The Lassonde Family Foundation – led by Pierre Lassonde, a renowned mining entrepreneur, University of Utah alumnus, Canadian native, and philanthropist for education and the arts – has made another landmark $25 million gift to support the continued growth of the top-10 ranked Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, the university announced today.
The Lassonde Family Foundation has already donated about $25 million, so the new donation doubles their total commitment. Managed by Pierre Lassonde, and his children Julie and Christian Lassonde, the foundation’s sustained support underscores the family’s belief in the institute’s mission and its impact on future generations of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
The generous new gift is another major investment in the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business that has rapidly grown from one small program in 2001 to a globally recognized center for student entrepreneurship and innovation, and a leading driver of Utah’s reputation for business and entrepreneurship. The gift also comes as the institute anticipates its 25th anniversary in 2026.
“The institute has become the destination for student entrepreneurs over the past 25 years, and we are very proud of what it has done to inspire students to launch companies, gain real-world experience, and build their careers and futures,” Pierre Lassonde said. “The new gift is a way to deepen our investment in these efforts. It will allow the institute to continue to dream big and do incredible things for young entrepreneurs over the next 25 years and beyond. We know more great things are coming.”
Pierre Lassonde founded what is now called the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute after his wife Claudette MacKay-Lassonde passed away in 2000. He wanted to recognize their time attending the University of Utah in the 1970’s and how the education and support they received at the university set them up for success. Pierre Lassonde received an MBA at the University of Utah, and she earned a master’s in engineering. Among many other achievements, he went on to found Franco-Nevada, an international mining corporation, and she became the first woman president of Professional Engineers Ontario.
David Eccles School of Business Dean Kurt Dirks, Pierre Lassonde and Troy D’Ambrosio, president’s chief of staff, announce a $25 million gift from the Lassonde Family Foundation on May 2, 2025.
The first program created at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute was the Pierre and Claudette MacKay Lassonde New Venture Development Center, with a vision of connecting graduate students from across campus and allowing them to work with inventors to learn entrepreneurial skills by supporting their startup formation and growth. This program continues to inspire and engage students today.
Over more than two decades, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute has continued to build on the success of that first program. After adding many unique programs and initiatives, the institute now reaches more than 6,000 students and supports more than 500 startup teams annually.
“We have built an institute that is the envy of universities around the world, and it would not have been possible without the support and leadership of the many faculty and staff at the University of Utah and the many students that lead our programs,” Pierre Lassonde said. “We are proud to offer programs that are led by students for students. Everything we do at the institute is to support them, foster their ideas, and help them reach their goals as entrepreneurs and leaders in any industry they choose.”
University of Utah President Taylor Randall explained how gifts from the Lassonde family have transformed entrepreneurship education.
“Pierre Lassonde and the Lassonde Family Foundation have inspired us to reimagine what it means to teach entrepreneurship at a university,” Randall said. “They have challenged us to focus on students and their ideas, hands-on learning, and to provide entrepreneurship education at a scale not available anywhere else. Every student at the University of Utah has the opportunity to get involved with the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to launch a company or product and learn entrepreneurial skills such as creative problem solving, self-reliance and perseverance. The Lassonde family gifts are changing the lives of countless students, driving the local and national economy, and helping us achieve our university mission of achieving unsurpassed societal impact.”
One of the biggest milestones in the growth of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute was the opening of Lassonde Studios in 2016 with a mission to help students “live, create, launch.” The one-of-a-kind building merges a student innovation space for all University of Utah students with residential space for 400 students. The building will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2026. Lassonde Studios has helped inspire thousands of students who have lived there or attended events in the building, and it has attracted attention and visitors from around the world who want to learn from its unique mission and design.
Lassonde Studios has become an entrepreneurship and innovation laboratory for students from all majors and backgrounds at the University of Utah. They use the building to attend workshops, prototype their ideas, meet each other and follow their own ideas. In the process, they are launching companies, learning by doing, and transforming their futures and everyone around them.
“The student community at Lassonde Studios is beyond anything we could have imagined,” Julie Lassonde said. “We wanted to create a place where students can start companies and, more importantly, their careers and futures. We knew it would be successful, but the range and depth of impact it has had on students has exceeded our expectations. Our new gift will support further success and growth at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. We are changing the world through student experiences, and we look forward to where it will take us in the years and decades to come.”
Julie Lassonde was born in Salt Lake City when her parents were attending the University of Utah. The university awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in engineering on May 1, 2025, in recognition of her dedication to investing her time, talents and financial support to causes that change the university and the world, and support the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute.
Kurt Dirks, the dean of the David Eccles School of Business, also has high expectations for the future of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. This new gift supports his strategic vision to make the Eccles School the business school of choice for top-performing students from around the country.
“As we chart our next ascent at the David Eccles School of Business, we have many exciting strengths to build on, and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is at the top of the list,” Dirks said. “This extraordinary investment will help us expand this successful program to give every Eccles student the opportunity to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. We also look forward to exploring the possibility of creating new programming to attract the highest-achieving entrepreneurial minded students from around the country – and even the world.”
Troy D’Ambrosio, the founding executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, expressed gratitude for the vision and support from Pierre Lassonde and the Lassonde Family Foundation, and everything that has made possible.
“We are grateful for the inspiration, encouragement and incredible support from Pierre and his family,” said D’Ambrosio, who is also the vice president for innovation and chief of staff for the President’s Office at the University of Utah. “The Lassonde family has allowed the University of Utah to build a world-class entrepreneur center with student-focused programs not available anywhere else. Their generosity has had enormous impact and will continue to drive student engagement, innovation and economic development for generations to come.”
A few of the many unique programs at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute include: the Lassonde+X experience program, which allows students to learn the entrepreneurial mindset and gain recognition for their entrepreneurship activities; the Make program and space at Lassonde Studios, which provides tools and peer mentors to help students learn about prototyping and build products or whatever they want; the Get Seeded grant program, which provides students with money to reach milestones for their business or product ideas; and a student leadership program that provides students with scholarships and the opportunity to gain professional experience by managing programs at the institute.
One cornerstone of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute’s programming is the Master of Business Creation (MBC), which is provided in partnership with the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Eccles School. The affordable program combines the best of a business accelerator with a graduate business degree program to help founders grow their companies with personal mentorship, applied curriculum and abundant resources. The MBC program recently expanded globally, with a group of founders in Africa and plans to enroll other international founders soon.
“We want our new gift to help all of the programs at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to grow, improve and reach more students across campus and around the world,” Pierre Lassonde said. “We have seen how much these programs change lives, and we know we have the best entrepreneur program that will continue to set the pace for programs everywhere. We look forward to the next 25 years and many more achievements and life-changing inventions and startups. We hope this gift allows the University of Utah to continue thinking big about engaging student entrepreneurs, and we welcome everyone to get involved to launch a company, join a team, or volunteer to help guide the next generation of business innovators and entrepreneurs.”
Learn more about the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at lassonde.utah.edu.