Ron Valenta ’80 Endowment Builds Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship

Ron Valenta ’80 was an unusual student. During his first year at Loyola Marymount University, he held three part-time jobs while attending school. A very hands-on person, Valenta did not find academia compelling and was on the verge of dropping out so he could work more — until he had a conversation with Fred Kiesner (1937–2023) that would change his life.

Kiesner, a professor of business administration, was a pioneering advocate for entrepreneurship as an academic discipline. Beginning in the 1970s, he had been building LMU’s entrepreneurship program from the ground up, even when many in academia dismissed “small business,” as it was more commonly called, unworthy of study. Kiesner, however, was passionate, persistent, and deeply dedicated to his students, serving as a beloved mentor and friend to many.

When Valenta approached Kiesner as an undergrad, he was teaching a hands-on business class that was open to seniors only. Recognizing Valenta’s entrepreneurial spirit — as well as the risk of letting him drop out of college — Kiesner decided to admit Valenta into his class. It was a decision that would have an enormous impact on Valenta’s college and career trajectory.

A Young Entrepreneur Finds His Path

Kiesner’s class was tailor-made for a student like Valenta. Instead of sitting in lectures, each student was given a real local business to assist in preparing a business plan for a U.S. Small Business Administration loan application.

Valenta was assigned Miceli’s, an Italian restaurant that had fallen on hard times after a family tragedy forced its owner, Carmen Miceli, to shut down 10 of his original 11 restaurants. Miceli needed to reinvigorate his brand by turning a warehouse into a new and improved second restaurant.

Valenta, who had also been interested in architecture, was able to help Miceli with his business plan as well as the design of his building. After collaborating closely the entire semester, their hard work paid off: Miceli’s loan application was approved, and long after the class was over, Valenta continued to visit and assist Miceli with the business, even surprising him by attending the grand opening.

“Without Fred, I wouldn’t have finished school,” Valenta says. “That class gave me the ability to really get involved in a business, and it gave me such a great deal of satisfaction. It was also a wonderful story: Carmen had gone through such tragedy and loss but was able to enjoy success again at the end. That wouldn’t have happened without Fred.”

After graduating with a degree in accounting, Valenta faced a new challenge: job interviews. As an introvert who spoke very little, Valenta struggled to stand out. Once again, Kiesner stepped in, personally vouching for Valenta with the major accounting firms, telling them that still waters run deep, and they should not miss the opportunity to hire a special talent like Valenta. With Kiesner’s support, Valenta was hired, and went on to a long, highly successful and variegated career that touched on several different industries and spanned several continents.

Valenta Pays His Success Forward

In 2009, Valenta decided to repay his mentor in a big way and keep the cycle of opportunity going for future students. The Valenta family made a $5 million gift to endow the Fred Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship — and Valenta insisted that it be named after Kiesner, not himself.

“If anyone has had a tremendous impact on a lot of people, it’s Fred,” Valenta says. “He made it his life’s task to be a positive influence on other people’s lives, and he did. He really did.”

Today, the Kiesner Center is one of LMU’s most dynamic hubs. It complements the top-ranked entrepreneurship programs at the LMU College of Business Administration (CBA) — including an undergraduate major and a master of science in entrepreneurship and sustainable innovation — with co-curricular activities such as a speaker series, a pitch competition, a business incubator and showcase, a focused weekend workshop for startups, tours of local businesses, and a special program for family businesses. These offerings are hands-on learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students that echo the lessons Kiesner first instilled.

“Entrepreneurs are different,” Valenta asserts. “Most people want structure in their lives, but our personalities are not built like that. We can’t be boxed; we’re free thinkers. We go against the grain and see things that other people don’t see, like spotting a demand for something where there’s no supply to meet it. The most successful of us have one essential skill: the ability to assess risk versus reward.”

The Kiesner Center Reaches Critical Mass

Entrepreneurship has come a long way since Kiesner and others like him fought for its place in academia. Today, the entrepreneurial spirit is valued more than ever as workforce trends shift and the stable jobs of the past change or disappear altogether.

“Just three years ago, computer science majors could expect a starting salary of $150,000 right out of college,” reflects David Choi, LMU’s Conrad N. Hilton Chair of Entrepreneurship and the center’s director since 2011. “Now they can’t find jobs because artificial intelligence has eliminated the need for many junior programmers. Many professions are in the same boat, being challenged by the rise of AI — but not entrepreneurship. The ability to identify problems and solutions in any industry and create viable businesses out of them is in more demand than ever.”

This sea change in workforce demands is reflected in the strong growth of LMU’s entrepreneurship programs. “It all started with just an emphasis, just a few classes per year,” says Choi. “Then we created a major, and in our first year, we had 18 students. Now we regularly have more than 400 students majoring in entrepreneurship, and it is often the most popular major among incoming students. We have 19 to 20 faculty teaching 30 sections at any given time.”

Valenta’s gift — the largest in the center’s history — is a key reason for that success. “Ron’s endowed gift, along with support from donors like the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, gives us stability and enables us to build a national program with a vision for future growth, not just day-to-day survival,” says Choi. “The center is an essential part of the student learning experience here because it’s impossible to teach entrepreneurship in a classroom-only setting. You need to meet other entrepreneurs, visit successful businesses, enter competitions, and get your prototypes manufactured.”

In other words, today’s students need hands-on experience — just like Valenta did.

If you’d like to support entrepreneurship at LMU, you can make a gift here. To establish an endowment in honor of a loved one or your favorite program, contact Jonathan Adrias, senior director of development, at [email protected] or 310.338.7856.