About JP Conte
JP Conte grew up in Brooklyn and New Jersey, the son of two immigrants who left everything behind for a chance at something better. His father, Pierre, left war-torn France and built a life as a tailor and clothing salesman serving Wall Street professionals. His mother, Isabel, left Cuba determined to live on her own terms. Neither had attended college. Both worked long hours. And both passed along a conviction that opportunity, once earned, should be shared.
The J-P Conte Family Foundation grew out of that conviction. Conte founded it in 2017 to support a range of causes spanning from education to the environment, channeling decades of professional success into direct, accountable giving. It was rooted in gratitude for the country that gave his family incredible opportunities.
A first-generation college graduate himself, Jean-Pierre Conte earned his degree from Colgate University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He’d go on to spend decades in private equity, eventually founding Lupine Crest Capital, his family office focused on private equity, real estate, and venture investments, where he serves as the founder and managing partner.
The resources and the operating mindset he’s built over the years now gets directed toward philanthropy. He approaches charitable work with the same optimism and hands-on problem-solving that defined his career.
Education sits at the center of the foundation’s work. Conte created the Conte First Generation Fund, which provides scholarships and support to first-generation college students at several major universities, including Colgate and Harvard. He’s also partnered with SEO Scholars and 10,000 Degrees, programs that prepare students from low-income and immigrant families for college. Few of his peers at Colgate were first-generation students; Conte was, and that experience has shaped where and how the foundation directs its resources. More recently, he donated $25 million to Colgate University to fund a new campus social center, one of the largest single gifts in the university’s history.
Health research is another priority. J-P Conte’s giving has included $5 million to the University of California, San Francisco to advance Parkinson’s and neurodegenerative disease research, after the passing of his dad from Parkinson’s. The gift established two endowed professorships in the UCSF Department of Neurology.
Conte also works to support environmental conservation, particularly in Northern California where he lives. He’s supported Pepperwood Preserve, an ecological research institute in Sonoma County focused on wildfire research, conservation science, and environmental education.
He also works to advance immigration policy through the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where the J-P Conte Initiative on Immigration supports research and informed debate on the economic impacts of immigration.
Conte serves on the boards of Colgate University, the UCSF Foundation, the Hoover Institution, and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, among others.
He lives in San Francisco with his children. Away from work, he’s usually cycling, skiing, surfing, or traveling with family.