The Lassonde family has once again demonstrated their unwavering commitment to advancing entrepreneurship education at the University of Utah with a generous $25 million donation to the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. The announcement was made during a ceremony at the David Eccles School of Business on Friday, May 2, 2025. Pierre Lassonde, a University of Utah alumnus and long-time supporter, reflected on the impact the university had on his life when he and his late wife, Claudette MacKay-Lassonde, arrived in Salt Lake City over five decades ago with limited resources and language skills.
Despite the challenges, the Lassondes embraced their new adventure and made the Utah campus their second home. “The University of Utah touched our lives,” Lassonde said during a standing ovation at the ceremony. The Lassonde Family Foundation’s significant contribution comes as the institute prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.
Kurt Dirks, dean of the David Eccles School of Business, praised the donation as “a landmark gift” that reinforces the family’s commitment to student success. It makes our entrepreneurship education available for even more students at the business school, as well as across the entire university,” Dirks added. University of Utah President Taylor Randall commended the transformative impact of the Lassonde family’s contributions, stating, “Pierre Lassonde and the Lassonde Family Foundation have inspired us to reimagine what it means to teach entrepreneurship at a university.
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.
The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, known for its creed “Live. Create. Launch.,” provides students with resources to connect, test ideas, build prototypes, and launch companies.
Lassonde family boosts entrepreneurship education
It houses hundreds of residential students in the Lassonde Studios and boasts a 20,000-square-foot innovation space.
Looking to the future, Lassonde envisions the institute becoming one of the top five college entrepreneurship programs in the country. “We want this institute to bring in the very best students — not necessarily the most academically performing student, but the ones that have the grit to fail and then get up and do it again,” he said. The institution also aims to expand its reach worldwide, touching lives in Africa, Canada, and soon, Europe and India.
“We will be able to touch the lives of millions of people,” Lassonde added. Troy D’Ambrosio, the founding executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, acknowledged the significant impact of the Lassonde family’s support, noting how the resources provided have enabled the institute to continue innovating and adapting to technological changes, ultimately benefiting more and more students. “In philanthropy, the thing that one looks for most is how many lives can you touch for the better — and this program has done that at a level that we can’t even imagine.
And we’re far from finished. It’s just going to get better and better,” Lassonde concluded. The University of Utah remains committed to fostering a thriving student-entrepreneur community, providing a unique environment where aspiring business leaders can learn, innovate, and succeed.
Photo by; Taylor Brandon on Unsplash