As Pierre Lassonde sat at a news conference to announce the $25 million gift that his Lassonde Family Foundation was giving to Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, he was asked by a reporter why he felt compelled to invest so heavily in the program.
The Canadian mining magnate and University of Utah alumnus didn’t hesitate.
“I say all the time, of all the philanthropic enterprises that I’ve funded — and there are quite a few of them — the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is the one that has given me the most joy, by far,” he said. “In terms of philanthropy, the thing that one looks for the most is, ‘How many lives can you touch for the better?’ This program has done it to a level that you we can’t even imagine. And we’re far from finished; it’s just going to get better and better.”
The new gift doubles the total commitment made by the Lassonde Family Foundation (managed by Pierre Lassonde and his children Julie and Christian Lassonde) to advancing entrepreneurship at the U.
When Lassonde and his then-6-months-pregnant wife Claudette MacKay-Lassonde came to Utah from Canada 54 years ago to attend grad school at the U, they had only a two-seater sports car, one suitcase, next to no English skills, and just enough cash to last them until Christmas.
And yet, as their language skills progressed and they acclimated to their new surroundings, they found a community that embraced them.
“The University of Utah touched our lives,” said Lassonde.
When Claudette passed away in 2000, Pierre wanted to pay tribute to her and their shared time at the U. As he received an MBA and went on to found Franco-Nevada (an international mining corporation) while she earned a master’s in engineering and became the first woman president of Professional Engineers Ontario, he envisioned a program that bridged the two fields and created the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.
As the institute approaches its 25th anniversary next year, it has grown into a globally recognized center for student entrepreneurship and innovation. It now reaches more than 6,000 students and supports more than 500 startup teams annually.
“Whenever I’ve heard Pierre talk, he’s always said: ‘This is for students by students’ — and this [gift] is something that does that so well,” said Kurt Dirks, dean of the Eccles School. “It makes our entrepreneurship education available for even more students at the business school, as well as across the entire university.”
Part of the institute’s growth was the opening of Lassonde Studios — an entrepreneurship and innovation laboratory for students from all majors — in 2016. The building has residential space for 400 students, and gives them a place to attend workshops, prototype ideas, and launch companies.
One unique story involved two students who moved in during the first year, said Troy D’Ambrosio, founding executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, and vice president for innovation and chief of staff for the President’s Office at the University of Utah. “One was an engineer, one was a business student. The business student had the idea. The engineer had the skill. They came together. They were in the same dorm room and built a company. That kind of putting those two halves of the equation together is part of what we envisioned, and it’s worked beyond any expectation.”
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute’s continued growth also includes the Master of Business Creation (MBC) program, which, in conjunction with the David Eccles School of Business’s Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, is providing founders with the means to grow their companies.
The MBC program recently expanded into Africa, and there are plans to take it to Europe and Asia in coming years.
“The University of Utah is going to have a brand name that’s going to be worldwide, and that really gets me going,” said Lassonde.
Entrepreneurship programs at the Eccles School are some of the highest ranked among public universities, but Lassonde has a bigger vision still.
He wants to bring in “the very best students; not necessarily the most academically performing students — but the ones that have the grit to fail and then get up and do it again.”
Having those types of students involved in the type of programming offered at the Eccles School and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, he believes, ultimately will prove to be a societal impact multiplier.
“How many lives can we change for the better? I can’t even imagine,” said Lassonde. “It’s going to be in the millions. And you never know — one of our companies may end up being an Apple, and then you’re talking billions of people. Let’s dream.”
Learn more about the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at lassonde.utah.edu.