Vignaly Commercialization Fund | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Donor supported funds play a pivotal role in the success of the Technology & Commercialization program—and in the benefits realized by WPI students. By enabling the university to provide early seed capital to promising startups when they need it most, students gain valuable experience with the real-world movement of intellectual property into the marketplace.

A recent example of impactful donor funded support is the Joe '82 and Kathy '84 Vignaly Commercialization Fund’s investment into VALIS. Founded and led by Emily Molstad '19, VALIS delivers software solutions for metal recycling.

Joe and Kathy (Kruczek) Vignaly met at WPI, and both remained actively engaged alumni. Joe passed away in 2019, but his WPI legacy lives on through the Joe '82 and Kathy '84 Vignaly Commercialization Fund. “Joe was very involved with the Office of Technology Commercialization; he was constantly mentoring different startups to brainstorm and help navigate their way forward. Joe understood fully that even if you have a great idea, there are tremendous challenges involved with understanding your customer, developing your value proposition, and raising capital. He also knew there were often few resources available to help young entrepreneurs sort those challenges out. Joe always wanted to help; he wanted to make a difference.” says Kathy.

Joe’s hope was to continue providing support to young entrepreneurs through our gift, as he would no longer be here to be part of the process. My hope is to inspire students to follow Joe’s lead by giving back as a mentor and through financial support of the program, so the creative ideas of young WPI entrepreneurs will be developed and brought to market for generations to come.

Kathy Vignaly ‘84