Chancell-ing: Aggie alumni drive local entrepreneurship
By Gary S. May, Special to The Enterprise | Mar 2, 2025 Updated Apr 2, 2025
One of my key goals is for all our UC Davis students to be prepared for success once they graduate. Whether that means placement in a top graduate program, a fulfilling job, or becoming a driving force in innovation, our students are poised to leverage their entrepreneurial spirit to shape their communities.
This is especially true right here in the city of Davis, home to nearly 20,000 Aggie alumni. Many of them contribute to the local economy through their entrepreneurial endeavors and innovative ideas. They’re running businesses and launching start-up companies and, in many cases, developing technologies with the potential to shape a brighter tomorrow.
Christy Serrato, who earned an economics degree from UC Davis in 1988, was also a Big Bang! Business Competition winner, earning the $10,000 Food + Agriculture Sector Award. In Davis, she founded PairAnything Inc., a software company that developed a mobile app used in the hospitality and retail industries to pinpoint food and wine pairings — and ultimately increase sales.
The inspiration came from trying to find a proper wine pairing with chicken adobo, her favorite Filipino dish. From there, she saw an opportunity to broaden the approach to a large, diverse customer base like they had a personal sommelier at their fingertips.
Serrato credits UC Davis with continuing to be instrumental on her career journey. Her win in the Big Bang! Competition not only provided early funding for PairAnything but instilled a strong commitment to collaboration and an innovative mindset. She believes Davis is the perfect platform for a new generation of transformative businesses, especially with university programs like Venture Catalyst and the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on campus.
Overall, we’re empowering our university community to become innovators, problem-solvers and agents of change. For many of our students, this entrepreneurial journey begins the moment they arrive on campus. Our location near Silicon Valley, the state capital and the growing tech sector in the region provides students with invaluable opportunities to transform their work from concept to practice before graduation.
The alumni mentioned in this column are just a few examples of Aggies who are thriving entrepreneurs in Davis and beyond. With our new business major about to welcome its first class and our enduring dedication to innovation, I know the number of examples will continue to grow.
— Gary May is the chancellor of UC Davis; his column is published monthly.
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Chancell-ing: Aggie alumni drive local entrepreneurship - Davis Enterprise