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$125,000 Lucas Endowment Gift to Santa Clara University School of Business

Fund named for VC pioneer to support School’s entrepreneurship programs

Fund named for VC pioneer to support School’s entrepreneurship programs

SANTA CLARA, CALIF. -- 6/28/16 -- Student entrepreneurs at Santa Clara University’s School of Business will benefit from a newly established endowment honoring one of the first venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. The $125,000 gift creating the Donald L. Lucas Endowment for Business Entrepreneurship was given by the Lucas Brothers Foundation and will initially provide cash awards for students competing in the School’s annual Business Plan Pitch competition.

“We develop future business leaders with the entrepreneurial mindset that Don Lucas demonstrated throughout his career,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of the School of Business . “His innovative ventures were foundational in the growth of Silicon Valley. It’s fitting that the fund named for him will support students creating exciting new business concepts.”

Student entrepreneurship flourishes in the SCU School of Business under the auspices of its Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which has created a series of entrepreneurship activities such as the annual Business Plan Pitch, launched in 2015. This year’s winners were a technology development firm matching tech entrepreneurs with skilled developers, a digital platform for car show enthusiasts and exhibitors to consolidate calendars, ticketing, and event management, and an application connecting a user’s multiple social media accounts to new friends in a single action.

Donald L. Lucas has long been associated with Silicon Valley, beginning in 1957 as he raised half of the initial equity financing for National Semiconductor Corporation and was part of the first venture capital firm, Draper, Gaither & Anderson. After leaving DG&A, Lucas invested and then provided executive and board leadership for a variety of well-known Valley companies such as Cadence Design, Oracle, and Adobe Macromedia, among others.

A strong supporter of education, Lucas has served on Santa Clara University’s Board of Trustees, and in 2001,  he and his late wife, Lygia, provided the lead gift for Donald L and Lygia Lucas Hall, the home of SCU’s School of Business.

About the Santa Clara University School of Business

The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University began in 1923, and was one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation. Its undergraduate business, MBA, and specialty master’s degree programs are consistently ranked among the top in the nation by BusinessWeek, U.S. News, Princeton Review, and others. The curriculum at all levels emphasizes entrepreneurial, conscientious management and scholarship is focused on innovation and sustainability as keys to economic growth. The School opened its $49 million building for undergraduate, graduate, and professional business education in Fall 2008. For more information, see www.scu.edu/business/

 

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