By Shannon Deep (CMU'10, HNZ'11)

NF 1 V11n3Chance favors the prepared mind.”

This quote from 19th century French scientist Louis Pasteur is situated at the top of Accel Partners’ homepage. The venture capital firm, founded in 1983 by James Swartz (TPR’66), backs businesses that “show potential for significant long-term success” in the sectors of information technology and digital infrastructure using what they call a prepared minds approach. Led by Swartz’s nearly half-century of experience as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Accel has backed successful companies such as file sharing service Dropbox, travel booking site Kayak, and even social media giant Facebook. You can bet that Swartz knows a good investment when he sees one.

Swartz’s keen instincts extend beyond the private sector to his philanthropic interests as well. In addition to serving on the inaugural board for the Tepper School’s Business Board of Advisors, he has funded both the James R. Swartz Leadership Scholarship and the Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows program within the business school. His continued support of education and his professional accomplishments earned him the business school’s 2013 Alumni Achievement Award.

But his latest investment in his alma mater is perhaps his most far-reaching. In a joint gift with his wife, Susan, Swartz has donated $10 million toward the construction of a 295,000-square-foot facility on the future David A. Tepper Quadrangle.

NF 22 V11n3The Quadrangle—jumpstarted with a $67 million gift from David Tepper (TPR’82) last fall—will function as an academic hub on 4.5-acres of the university’s campus, which will develop the Forbes Avenue Corridor. The Swartzes’ gift will help relocate the business school there.

“This will be a location where faculty and students from all across campus can come to collaborate on important problems that we face in both business and society,” says Robert Dammon, dean of the Tepper School.

By creating a space that encourages interaction among technology, business, and the sciences, Dammon says, the Tepper School’s new home will advance research, learning technologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration—an environment to foster prepared minds.