La Jolla philanthropists help UC San Diego launch new entrepreneurship and innovation center

Thanks largely to a $5 million philanthropic commitment from La Jolla residents Ernest and Evelyn Rady, UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management celebrated the launch of the school’s Robert S. Sullivan Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation this month.

Sullivan, the center’s namesake, is the Rady School of Management’s founding dean, who stepped down in 2019 after 16 years.

The Sullivan Center is being launched following the commitment from Ernest Rady, founding donor of the Rady School, and his wife, Evelyn, as well as gifts from about 30 Rady School alumni and supporters, bringing the total to $5.5 million.

“I have great admiration for Bob Sullivan,” Ernest Rady told the La Jolla Light. “He built a school that has benefited our community in many ways. He deserves to be recognized. My hope is that it is a center that supports our community and keeps building on the legacy of entrepreneurship that Bob Sullivan envisioned.”

The Sullivan Center’s mission is to empower students to address problems through new ventures and “the kind of innovation that … Bob Sullivan is proud of,” Ernest Rady said.

“We are so grateful to the Radys for their visionary support of San Diego’s innovation economy,” Rady School Dean Lisa Ordóñez said in a statement. “The Rady School has a strong legacy of creating entrepreneurs who spur social change and improve the way people live and work. Thanks to this philanthropic support, the newly named Sullivan Center will allow the Rady School to continue to be a leader in positioning even more entrepreneurs prominently in areas such as tech, life sciences and the ‘blue economy’ [the integration of ocean science and technology] — solving complex problems that will have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.” ◆