Louisiana Entrepreneur Robert Brevelle Receives Award from the University of Chicago

From his college years in Chicago to a career as an internationally recognized entrepreneur, investor, mentor, and historian, Robert Brevelle has maintained an enduring connection to the city that helped shape him and inspired decades of service to education, entrepreneurship, and scholarship. End Quote

Chicago, IL (1888PressRelease) October 08, 2026 - The University of Chicago has recognized Robert Brevelle with an entrepreneurship award honoring his longstanding support of university students, alumni, and entrepreneurship programs. For more than 20 years, Brevelle has served as an advocate, mentor, and investor in university initiatives, including the New Venture Challenge and Community Programs Accelerator.

While a college student in Chicago during the 1990s, Brevelle participated in a joint program between the University of Chicago and Illinois Institute of Technology. He studied engineering, economics, and military science on a full scholarship and participated in the inaugural IPRO Program (Interprofessional Projects), which subsequently became a signature university program in which students from different academic disciplines work together to solve real-world problems for corporate and nonprofit sponsors.

Brevelle was also among a select group of undergraduates chosen to conduct research at Rush Medical, the former medical school of the University of Chicago. His research, “Analysing Spectral Doppler Echocardiographic Images,” was published at the second annual IPRO Conference. As a student, Brevelle published several other papers, including “Post-Condition Based Stress Testing in Certification of COTS Components,” which was selected for the First International Software Assurance Certification Conference. Before graduating, Brevelle also worked at WebPromote, a Chicago-area Internet startup that later became yesmail.com, went public, and was acquired by CMGI in 2000 in a transaction valued at approximately $520 million. His early research and experience in the startup world foreshadowed a career centered on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Brevelle graduated summa cum laude and holds the university record for the most undergraduate and graduate credit hours taken in a single semester. He regularly carried course loads approximately 75 percent greater than those of a typical full-time student, allowing him to complete a five-year undergraduate program and a two-year graduate program in just four years.

“Robert is one of the few, if not the only, Louisiana entrepreneurs and investors to be consistently ranked among the top 10 in Silicon Valley, Dallas, and European rankings,” said Cathy Kim of the University of Chicago. “We here in Chicago also claim Robert. He attended college in the Windy City and studied under renowned Chicago Nobel laureate and professor Leon Lederman. His commitment to the area’s universities and entrepreneurs spans more than two decades. After graduating, he became the Chicagoland recruiter for Raytheon and Texas Instruments and regularly attended career fairs, mentored students, and funded research projects. Today, we join our partners in recognizing him for all he has done for our fair city.”

Brevelle was featured in The Top 100 Magazine as one of the world’s leading innovators and entrepreneurs. Regionally, he has appeared on the cover of the Dallas Business Journal and in publications throughout Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago.

“I am honored to receive this recognition from my adopted city,” Brevelle said. “Chicago was my first real experience living in a city and my first home outside Louisiana. Fellow alumni and former faculty such as Mies van der Rohe and Helmut Jahn left their mark on the city and instilled in me a passion for architecture. Chicago is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Professors Lederman, Roberge, Burnstein, and Amato gave me the tools-and the opportunities to hone them-as I became a man, an engineer, and a business leader. As soon as my son could walk, I took him to Chicago to tour the campus, libraries, and museums that had exposed me to the world. I owe much to Chicago, and it is a debt I lovingly repay.”

Brevelle has been involved in several high-profile mergers, acquisitions, and exits, including e2v, OneWeb, Yunex, Ewellix, and, earlier this year, Meowtel, which was acquired by Rover Group, a Blackstone company.

Although much of Brevelle’s professional career has taken him away from Louisiana and Chicago, his work has remained firmly connected to both. He currently serves as chairman of the Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society, where he has brought the same emphasis on research, collaboration, education, and mentorship that has characterized his work with universities and entrepreneurs. For the past two years, Brevelle and the Society have collaborated with Chicago-area professors on a history book examining the military service of Native American veterans. Co-authored with Dee Niette Thompson, The Savage’s Creed: Chronicles of the Adai Caddo Warriors is scheduled for release later this year and will be available through the Society, the Library of Congress, and Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor.

When asked about his fondest memories of Chicago as a college student, Brevelle recalled both the intellectual and social experiences that shaped his years in the city. “I enjoyed the early-morning runs along Lake Michigan with my ROTC and cross-country buddies. The lake was cold. The wind was colder. Oh, how I miss deep-dish pizza. Then there were the late nights with the poetry club, reading Kerouac, Whitman, and Hemingway on the pier, with the glow of the city behind us and the dark, icy lake stretching out before us,” Brevelle said. “And I would be greatly remiss if I didn’t mention Danessa Hoki and her sisters of the Epsilon Phi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, and Christiana Bubel and her dormmates. They were great friends and companions. They saw the best of times and the worst of times, and everything in between, as a small-town Cajun roamed free in Chi-Town.”

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