Donors
The important work done by the Ethics Center is, in part, made possible by the generous financial support of its donors.
A Profile in Philanthropy: Supporting the Power of Ethical Investing and Innovation
In Spring 2022, the Markkula Center received a $1 million donation from the Lucas Brothers Foundation intended to help build a more humane, just, and sustainable world. The gift will support the newly formed Lucas Program in Venture & Equity Ethics, as well as the Ethics Center’s Institute for Technology, Ethics, & Culture (ITEC).
The Lucas Program in Venture Ethics, the world’s first and only institute dedicated to the study and promotion of applied venture ethics, will first produce a set of guidelines for venture capital and private equity investors focused on ethical investment. The initiative will also establish a comprehensive training program for startups around ethical innovation and will establish a venture and equity ethics council and a venture ethics speaker series.
The mission of the Institute for Technology, Ethics, & Culture (ITEC) at the Markkula Center aims to help ensure the common good for humanity through ethical and responsible design, development, deployment, and use of technology. This initiative, in partnership with the Vatican, seeks to build a community of practitioners: A safe, collaborative, and creative space for interfaith, cross-cultural, and cross-functional thought leaders and a common set of metrics, reports, and processes that can be applied by companies around the world.
“We aim to put the materials produced through the ITEC program in the hands of tech company leadership to help embed ethical technology design and use into their organizations. At the same time, supporting ethical venture capital and equity investing is an important next step for the Center,” said Don Heider, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “This gift and its funding of these two programs is in line with a long history of ethics and integrity in investing from the Lucas family.”
Why do you invest in the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics?
“My interest in the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is just that. It’s about applied ethics – real-world considerations. All of the gray matter that’s out there. They take the best principles of ethics as more of a conceptual framework, more of a philosophical approach, but then applies them to our everyday environment.”
~Cathy Benko
“With the [Markkula] Center and the conversations we’ve had, …. that adds to the ability to discern, to understand, and then to make decisions you feel proud of, and you really feel that you’ve made a contribution. The more that we can enable those broad sets of conversations and get more people thinking about the ethical import of what they’re doing, I think the world will be a better place.”
~Kirk Bresniker
Endowment Fund Donors
Special thanks to our endowment fund donors. These contributions sustain our work for years beyond their initial gifts:
Anonymous (2)
Joan and the late Michael Hackworth
Linda and A.C. "Mike" Markkula
Martin and Donna Melone
Ann and William Regan III
2021-22 Annual Donors
$100,000 and above
Denise Melone
Marty and Donna Melone
The Lucas Brothers Foundation
Charmaine and Dan Warmenhoven
Warmenhoven Family Foundation
$20,000 - $99,999
Louise Aiello
Blair Family Foundation, Inc.
Donna Blair
Ron and Lisa Blair
Gary Connor
Mary Ganahl
Cathie and Pitch Johnson, Jr.
Dick and Sue Levy
John and Katie Shoven
$10,000 - $19,999
Kirk and Sarah Bresniker
Joan and John Casey, Jr.
Dan and Linda Cooperman
Art and Carol Courville
Katie Martin-Laurits and David Laurits
C.S. and Jin Park
Betsy and Steve Rafael
Nancy and John Reynolds
Byron and Stephanie Scordelis
Michael and Courtney Selfridge
Tacy Witter and Jeff Mayer
$5,000 - $9,999
Jim and Liz Cowie
Gary and Laura Lauder
Claranne Ravizza Long and Tim Long
Risë Jones Pichon and Ulysses Pichon
Georganne and Michael Perkins
Bill and Ann Regan
Mike and Alicia Seifert
Marty and Diane Skrip
Rich and Sally Slavin
Dan and Sue White
$1,000 - $4,999
Anonymous (2)
Cathy Benko
Douglas and Susan Chance
Gerry and Robin Ferrari
Mike and Mary Ellen Fox
Don and Jeanne Heider
Marianne Huesman
Norm Kline and Allison Abbott-Kline
Joe and Sarah Montes
Noel Perry
Roey Rahmil and Lorin Kline
Christopher Stavrou
Nick Trausch, III
Phillip and Elaine Warren
Don and Sue Watters
Up to $999
Anonymous (6)
Liz Roberto Allen and Rick Allen, II
Mary and Steve Almassy Jr.
