McLean tech founder Anil Sharma and his wife, Anupama, have made a gift to George Mason University that will rename the Costello College of Business's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in their honor.

The facility will become the Anil and Anupama Sharma Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the university announced Friday, Aug. 21. The dollar amount was not disclosed. A formal naming ceremony is planned for this fall.

Sharma is the founder and CEO of 22nd Century Technologies, a McLean-headquartered IT and cybersecurity government contractor known as TSCTI. He started the company in 1997 after arriving in the United States from India with $100. The firm has grown into a $600 million operation employing more than 6,000 people across all 50 states, Canada and Mexico, according to a company press release dated Aug. 19. It is a Certified National Minority Business Enterprise.

"Building a business taught me that success is never only about one person," Sharma said in the university's announcement. "People give you opportunities, people trust you, people teach you, and communities create the conditions in which you can grow. At some point, you have a responsibility to help create those opportunities for someone else."

Neither Anil nor Anupama Sharma is a Mason alumnus. Sharma's ties to the university run through his seat on the President's Innovation Advisory Council and the George Mason University Foundation Board of Trustees. He also serves on advisory boards for the School of Business, College of Engineering and Computing, and Center for GovCon.

The center, established in 2014, runs programs including the Patriot Pitch Competition, the Honey Bee Initiative and the SOAR Initiative, an inclusive entrepreneurship training bootcamp for community members who lack access to startup resources. The Sharmas' gift will expand those offerings.

Sharma's company already sponsors the Patriot Pitch Competition, which awarded $60,000 in prize money at its April 9 final and drew more than 275 attendees. Sharma attended the event.

Costello College Dean Ajay Vinzé called the gift "a significant milestone" and credited the Sharmas with "strengthening the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem."

The gift is part of Mason Now: Power the Possible, the university's $1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign launched in April 2023. The Costello College approaches its 50th anniversary in 2027, and the university will hold the naming celebration this fall at a date still to be announced.