$4 million gift supports UO’s innovation, entrepreneurship efforts and Petrone Faculty Fellows
Dave and Nancy Petrone’s partnership with the Lundquist College of Business and the Phil and Penny Knight Campus to strengthen programs for student and faculty entrepreneurs and accelerate scientific impact. Strengthen relationships.
Nancy and David Petrone have been instrumental in investing to advance the University of Oregon’s reputation, programs, and leadership.
The couple’s recent gift reflects their belief that UO can be a great engine of economic development for the region.
“We believe that the University of Oregon needs to produce students who start businesses and start up startups. That’s what makes the world go round,” said Dave Petrone, ’66 (Economics), ’68 MBA. I am.
The gift will support the scaling of resident entrepreneurs in the Lundquist College of Business, as well as investments in the Oregon Innovation Challenge, a new program that supports student and faculty startups across the university.
“Universities are doing big things,” Petrone said, citing the Ballmer Institute for Child Behavioral Health in Portland as an example. “I see Lundquist University and the Knight Campus as vehicles for achieving similar growth and reputational advancement in entrepreneurship and innovation.”
The first Petrone Entrepreneur in Residence will focus on biotech ventures and will be located between Lundquist University and the Knight Campus, working directly with innovators on the Knight Campus to commercialize emerging technologies and discoveries. We support the promotion of Another part of the gift will seek a Petrone Innovation Faculty Fellow on the Knight Campus.
“Petrone Fellows are faculty scientists with a track record of commercializing discoveries and will bring an infusion of academic experience and entrepreneurial judgment,” said Robert and Leona DeArmond of the Knight Campus. said Executive Director Bob Guldberg. Vice President of the University. “The Petrone Fellows, along with our resident Petrone Entrepreneurs, inspire and empower young bioinnovators and help equip them with the strategies and tools they need to support their entrepreneurial endeavors. Masu.”
The Entrepreneur-in-Residence position is critical to one of the university’s newest and most successful initiatives. The Oregon Innovation Challenge, launched last year by Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship Director Jeff Sorensen, completed its first cycle in 2023. In the first year, approximately 200 student teams from across the University of California participated, including student teams from the Knight Campus. The Oregon Innovation Challenge includes participating in workshops and mentoring sessions, creating a pitch deck, and more. Sixteen talented teams received grants and his eight-week summer fellowships. Now accepting new applicants, the challenge continues to support university students and faculty starting new businesses with structured peer support, expert guidance and workshops tailored to their entrepreneurial needs. It is intended to.
“In about a year, Jeff has made a measurable impact on the University of Oregon, advancing its ambitions around innovation and entrepreneurship,” Petrone said. “He is the important reason behind this gift.”
Previous gifts by the Petrones family to the University of Oregon include support for the Presidential Science Initiative, the Black Cultural Center, the Women’s Flight Program, the School of Journalism and Communication, and renovations to the university’s famous “Fishbowl” dining area in Erb. It is included. Other donations will also be made to seed a new partnership between the Memorial Union and the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health and the athletics association.
At Lundquist University, the Petrones have provided several leadership gifts, including support for the Financial Literacy, Warsaw Sports Business Center, and Sports Product Management programs. Dave is also a resource for her UO students.
The UO awarded Petrone, a former director of the UO Foundation, the 1999 Presidential Medal. Dave was one of the University’s 2012 Pioneer Award recipients. He also chaired the team that launched the university’s recent $3 billion campaign.
Petrones, Dave says, are people who invest in people, such as scholarship recipients, faculty, and program directors.
Entrepreneurs are special people, he says.
“Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, and it’s similar to how I think,” Petrone said.
Mr. Petrone spent most of his career in banking, including 19 years as vice chairman at Wells Fargo in San Francisco. He later served as chairman of the financier Housing Capital Company and as chairman of the real estate investment company Petrone Petri & Company.
He said students today cannot be compared to their college days in the 1960s.
“Forget about the world I grew up in. The world is different than the one we lived in 10 years ago,” he said. “Nancy and I believe that, as alumni and donors, we need to contribute in areas that matter now. The University has made recent strides, but we need to keep moving forward.”
To confirm this latest partnership, Nancy said, “Let’s do it, David.” It’s this kind of initiative, with the tenacity to get things done, that makes the Petrones’ philanthropic vision so special. That’s what I’m doing.
“People like Dave and Nancy Petrone have inspired me not only in terms of who we are as a great university with strong business programs, but also in terms of who we can be with strategic investments. Bruce Blonigen, the Edward Maletis President of Lundquist University, said. I met Dave while I was in the College of Arts and Sciences, serving as the Petrone Chair in Economics. “Petrones’ support of entrepreneurship at the University of Oregon will help us build services that are aligned with the long-term needs of our students and the business community at large, while the gift injects real-time action into new programs.” It shows you what to do.”
—AnneMarie Knepper-Sjoblom ’05, Lundquist University Communications
