors
Eagle Eye Realty
maurice.thomas@myeagleeyerealty.comSEA 2008 Fellow
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Christian Renaudin
SEA Curriculum Committee
The MarkeTech Group
CRenaudin@themarketgroup.com -
Jag Nagendra
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board is made up of leaders within our academic and intuitional partners, an alumni representative and other friends of the Academy.
Christy Serrato
James Corbett
SEA Entrepreneur-in-Residence
SEA Founding Fellow
CEO & Founder, Pair Anything, Inc. Entrepreneur-in-Residence, FourthWave
Administration
The Academy is led by committed alumni leaders, who answers the call to “replicate yourself” and continue the longest-running entrepreneurship development program in the region.
Volunteers
The Academy could not exist without the generosity of our community volunteers. They give time and resources as presenters, mentors, advisors, facilitators, committee members, board members, and documenters and reviewers all in support of local entrepreneurism. We are always looking for folks that want to help out through the sharing of their knowledge and experiences. Please contact us to discuss volunteer opportunities.
Supporting the SEA Program
Sienna Crawford
Michael Freedman
Heather Hubbard
Dr. Helene Malabed Do
Maurice Thomas
Jonathan Batchelor
Kyle Kaneshiro
Michael Kohatsu
Lixa Anderson
Amit Gattani
Veronica Jacob
Sandip Gupta
Joseph Ross
Andrew Leung
Chris Anderson
John Walter
Alumni
Since 1986, the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy has graduated more than 800 future entrepreneurs. Many have gone on to start their own companies – some with great success and others learning from their earlier failures. Some have turned into serial entrepreneurs in lots of diverse areas. Others have chosen the entrepreneurial route to learn the ropes in a corporate setting with plans to ‘break out’ later in their careers. Whatever their choices, they are a force to be reckoned with who will always push the envelope to produce superior results.
We are truly awed at how many of the alumni stay in touch and contribute in so many ways – teaching a class, mentoring a current student, recruiting new students, leading strategy sessions, sending a donation, attending Alumni events, or actively participating on the Board. The sustainability of this organization is very strong and the spirit is inspirational.
Class of 2023
Alaric, Scott, Jocelyn Jackson Williams, Inambao lifanu, Stephen Burke, Rachid Abadli, Alexis Ascher, Evelyn Nguyen, Eric Baliantz, Henri Bonnefoy, Tarandeep Singh, Viridiana Mejia, Osvaldo Gonzalez, Tamitha Crosby, Zion Utopia
Class of 2022
Daniel Baarns, Emily Bront-Morris, Gabriela Chavez, Brandon Darnell, Nicolette Deniz, Arthur Haug, Tyrell Knox, Zak Logie, Lilly Parnian Khorsand, Jacqui Ramos, Emily Sanders, Alisa Sow, Willie Stewart, Nathan Torinus, Lilly Wolfe
Class of 2019
Chris Anderson, Obadiah Bartholomy, Antonio Braham, Emily Butler, Coye Carter, Yvette Goularte, Mia Kagianas, Kris Lea, Aisha Lowe, Mark Martin, Jeff Neithercutt, Becky Neithercutt, Adrian Pinon, Dolores Sanchez, Heidi Verbeeck, Super Wang, Colton Westmoreland, Jose Zavala, Peter Zhu
Class of 2018
Andrew Cheung, Brian Adams, Eric Grabin, Aku Covington (back row); Edgar Tapia, Zachary Pecson, Zachary DeLozier, Nicole Garcia, Melissa Muganzo, Anastasia Peychev, Joaquin Muñoz, Samantha Contreras (middle row); Tamar Foster, Jacob Wert, Christine Calvin, Ali Palisca
Class of 2017
Brenna Kiniry, Juan McPheeters, Miya Simpson, Ryan Sypkens, Fabian Manjarrez-Paz, Samira Ghossein, Rachel Shumway, Alejandro Raygoza, Joseph Saragoza, Michael Kohatsu
Class of 2016
Jonathan Batchelor, Max Boyko, Nic Doyen, Dele Fashola, Isaiah Ford, Emily Gilbert, Jamie Marzouk, Eddie Mazariegos, ZZ Moor, Dj Mponte, Luna Qiu, Nick Radwanski, Kristine Severo
Class of 2015
Alex Aguiar, Teresa Bui, Vidur Dewan, Aboubacar Diare, Jonathan Faridian, Julio Guzman, Billy Krimmel, Kyle Le, Lian Li, Brett Michum, Evan Sepmeyer, Amina Shabir, Dante Wright, Nate Zanger, Kevin Zheng
Contact Us
For more information about the Academy you may contact us by email, phone, or simply fill out the form below.
If you wish to apply to be a fellow, please go to the How to Apply page.