Alumnus and businessman Bill Spire ’89 visited campus on December 8 to meet with students in the Entrepreneurship Club. As dinner in the Dining Hall wrapped up, a group of students settled into comfy chairs in Head of School Joy McGrath’s living room, where they spent the evening eagerly chatting with Spire about his life and career in investing and business.

Spire’s background as an entrepreneur and impact investor was exactly the experience that Grayson Culliford ’24 and Derek Ike ’23 were looking for when they restarted the Entrepreneurship Club last year.

“We wanted to create a club where we could not only have open conversations about business and entrepreneurship, but reconnect with alumni of the school and hear about their experiences in their fields,” explains Culliford.

Spire spanned all of that and more. He detailed his more than twenty years of experience as a venture capitalist, thoughtfully focusing on his investments on projects that create social value through green tech and medical advancements, for example. In addition, Spire has served on multiple school boards and is currently on the boards of CropOne Holdings and Digital Harmonic, and serves as an advisor to the Tech Pioneers Fund

Culliford especially took a strong interest in Spire’s involvement in biotech companies working to create a more sustainable planet. For the past two years, Spire has spearheaded TyreFlow Environmental, a tech company whose mission is to create a full end-to-end waste tire upcycling solution, changing the way waste tires are managed in North America and around the world. Globally, there are an estimated 1.6 billion scrap tires, of which only 30% are recycled into other products. 

“His passion for his work was pretty obvious and incredibly inspirational,” notes Culliford. “He was open and eager to answer questions, expertly cultivating an authentic space of learning and curiosity for students.”

Many other topics of conversation circulated, as did an assortment of cream puffs and other confections in the head of school’s house. Spire spoke about the things he learned at St. Andrew’s—curiosity, asking thoughtful questions, listening—and how important those habits have become to his business endeavors. It was no surprise that students in attendance brought the same habits of mind to their evening chat.

“I think they could have stayed for hours,” says McGrath. “It was great to have Bill in our living room and offer that opportunity to our students.”