A $4 million gift from alumnus Dave Petrone and his wife Nancy has brought new positions to the Center for Entrepreneurship and Knight Campus, and a huge investment in the Oregon Innovation Challenge.
The $4 million gift will be divided equally among UO’s Knight Campus in Portland and the Lundquist College of Business to boost entrepreneurship, according to Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Jeff Sorensen. The gift is also bringing in one new Petrone Entrepreneur in Residence for student mentorship in addition to the current Entrepreneur in Residence Bob Mighell.
“The gift from Dave and Nancy is directly targeted to giving us the ability to bring in somebody who has built a company in biotech, had that experience and can then mentor the next generation in doing the same,” Sorensen said. “They’re some of the most experienced entrepreneurs that we have in this area. I think they’re going to do a great job. They started in the spring, so we’re getting it going quick. That’s one of the things we promised to Dave and Nancy.”
New Petrone Entrepreneur in Residence, Ann Carney Nelson, served as the chief operating officer for Inpria, a semiconductor technology company that was acquired by JSR Corporation for $514 million and one of the largest acquisitions of a private company in Oregon history, according to Sorensen.
According to Mighell in an email to the Daily Emerald, the Petrone gift will assist in furthering technological developments in the industry.
“The new Petrone Entrepreneurs in Residence will assist in expanding the Center for Entrepreneurship’s availability to assist more students and faculty in translating research being conducted at the University of Oregon to industry,” Mighell said in an email. “There is amazing technology being developed right now at the UO and we are thrilled to be able to assist researchers in taking their technology from idea to impact.”
According to Sorensen, the Petrone gift also works toward forming a connection between the Knight Campus and the Oregon Innovation Challenge.
“By bringing in these entrepreneurs in residence, they’re not only going to work with faculty and graduate students over in the Knight Campus, they’re also going to be attracting those people to Oregon Innovation Challenge,” Sorensen said. “And so that’s really kind of where the connection to OIC happens.”
The $2 million that is going to each campus has its own allocations and purposes, according to Sorensen.
“The money that’s coming to the Center for Entrepreneurship is really intended for us to build capacity to work with Knight Campus and the sciences more broadly,” Sorensen said. “And the money that’s going to the Knight Campus is intended to bring in the type of people who will want to work with the Center for Entrepreneurship.”
The Petrone gift is trying to bridge the gap between the two campuses that both work towards a boost in entrepreneurship, Sorensen said.
“So it’s really a bridge,” Sorensen said. “And by giving to both sides, it creates this momentum for both sides to work with each other in the future as well.”
