The U.S. Naval Institute Celebrates the Grand Opening of the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center

The U.S. Naval Institute held the Jack C. Taylor Conference Center’s Dedication and Grand Opening celebration on Thursday, 30 September 2021. Now open, 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 406-seat auditorium, reception spaces, an indoor/outdoor rooftop 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 is optimized for classified discussions on a per-use, waiver basis.

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 will provide new opportunities to promote diversity of thought and engagement and will be the place for face-to-face conversations that will fuel intellectual debate within the Sea Services. 

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.

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, which adjoins the organization’s headquarters on the Yard of the U.S. Naval Academy. Construction of the Conference Center was completed in September 2021.