Welcome back to the Sunstone Way.
I’ve got some wonderful news to share with you. Earlier this month, the Irvine City Council gave its stamp of approval to creation of the Irvine Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship!
This one-of-a-kind center will be a one-stop resource for founders, entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to create and grow innovative enterprises here in Irvine (home of our headquarters), resulting in a more diverse and expanding economy.
None of this could have happened without the amazing generosity and vision of John Shen and Stella Zhang, founders of Sunstone and the American Lending Center (ALC). They have created the Stella and John Foundation, which is the single largest financial partner in building and operating the Irvine Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship ($3.9 million).
Long Time Coming
We have been working toward this day for 18 months – since the city first approved the Irvine Innovation Economy Report in January 2025. That “we” included John Shen, our Sunstone Cities team, myself, and the dedicated Irvine city staff led by Economic Development Director Karin Koch.
Irvine has been known as an innovation hub, particularly in healthcare and defense technology, for some time, but this report helped consolidate information and plans. It provided guidance for action items too, leading to the Economic Development Division Blueprint, approved in January 2026.
One of the Blueprint’s key initiatives was creation of the Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship. With the City Council’s blessing, the hard work of designing a center and developing agreements began in earnest.
Partnerships Public, Private, Philanthropic
This project was a public-private partnership (our famous P3) from the very beginning. The Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce was behind the original Irvine Innovation Economy Report, with our friend Chamber CEO Dave Coffaro leading the way. We were brought into the discussion early on, with John Shen as the guiding light.
I’ve mentioned before that John was a founding partner of the Long Beach Accelerator, another public-private partnership designed to help innovators and founders get their businesses off the ground. I had the privilege to participate in that effort – on the government side, as Long Beach’s Economic Development Director. The other public partner there was the California State University, Long Beach, Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
That experience helped inform our suggestions for the Irvine Center for Innovation. The city did a lot of research and outreach to small business owners and founders to determine how to best serve them, and the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center (SBDC) was brought on board to provide referrals, business advice and education programming – supported by another good friend, Jim Ely, president of Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County.
Founders often say that access to capital is key to success. To help meet that need, American Lending Center will be a tenant, operating the Capital Corner with its expertise in government-backed financing programs for small and medium-sized businesses.
About Community
I know I’m biased, but I am convinced this amazing project would not be possible without the incredible vision and generosity of John Shen and Stella Zhang. They are my friends and partners, and we’ve worked together successfully on a number of projects, but I have to say this is magnitudes larger than anything we’ve done in the past.
Stella and John are donating millions of dollars to turn this dream into reality. They long have had a passion for helping young founders and innovators – the Sunstone Community Fund they started has supported university entrepreneurship programs all across California. Their support for Irvine community events through ALC sponsorships is well known, and is in line with their core goal of making our community a better place to live and work.
Read John’s book, “Crossing The Swamp.” You’ll find that the thread of giving back to the community is central to everything he does. This man cares. The Irvine Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship will care as well.
I have a strong belief that it will be a shining example of the Sunstone Way.
So remember, always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone
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Sunstone Investment Group, headquartered in Southern California, is the holding company for the Sunstone family of entities, including: Sunstone Investment Management Services, responsible for administrative services; Sunstone Advisors, an SEC-registered investment adviser, which oversees Sunstone Venture Partners LLC, a private capital fund manager; Sunstone Cities, a government economic development consulting firm; and Sunstone Community Fund, a charitable organization that supports entrepreneurship. Sunstone is dedicated to enriching lives through investment, entrepreneurship, and community. Email us at contact@sunstoneinvestment.com.
©Sunstone, 2026