Build Something Real
Turn curiosity into capability through hands-on projects, technology and mentorship.
The future of education should begin with who you are meant to become.
Newport Institute of AI is building a new model of education around one powerful idea: discover your purpose first, then build the skills, technology, relationships and real-world experience required to pursue it. Students, Scholars and Fellows learn by creating — with legendary mentors, agentic AI and a pathway designed around their own WHY.
Most education starts with a curriculum. We start with the person. Before deciding what you should study, NIA helps you discover what you care about, what you are unusually good at, what problems you want to solve and what kind of life you want to build.
Then we surround that direction with experienced mentors, modern technology and real-world execution. Students, Scholars and Fellows learn how to think, build and lead alongside people who have actually operated in demanding environments — while using agentic AI as a force multiplier, not a substitute for human judgment.
Real people. Real projects. Real relationships. NIA brings together builders, mentors and future leaders in environments designed for discovery, collaboration and execution.
NIA is being built around access to experienced founders, executives, inventors, strategists and mentors who have actually built, led, failed, recovered and succeeded in the real world. Their role is not to choose a student's future. It is to help each Student, Scholar and Fellow see possibilities more clearly, avoid preventable mistakes and turn purpose into action.
Newport Institute of AI is Mathew Sean McCoy's WHY. After more than three decades building companies, developing partnerships, raising capital and working across technology, finance and entrepreneurship, one question kept returning: why do we spend the most formative years of a person's life teaching them what to memorize before helping them discover what they were actually built to pursue?
NIA is his answer. The Institute is being designed to help Students, Scholars and Fellows discover direction first — then surround that direction with extraordinary mentors, practical education, agentic AI, business architecture, intellectual-property strategy, vetted relationships and real-world execution. The goal is not simply to prepare people for a future job. It is to help them build the judgment, systems, assets and confidence to create meaningful work of their own.
Christie Hutcherson is an executive leader, strategist and published author with more than two decades of experience spanning defense logistics, government contracting, international relations, security, humanitarian initiatives and strategic operations. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Kennedy International Logistics & Services, where she works across complex government, defense and international engagements.
A lifelong advocate for leadership, purpose and thoughtful inquiry, Christie is also the author of The Plow, The Seed, and The Son. At NIA, she helps strengthen the Institute's public mission, relationships and long-term vision while bringing a global network and broad strategic perspective to builders and innovators across generations.
Sergio Ducoulombier is an entrepreneur, strategic growth advisor and business development executive with more than 15 years of experience building businesses, developing strategic partnerships and connecting people, capital, technology and ideas. His experience spans artificial intelligence, fintech, payments, financial services, investment products, real estate and venture development.
At NIA, Sergio helps emerging entrepreneurs identify opportunities, develop innovative business models, build strategic relationships and use artificial intelligence as a practical force multiplier to turn ideas into scalable ventures.
At NIA, the curriculum should follow the destination. Once you begin identifying your WHY, you build a personalized Racetrack around the industry, problems and capabilities your future requires. Instead of taking courses because they appear on a predetermined checklist, you acquire skills because they move you closer to something real you are trying to build.
NIA is being designed as a flexible, purpose-first learning environment. A Student, Scholar or Fellow may combine business, technology, leadership, creative, financial and real-world experience tracks based on the future they are actually trying to build.
Your Racetrack can combine disciplines instead of forcing you into a single academic lane. The question is not, “Which classes are required?” The question is, “What capabilities does your WHY require next?”
The strongest partnerships bring expertise, technology, distribution, customers, credibility, opportunity and relationships alongside financial support. NIA is building a global network around that idea: help promising people move farther, faster, with the right partners around them.
Give Students, Scholars and Fellows access to real industries, real operators, real problems and opportunities they could not reach through a classroom alone.
Help translate hard-earned expertise into mentorship, practical learning, operating playbooks and AI-enabled knowledge that can guide the next generation.
Where appropriate, help emerging ventures connect with aligned capital and strategic relationships that strengthen the company instead of simply funding it.
Contribute projects, research questions, internships, pilot opportunities, technology and expertise that let learners solve meaningful problems alongside experienced professionals.
You do not have to know the final destination before you begin. Bring your curiosity, ambition and willingness to build. NIA is being designed to help you discover direction, develop the capabilities your path requires and turn what you learn into something real.
Whether you are a future Student, Scholar or Fellow, an experienced mentor, a strategic partner or someone who believes education can do more — we want to hear from you.
Tell us what pulls you forward, what you want to explore and what you may be ready to build. Interest in The Hive will be considered through a selective, limited-capacity process as the in-person program develops.
Bring more than money. Help create strategic pathways through expertise, technology, distribution, research, opportunity and relationships that can accelerate meaningful work.
Help the next generation see farther. Share the judgment, lessons, relationships and real-world experience that no textbook or AI model can replace.
Planned pricing for our inaugural Newport Beach cohort. Join the waitlist to be among the first notified when enrollment opens.
Adults 18+ · GED or equivalent required · Newport Beach, CA
One full track of your choice. Credit applies toward annual enrollment.
All 12 tracks, year-round in-person access, monthly mentor sessions, and NIA alumni community.
Everything in Tier 2 plus private mentor sessions, IP and patent guidance, and investor network access.
Teams of 5+. Custom AI curriculum. Corporate invoice. Volume pricing for 10+ and 25+.
WIOA workforce funding pathway under development. Merit and need-based scholarships. Up to 100% coverage.
Planned pricing for Newport Institute of AI’s inaugural cohort — subject to confirmation before launch. Newport Institute of AI is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation. Federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt recognition is pending. Contributions should not be represented as tax-deductible unless and until tax-exempt status is confirmed.
