Mission, Vision and History
Mission
The Lepage Center is a center for entrepreneurial activity at Tulane, for knowledge about entrepreneurship in New Orleans, and for innovation in the Gulf South and beyond.
Vision
The Lepage Center will lead the effort to establish New Orleans as one of the greatest entrepreneurial ecosystems in the world. Our work will be in service to Tulane University’s overall purpose to create, communicate, and conserve knowledge in order to enrich the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to think, to learn, and to act and lead with integrity and wisdom.
Statement of Purpose
“There is a real need for research in the best practices of entrepreneurship and growing a business. But it is also important to bring that expertise back into the wider community — both the under-served and well-served — to help entrepreneurs and innovators in New Orleans and the Gulf South achieve their goals and thrive.” - Albert Lepage
History
The Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship Research (LRI) was founded by Dr. John Elstrott in 1991, through a gift from the Levy-Rosenblum family. The LRI utilized its initial funding to coordinate programming and facilitate research on entrepreneurship at the A. B. Freeman School of Business. Dr. Elstrott, who eventually became the chairman of the board for Whole Foods, began teaching at Tulane in 1984, the same year that the business school was renamed after renowned New Orleans business leader Alfred B. Freeman. Dr. Elstrott taught at Freeman for more than thirty years, retiring in 2015.
In April of that year, Albert Lepage announced that he was donating $12.5 million to the Freeman School to establish a new center dedicated to the study and practice of entrepreneurship. Today, the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation oversees and coordinates all of the business school’s entrepreneurship efforts, including the LRI, the Tulane Business Model Competition, and the Tulane Family Business Center.
The Lepage Center was recently recognized by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, (AACSB International), as one of 25 institutions that is elevating entrepreneurial thinking and new business creation around the world through its creation of the Greater New Orleans Startup Report.
