Janine (LaVoie) Terrano ’79 thrives on bringing ideas to life. Leading a technology company safeguarding sensitive data in an AI-driven world, she credits Gonzaga Prep for teaching her how to learn — and for instilling the discipline that fuels her work today.
Janine (LaVoie) Terrano `79 knows the value of hard work — and she knows the joy of bringing an idea to life.
As CEO of Topia Technology, based in Tacoma, WA, Terrano leads engineers and innovators solving complex tech problems in a world increasingly shaped by AI. “I love idea creation,” she says. “Bringing that non-existent thing into reality.”
For Terrano, that creative drive began to take shape as a Bullpup — though her path was anything but easy.
The youngest of six children, Terrano grew up in a home where dinner table conversation often centered on work ethic. Being a good worker was expected. Contributing mattered. Effort mattered. Those values followed her to Gonzaga Prep, where she was a member of the first coed class to graduate after attending all four years.
To pay for her education, she worked 30 to 35 hours a week at 2 Swabbies while carrying a full academic load. There was little time for cocurricular life. Still, Prep broadened her world. “Prep opened up the art of the possible,” she says.
Terrano recalls teachers who did more than deliver content. They taught her how to learn. How to explore ideas. “I learned more academically in high school than I did in college,” she says. “At Prep, I learned how to learn.”
She took the AP classes. She did the work. But she was also a little sassy in class— she remembers spending much of her sophomore year in JUG with a friend, a reminder that growth often includes a little course correction.
It was teachers like Phil Kuder who made the difference. Knowing her schedule, he persuaded her to join the golf team. After practice, he would carry her clubs to the car, and the two would talk before she headed to work. It was a small gesture. It was also cura personalis in action — a teacher attentive to the whole person. Those moments helped her manage school and work.
Prep formed her through academic rigor, care for the whole person, and relationships that mattered. Beneath it all, seeds of curiosity had been planted.
Terrano’s mind is wired for possibility. She enjoys the full spectrum of building something new — designing the idea, refining it, finding the market, landing the first customer, and seeing it work the way she envisioned.
“That’s probably the most fun,” she says.
That curiosity was what led her into the emerging world of web-based technology, where she created the first web app in Washington back in the `1990s. She built it, grew it, and eventually sold it — proof that disciplined thinking and creative vision can live side by side.
Today, as CEO of Topia Technology, Terrano’s work carries even greater responsibility. In an era when AI is everywhere and digital threats evolve daily, secure file sharing is not optional. It is essential.
Her company focuses on protecting sensitive data—ensuring that what must remain secure does. Behind every product are engineers who bring concepts to life, teams who must think critically, and leaders who must anticipate what comes next.
Terrano understands the value of hard work because she has lived it. She knows the demands placed on those who build what does not yet exist. She knows that strong ideas require disciplined execution.
Looking back, Terrano credits Gonzaga Prep with her professional trajectory, “Prep opened up the art of the possible,” she says.
For a student working long hours, balancing responsibilities and occasionally testing the boundaries, Prep did more than prepare her for college. It formed her as a thinker. It expanded her imagination. It showed her that ideas could become reality with discipline, courage, and the willingness to learn.
That foundation continues to shape her leadership today.
From the dinner-table lessons of her childhood to the classrooms at Gonzaga Prep, Janine Lavoie Terrano learned how to learn. She learned the value of work done well. She learned that possibility is not abstract — it is something you build.
