The Power to Convene: The Jack C. Taylor Conference Center
The Jack C. Taylor Conference Center provides a platform for events that will stimulate innovative thinking about the complex issues facing our nation. Here, ideas will become solutions, supporting the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard professionals who proudly serve our country.
Funded entirely with private donations, the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center is a unique, high-tech venue. It features a state-of-the-art auditorium that seats up to 400 guests, reception spaces, an indoor/outdoor topside terrace, five unique meeting rooms, and a broadcast studio. The Center has a sustainable design—built to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards. It also meets Department of Defense force protection standards. The Conference Center is ideal for professional symposia and has been approved by SSO Navy to hold classified discussions on a per-use, waiver basis up to the TS/SCI level.
For decades to come, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel will come to the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center for professional development and educational activities. The Conference Center provides new opportunities to promote diversity of thought and engagement and is the place for face-to-face conversations that will fuel intellectual debate within Sea Services.
“We look forward to partnering with naval leaders in all three Sea Services, and the U.S. Naval Academy, to make the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center a bright beacon for naval professionals.”
– VADM Peter H. Daly, USN (Ret.) Chief Executive Officer and Publisher, U.S. Naval Institute
“The opening of the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center will no doubt serve as another venue to bring together naval professionals, historians, government officials, midshipmen, students, and interested civilians for conferences, lectures, workshops, wargames, and networking. I have no doubt that this facility will help elevate diversity of thought, promote face-to-face engagements, and spark innovation and change across all of our Sea Services.”
–VADM Sean Buck, USN, Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy
“Oftentimes the challenges that our Sea Services encounter require imagination, they require thinking – thinking outside of the box – in a space where those ideas, and shared visions can come together to be collaborated and form solutions. This truly impressive building enables both.”
– ADM Karl L. Schultz, USCG, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
“The Center will provide a conduit where great ideas can be shared and debated, sharpened and shaped.”
– The Hon. Robert O. Work, Chair, Naval Institute Board of Directors, and 32nd Deputy Secretary of Defense
“We need a safe haven for individuals to get their ideas on the table, some place where a different opinion doesn’t get shattered down before it’s even looked at or listened to – that’s the real promise of the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center…a place for individuals to come, for our young leaders of today to think about tomorrow.”
–Gen Peter Pace, USMC (Ret.), Chair, Naval Institute Board of Trustees, and 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
“Starting with this name, people are going to find out Jack C. Taylor’s story, which is a beautiful story and like many others, is a terrific story – not only what he achieved in the Navy, but what he achieved in business and changed people’s lives for the better.”
–Mr. Andrew C. Taylor, Executive Chairman, Enterprise Holdings Inc.
Founded in Annapolis in 1873, the U.S. Naval Institute is the independent forum of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard – a place where open and independent debate flourishes.
In 2018, the Naval Institute set a bold goal to build a physical flagship, a venue where those committed to providing the nation the finest Sea Services could convene to discuss and debate issues of importance to sea power and global security. To that end, on 18 September 2019, the Naval Institute broke ground on the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center, and completed construction in September 2021. This addition to the Naval Institute adjoins the organization’s headquarters on the Yard of the U.S. Naval Academy.
The Conference Center is named for Jack C. Taylor, a decorated World War II U.S. Navy fighter pilot, entrepreneur, business leader, and philanthropist. Mr. Taylor is well recognized as an American success story who embodied Navy values and credited the Navy for his success. After combat duty flying from the decks of the aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9) and USS Enterprise (CV-6) in the Pacific Theater, he returned home to St. Louis and founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 1957, naming the company after the famous carrier from which he flew. The Taylor Family honors their patriarch with the naming of the Conference Center, carrying on his proud association with the Navy and encouraging education and learning for all.
