$25 million latest gift to university from longtime benefactors Mark and Debra Leslie
NYU has received a powerful boost in its ambitions to expand scientific discovery and accelerate innovation, thanks to a landmark $25 million gift from longtime benefactors Mark and Debra Leslie.
The new investment—one of the most significant in the university’s recent push to bring faculty research to market—will strengthen NYU’s ability to turn promising breakthroughs into real-world solutions that improve lives, industries, and communities.
It also deepens the Leslies’ decades-long commitment to fostering entrepreneurship at the university, further cementing their legacy as catalysts for innovation.
The gift arrives at a moment when NYU is surging in science and technology research, recently becoming the top university in New York State for research funding and ranking among the country’s leaders in licensing income generated from academic discoveries.
The Leslies’ contribution will expand the university’s capacity to guide faculty through the sophisticated process of translating laboratory discoveries into viable companies, products, and therapies.
Their support will be centered in the newly named Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute, where researchers will gain access to specialized mentorship, commercialization training, and seed funding to test market potential, refine applications, and demonstrate feasibility—key steps that often determine whether breakthroughs ultimately reach the public.
For the Leslies, this gift builds on a philanthropic journey that has shaped NYU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for more than a decade. In 2014, they established the Leslie eLab, a signature hub where students across NYU collaborate, experiment, and launch new ventures.
That investment played a defining role in helping the university become one of the world’s top institutions for nurturing new ideas and generating entrepreneurial talent.
Their new commitment extends that vision beyond the student community by empowering faculty innovators whose discoveries—spanning fields such as AI, healthcare, computing, sustainability, biotechnology, and engineering—have the potential to create transformative societal impact.
NYU President Linda G. Mills hailed the gift as a direct investment in the university’s highest purpose: advancing ideas that better the world.
She noted that the Leslies’ partnership has enabled NYU to merge academic excellence with entrepreneurial drive, expanding the university’s ability to fuel breakthroughs that shape industries and strengthen communities.
Mark Leslie—an NYU alumnus, trustee, and serial entrepreneur—underscored his belief that universities are engines of progress, while Debra Leslie emphasized that faculty researchers often need a different kind of support to turn ideas into tangible solutions.
The timing of the Leslies’ philanthropy aligns with NYU’s broader strategic expansion in science and technology under Mills’s leadership.
Central to that effort is the appointment of Juan de Pablo, one of the nation’s most distinguished scientific leaders, as the inaugural Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Executive Vice President for Global Science and Technology.
De Pablo is charged with accelerating cross-disciplinary innovation across fields including quantum computing, embodied intelligence, and advanced materials—areas where commercialization pathways are increasingly essential.
He described the Leslies’ gift as a force multiplier that will help NYU convert high-potential discoveries into products and therapies capable of improving the lives of millions.
The Leslies’ commitment reinforces NYU’s emergence as a global powerhouse in research, innovation, and venture creation. As faculty gain new access to mentorship, market insight, and commercialization resources, the university is positioning itself to expand its role not only as a generator of knowledge but also as a driver of economic growth and social progress.
Their philanthropy reflects a broader trend of mission-driven donors investing in the infrastructure that helps academic discoveries reach society—support that can redefine what research universities are capable of achieving.
Mark and Debra Leslie have long believed that ideas become most potent when they move beyond the lab and into the world.
With this new gift, they are helping ensure that NYU scholars have the tools, guidance, and opportunity to make that journey, fueling the next wave of innovation and strengthening the university’s role as a leader in shaping the future.