听鈥�89聽recalls that as a marketing student in the late 1980s, he became fascinated with the most fundamental questions about consumer behavior: 鈥淲hy do people choose some brands over others? Why do people buy?鈥�
Fast forward to 2012: Harrington joins Zipcar, the world鈥檚 leading car-sharing network, as executive vice president and chief marketing officer in charge of global marketing efforts.
Fast forward again to the 2016 spring semester: After leaving Zipcar, Harrington becomes the first Entrepreneur in Residence of the聽Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship聽at the Carroll School.
Officially launched in November, the Shea Center aims to 鈥渋ntegrate entrepreneurial thinking into the educational and formational experience of undergraduate and graduate students throughout Boston College,鈥� according to a mission statement. Its executive director is聽Jere Doyle听鈥�87, a serial entrepreneur who also advises executive teams and CEOs on how to develop their companies.
A key part of Harrington鈥檚 role is to mentor students who have entrepreneurial ideas and, in some cases, have already begun developing a startup business. 鈥淢y job is to both support and challenge students鈥� who meet with him to discuss these ideas, said Harrington, whose concentrations were marketing and finance at what was then known simply as Boston College鈥檚 School of Management.
The Carroll School alum added that he is helping students grapple with questions such as, 鈥淚s it viable? Is it scalable? Is it something that鈥檚 fundable by investors?鈥� But he said the most basic question he puts to them is: 鈥淲hat problem are you trying to solve?鈥�
Among other past roles, Harrington鈥檚 professional experience includes co-founding a startup, I鈥檓 in!鈥攁 website for helping small groups, usually friends, plan leisure trips together. 鈥淎 lot of what I could pass on to students is the experience of going from nothing to something,鈥� starting a business from scratch, he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 sharing both the successes and failures, and the painful decisions that often need to be made.鈥�
Doyle said that the 鈥渃onsistent mentoring鈥� provided by Harrington will prove invaluable. He added that the Shea Center plans to expand the Entrepreneur in Residence program by bringing in more entrepreneurs from a broad mix of industries.聽聽
Photo by Christopher Soldt