Profile Gerald Alain P. Chen-Young ’85
Stepping off the treadmill for a worthy cause
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One day at the end of 1983, Gerald Chen-Young ’85 and his brother Michael ’87 came home from Campion College School in Jamaica to find their bags packed. Gerald had just been in a car accident and had been told that because of it, the time had come for a change at home. The brothers found this confusing, and suddenly they found themselves at St. Andrew’s College. Gerald would never live in Jamaica again. Since then, his life has been a whirlwind of education, degrees, financial management, cuisine, and, ultimately, work as chief investment officer for UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, one of the largest and most effective minority education organizations in the U.S. “The sudden move to SAC was traumatic,” he recalls. “I resisted the change and was perhaps not the best student at the time.” That aspect would change, and with it would come various degrees, including an advanced law degree from American University in Washington, D.C., as well as economics degrees from the London School of Economics and York University. There was also an intensive three-month study of basic cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. These experiences combined to lead Gerald to UNCF in Washington in September 2002. While the financial rewards at private investment firms are far greater, Gerald believes that the sense of fulfillment in working for a charitable organization changed his life. “My long-term goal was always international
finance,” Gerald recalls. “But as time went on I realized I had no life outside of work; I was working full time and attending law school at night. I spent three months at Cordon Bleu in Paris during a 2001 sabbatical and realized I needed to find something I loved to do.” In the summer of 2002, the opportunity came to join UNCF and he took it. “The people I get to work and associate with, the opportunity to manage the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program investment portfolio, and the knowledge that my work allows hardworking minority individuals who are bright, but mostly poor to gain university education made all the difference in the world to me. I now do what I love to do.” Asked about his days at SAC, Gerald responds with a single name: Aubrey Foy. “The late Aubrey Foy was Housemaster at Flavelle,” he recalls. “My brother and I were basically wrenched from our homes and sent to a foreign country. Shortly after that our parents divorced. That was mostly the reason, not the car accident. “We cried a lot in our rooms in Flavelle, and Aubrey Foy became like a father to us. I remember him spending time sitting at the foot of my bed talking to me when I was down. He was like a steady, wise and bright light in our lives and I don’t know what we’d have done without him. He was always firm, but fair.” Gerald continues to live in Washington, as do his brother, Michael, and his sister, Claudine, a Havergal alumnus. He continues to cook, golf, scuba dive, read and, most recently, hunt. This year he was named one of the “Power 100” by aiCIO, a leading international investment magazine. JIM MCGILLIVRAY The Andrean 45