UCSB Receives $1 Million Gift

Christian Felipe, a former hedge fund exec and recent Santa Barbara–area transplant, wrote a $1 million check to help fund a new technology-management master’s program at UCSB. The money — coupled with a previous $1 million donation from UCSB alum and investor Reece Duca that helped start the program — will pay for an endowed professor position to help lead the nine-month-long program, which aims to turn scientists into entrepreneurs.

Felipe — who offered to fork over $50,000 a year for three years to the Goleta Entrepreneurial Magnet, a tech startup hub in the Good Land — has degrees from UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. He started his career in the financial sector, transitioning from technology analyst to portfolio manager to hedge-fund founder. He sold his company, Sirios Capital Management, more than 10 years ago and turned to angel investing. “I found technology startups fascinating, and I always felt that in the long run, I wanted to continue to invest in technology companies,” Felipe said in a statement released by the university.