Paying your dues: Brian Fenty’s return on investment

April 16, 2026

Brian Fenty's gift supports faculty in Carolina's Institute for the Arts and Humanities, headquartered in Hyde Hall. (Photo courtesy of UNC-Chapel Hill.)

When Brian Fenty ’08 received a “D” in Economics 101 at Carolina, he never imagined he would go on to start and lead a global, multi-hundred-million-dollar company at the age of 27 or become the owner and producer of the longest-running show in the world, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

“Learning happens in a lot of different ways, and that includes failure,” shared Fenty as he reflected on his undergraduate career. When his entrepreneurship professor Buck Goldstein invited Alexander Julian, fashion designer and business owner, to speak in class about his career, Fenty started to understand the importance of failure, creativity and passion, and that learning is a lifetime endeavor.

A New England native, Fenty chose Carolina for a simple reason: its warm, Southern hospitality and perspective. He had also heard of PlayMakers Repertory Company through his experience in theater, so with that, his decision was solidified.

Although he ended up taking only one drama course, his pivot to entrepreneurship still draws on elements of theater: “Business requires creative thinking, storytelling and bringing people along with your vision and North Star.”

After graduation, thanks to a referral from professor Goldstein, Fenty began his career in business, first in private equity, and then quickly founding TodayTix, a digital ticketing platform for theatrical and cultural events, growing the company to serve 28 million people across the globe annually and earning more than $5 billion in sales.

It is not a surprise that someone who built a career around entrepreneurship and the arts would be interested in supporting both at Carolina. Over the years, Fenty has served two terms on the Institute for the Arts and Humanities’ Advisory Board and the working group for the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship. While Fenty remains passionate about students receiving an incredible education, his philanthropic focus has evolved to focus on support for the foundation of academia: faculty.

At a dinner in Hyde Hall with faculty in 2015, Fenty met the late Ruel W. Tyson Jr., who founded the IAH and who “you could talk to for five minutes but feel that you’ve known for 50 years.” These conversations with Tyson and other faculty provided a new avenue for his philanthropy.

Today, Fenty shares that “investing in exceptional faculty is mission critical to the University. One faculty member pours into hundreds of students, and those students eventually become the citizens of tomorrow.  To use ‘business talk,’ I realized that investing in faculty had a wise return on investment.”

“Our advisory board has always been our key partner in executing the vision and mission of the Institute, which is to empower our faculty in the fine arts, humanities and social sciences,” said Elizabeth Olson, interim director of the IAH. “With the incredible support of our board members, we have been able to provide opportunities for scholarly support for faculty that not only exceed those of our peer institutions but also advance critical faculty-retention efforts that allow us to keep outstanding scholars at Carolina, sustaining the intellectual vibrancy of the College.”

As a proud alumnus, Fenty wants to give where his philanthropy will multiply in impact, and what better space to do that than by supporting the educators who inspire students to think boldly and creatively.

“As alumni of UNC, we are in a club, and when you’re in a club, you have to pay your dues,” he said.

Fenty continues to support faculty in the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, honoring the place that helped shape his path — while paying his dues along the way.

By Ashlyn Coelho-Allen ’16