The Rines Angel Fund is a highly selective year-long four credit course at the University of New Hampshire. All students who are accepted must successfully complete an arduous application and interview process to join the Fund as an associate. Once admitted, students are expected to remain in the Fund until graduation.
The Fund was established thanks to a generous donation made by UNH Emeritus S. Melvin "Mel" Rines '47. Early-stage companies are invited to pitch to the Fund for seed capital along with high-quality due diligence regardless of investment. Student associates are versed in angel and venture capital investment strategies through a balance of angel investing research conducted at the Center for Venture Research and internal onboarding. Deal flow is generated from real companies seeking seed funding with the support of our angel partners.
The purpose of the Rines Angel Fund is to fuel undergraduate students’ direct involvement in private equity markets and entrepreneurial finance. A truly student-driven, multi-disciplinary team, the Fund is run in a democratic fashion by a student-comprised Executive Committee under the supervision of the Director of the Center for Venture Research at UNH.
Mel received a BA from UNH in 1947 and served as a navy fighter pilot during World War II and the Korean War. He was engaged in international investment banking for Kidder, Peabody as a Managing Director and Senior Vice President, specializing in supranational and sovereign financing. As an adjunct professor at American University, Mel created and taught a graduate-level course on international capital markets and lectured at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
Mel began his service to the University of New Hampshire by seeding and co-directing the International Private Enterprise Center at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics (now Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics) to foster private sector growth in the U.S. and developing countries. This, in turn, led to membership on the School's executive board and joining the UNH Foundation Board. He was elected chairman in 1999. In 2014, as Co-chair of the UNH Emeriti Council (a group of former members of the UNH Foundation Board seeking ways to continue being of service to the University), Mel established and funded a new grant program to encourage student groups to develop and implement international service projects. The UNH Emeriti Council Student International Service Initiative Fund (EC-SISI) supports opportunities for UNH students to bring their knowledge, enthusiasm and expertise to solve real world problems in developing areas of the world.
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