Kathy and Edgar Almazol
Mercedes Andalon
Samuel Andalon
James and Kerstin Anderson
Paul and Lucy Bacigalupo
Helen Baumann
Rita and Paul Beamish
Joseph Bittner
Sue Bleecker
Matt Bortner
Mary and Les Boughton
Kristi and Steve Bowers
Nolan Bowers
John Breen
John Burns
Tina Caratan
Robert Carlos
Michael and Sue Connelly
Allison Cowie
Sarah Cox
Joan Creger
Neil Datar
David DeCosse
Monica and David DeLong
Katherine DeLong
Mare DeMange
Debbie and Bruce Dembecki
Quinn Dembecki
Joel and Monica Dibble
Jennifer and Brian Dirking
Rod and Janis Divelbiss
Fred and Catherine Dyen
For questions, please contact Leslie Leonetti, director external relations, at LLeonetti@scu.edu
Up to $999 (continued)
Justin Eng
William and Claudia Ferguson
Matthew and Kathleen Foley
Barron Fong
Charles Fox
Douglas and Mary Frederick
Tracy Frey
Angelina Gallardo
Jill Geisler
Gigi and Tom Gilman
Brian Green
Tess Hansen
Kris and Gilbert Harper
Joan Harrington
Anna Heider
Cole Heider
Scott and Trulie Holmes
Chris Jackson
Phil and Victoria Johnson
Steve Kahl
Anne Kangas
Ernest Keisling
Lorraine Keisling
Kevin Krautscheid
Nandakumar Krishnan
Gail Kropp
Josephine and Kenneth Krossa
Rebecca and Anil Kurup
Alexander Larkin
Leslie Leonetti and Jock McCoy
Lisa Leonetti
Brendan Lewis
Wilson Lin
Liyah Lopez
Eoin Lyons
Noel and Jacala Lyons
Laura Maitoza
Lisa March
Mary and Vic Marchini, Jr.
Patricia and John Matthews
Hope McGowan
Leonard and Nadia McNally
Woerner and Deborah Meehan
Peter Metz, III
Maria Miranda
Bill Mitchell
Marilyn Volke and Kelly Monaghan
Catherine and Eddie Moran
Theo Nasser
Amelia Nelson
Brian Nelson
Teresa O'Neill
Michael Pacelli
Karen Paculba and Kenneth Ryu
John Pelissero
Ray Plaza
Julie Poimiroo
Cindy and Douglas Pollack
Karina Punu
Irina Raicu
Ann and Stephen Ravel
Paul Richey
Kendra Robinson
Christine Rossi and Mike McManus
Rotary Club of Menlo Park
Peter and Su Ryan
Aven Satre-Meloy
Eve and Chuck Schott II
Miriam Schulman
Ken and Amy Scott
Patty Shilling
Meghan and Jimmy Shoven
Wesley and Diane Sibole
Allie Sibole
Paul and Paula Siegel
Kathleen Simoudis
Ann and Bill Skeet
Elizabeth and Michael Smith
Jennifer Sparacino
Maureen Specchierla
Katey Talbot
Ryan and Shelly Tanaka
Kathleen and Jeffrey Thuner
Dave Townes
Sandra and Timothy Troglia
Joyce Viloria and Alexander Keedy
Tom and Sue Walsh
Thor Wasbotten and Lisa Lachman
Desiree and Jim Webb
Marc and Christine Weibel
Andy and Cat Western
Caroline Wolf
Tami and David Yanaga
Sharon and Olujimi Yoloye
Winston Yu