The mission of the Françoise O. Lepage Center of Global Innovation is to serve as a global innovation gateway, partner, collaborator and resource for the Dominican University community, businesses, government and non-profit organizations. Made possible by the generous gift of Albert Lepage, the Lepage Center is unique among collegiate programs of innovation and entrepreneurship, serving as a global innovation hub, delivering the potential of innovative and entrepreneurial solutions that contribute to a sustainable world.
We believe that we do well only when we do good.
The Lepage Center offers academic programming, immersive educational opportunities, student-based entrepreneurial challenges, University-wide entrepreneurial activities, and non-degree programs for companies, organizations and educational institutions both locally and internationally. It provides regionally and globally-focused business development by offering Executive Education serving the entrepreneur sector.
The Lepage Center combines classroom learning with hands-on practice, ensuring graduating students acquire the skills and experience to be successful in their own startups or in contributing to the entrepreneurial environment in other settings, including corporate and not-for-profit.
The Lepage Center for Global Innovation connects entrepreneurs throughout the Bay Area ecosystem to Dominican’s campus and resources through interactive student events, such as the Lepage Entrepreneurship Forum, and networking opportunities with like-minded industry experts through the Lepage Center’s Venture Cafe and Technology Mixers.
With multilevel partnerships, the Lepage Center brings together the strengths of different centers of excellence to bear on innovative, educational programming driving economic and personal growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Bay Area and beyond.
The Lepage Center partners with the following stakeholders:
- Barowsky School of Business (BSB)
- Chambers of Commerce
- Institute for Leadership Studies
- Marin Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
- Marin-Sonoma Impact Ventures
- North Bay Leadership Council
- Opportunity Fund (Microloans)
- U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Guiding Principles
The Françoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation follows the University ethos of a student-centered and problem-based learning approach for students in the Barowsky School of Business pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration and who choose to emphasize entrepreneurship.
The Françoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation commits to the future by:
- Preparing Dominican University of California students, faculty and other stakeholders for significant roles in a globalized society to create a sustainable and significant impact in society through entrepreneurial ventures.
- Unleashing passionate creativity and disciplined design thinking through the cutting-edge curriculum, academic and non-academic programs, and dynamic activities, leading to innovative entrepreneurship that serves the greater good and needs of the many.
Global Network Building
The Lepage Center has joined the Harvard Business School Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) Affiliate Network. This allows the Lepage Center and the Barowsky School of Business (BSB) to incorporate the Microeconomics of Competitiveness course, designed by Michael Porter and HBS faculty, into their undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs. It also opens a network of 100 educational institutions in 67 countries to Dominican faculty, staff, and students.
The Lepage Center has joined the Babson College Collaborative for Entrepreneurship Education. Babson College is widely acknowledged as a leader in Entrepreneurship education, frequently being ranked #1 by US News and World Report. Becoming part of the Babson Collaborative will provide faculty and students at Dominican and the Barowsky School of Business at access to Babson’s pedagogical resources. It also opens a network of 34 member institutions in 24 countries to Dominican faculty, staff, and students.
The Lepage Center has joined the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC). The PNC was founded at UC Berkeley to facilitate exchanges between universities and institutions in the Pacific Rim. It is now run by Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, one of Asia’s leading academic institutions. By joining the PNC, the Lepage Center strengthens Dominican’s ties with Asia and its innovative businesses and thinkers.
The Director of the Lepage Center, Dr. Wayne de Fremery, was chosen Chair-Elect of the History and Foundations of Information Science Special Interest Group at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), the foremost professional association in North America for information science. Dr. de Fremery looks forward to deepening his association with ASIS&T and, through his relationship with the information science community, to building a solid IT foundation at the Lepage Center to support its mission of enabling global innovation.
