AI Future: Are Business Practices Becoming Liabilities? - Darden Report

October 5, 2026 Malcolm Knoll Business

AI Future: Are Business Practices Becoming Liabilities?

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Artificial Intelligence: Is It Time to Question the Process?

Pathfinder Security Advisors Founder Warns Some Business Practices May Be Liabilities in the AI Future

Published: 05 October 2026

Written by: Jay Hodgkins

In this Q&A, Joseph Coulombre (PTMBA '25) shares his founder’s journey and how Darden’s Part-Time MBA served his vision for the next big step in his career.

If joining the inaugural cohort of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business Part-Time MBA program in 2022 wasn’t enough of a leap of faith, Joseph Coulombre (PTMBA ‘25) was ready to take another. Shortly after he began his studies, Coulombre left his job to found Pathfinder Security Advisors, a software and cybersecurity solutions developer serving the national security and defense community.

Security and defense, Coulombre knew well. He had served in the U.S. Army as a human intelligence collector and Arabic linguist. A certified information systems security professional, he supported the defense and intelligence communities while working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and The MITRE Corporation.

Entrepreneurship, however, was new. As new to him as the Part-Time MBA program was to Darden. As it turned out, the dual leaps of faith each added value to the other.

In this Q&A, Coulombre shares his founder’s journey and how Darden’s Part-Time MBA served his vision for the next big step in his career.

How did you manage to balance founding Pathfinder with the rigor of the Part-Time MBA program?

It was definitely a lot, but my circumstances at the time helped make it possible. Once I left my job to start Pathfinder, I had much more control over my day-to-day schedule. The tradeoff was that work quickly filled what used to be considered “free time.” In a strange way, the program actually gave my weeks some much-needed structure.

I think most entrepreneurs early on end up working all hours of the day because there’s just so much to get done. Having cases to prepare and classes to attend gave me fixed commitments to work around, which forced me to be much more disciplined with my time.

I was also building the company while surrounded by brilliant people with experience in areas I was just encountering for the first time. My cohort had lawyers, CPAs, consultants, and professionals from a wide range of fields, so when I ran into something I didn’t fully understand, there was usually someone I could speak with who could help point me in the right direction.

I’d like to say a sincere thank you to my entire cohort and the Darden faculty. Starting a company while finishing an MBA was a lot of work, and there are a lot of people who helped me along the way.

What's your vision for Pathfinder as it grows into the future?

In cybersecurity, threats are evolving quickly, especially with the rapid growth of AI. At the same time, many of the systems used across our national security enterprise have been much slower to modernize—and for good reason. The industry has always been cautious about introducing new capabilities because every change can create new risk. But that same caution leaves many processes unnecessarily inefficient.

Our vision at Pathfinder has always been to bridge that gap, so improving security doesn’t come at the expense of efficiency. To that end, we’ve spent the past two years building a secure architecture that lets us rapidly develop solutions for a range of use cases without starting from scratch each time. Right now, we’re finalizing the first product built on it, which solves a high-stakes challenge facing the national security community.

Have you been following a career plan or discovering your passion and purpose along the journey?

AI Future: Are Business Practices Becoming Liabilities? - Darden Report