The Lepage Center became a Platinum Sponsor of Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures (MSIV), which is the first regional capital fund devoted to supporting Marin and Sonoma startups. By supporting MSIV, the Lepage Center contributes to the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the North Bay while offering the Barowsky School of Business (BSB) the ability support local entrepreneurs with their scholarship and students the ability network with local innovators.
Research at the Lepage Center
UC Berkeley’s Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative to be Housed at Dominican’s Lepage Center for Global Innovation
Human connection is at the heart of any entrepreneurial endeavor. Technology is a driver of innovation. Pioneering research on the use of new technologies to map connections among people and the places they inhabit has taken place under the auspices of a UC Berkeley research unit known as the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) since 1997 when it was established by Professor Lewis Lancaster, a scholar of Buddhism, and Michael Buckland, a former Dean of the School of Information and Professor of Information Science.
This pioneering research will now be undertaken at Dominican through the Francoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation. Housing ECAI at the Lepage Center for Global Innovation promises to invigorate Marin’s local entrepreneurial ecosystem by providing access to a global network of pioneering humanists using the most advanced technologies to understand how people connect with one other and the places they live. ECAI at Dominican also promises to provide Dominican students with opportunities to make use of the latest theories and tools for understanding human connection, as well as opportunities for exchange between the world’s most innovative humanists and the Marin business community.
Please check back for more information about this new Lepage Center program. If you would like to become involved, please don’t hesitate to contact us at: wayne.defremery@dominican.edu.
Student Programs and Community Events
The Director of the Lepage Center organized and lead a 10-day trip to South Korea, giving students and faculty the opportunity to learn about global innovation and entrepreneurship first-hand. The trip included visits to innovation centers at leading universities, startups and established KOSPI-listed companies, as well as cultural K-POP performances and historic sites. Many students reported that the experience was “transformational.”
The Director of the Lepage Center and the Director of the U.S. Commercial Service (USCS) in the North Bay/San Rafael, held a successful community outreach event on the topic of the North Bay Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and International Trade. The USCS and the Lepage Center plan to co-host additional events with the long term aim of rebuilding an export association in the North Bay.
The Lepage Center and the U.S. Commercial Service hosted a Roundtable on clean energy and environmental technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa that included Mlamli Mjambana, an industry expert in energy who works with U.S. companies attempting to enter the African market. Companies from the San Francisco Bay Area, including EGS, 3rd Stone Design, Arrgh Manufacturing, GK Advisors, Pegasus Power Solutions, Asoba, and Nippon Steel Trading, exchanged ideas about the future of clean energy in Africa. The Director of the Lepage Center, Dr. Wayne de Fremery, Dr. Vafa Saboori, Director of the MS in Business Analytics at the Barowsky School of Business, and Elizabeth Krauth, Director of the U.S. Commercial Service North Bay office, were also in attendance.
The Lepage Center and the U.S. Commercial Service (North Bay and San Francisco offices) hosted Power Africa at a Roundtable that included John Hansen, director of the Private Sector Engagement Team for Power Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Dan Kammen, a pre-eminent figure in the climate and RE worlds, as well as representatives from Bluedesal, ErgSol, Asoba, Noria Energy, Cross Boundary, Terabase Energy, All Power Labs, and Nippon Steel Trading.
The Lepage Center Podcasts
- Leslie Blodgett, Founder, bareMinerals
- Kara Goldin, CEO of Hint Inc.
- Kathy Tierney, former CEO Sur la Table and entrepreneur Michael Volpatt
- Michael Volpatt, Serial Entrepreneur
- Nooshin Behroyan, Founder/ CEO of Paxon Energy & Infrastructure
- Kevin Johnson, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Dodge & Cox
- Zachary Kushel, Founder and Managing Partner, Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures
- Amelia Ceja, President and CEO, Ceja Vineyards. April 14, 2022
- Joe Shekou, Owner, JHS Properties
- Skelly Wingard, CEO, By the Bay Health
- Kevin Compton, partner at Kleiner Perkins
- Kevin Cleary, CEO, Clif Bar & Company
