Ray Chambers

Chambers at the 2011 Time 100 gala

Raymond G. Chambers (born August 7, 1942) is a philanthropist and humanitarian who currently serves as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Health in Agenda 2030 and for Malaria. Chambers' philanthropic efforts are diverse, with major focus areas in global health, mentoring, and revitalizing his home city of Newark, New Jersey.

Early life and education

Born and raised in the West Ward of Newark, Chambers attended West Side High School.^[1]

Chambers attended Rutgers University–Newark where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and earned an MBA from Seton Hall University in 1968.^[2]

Career

Private Equity

Chambers is the former Chairman of Wesray Capital Corporation, a private equity holding company which he co-founded with William E. Simon, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury. The "WES" in the firm's name represented Simon's initials and "RAY" was for Chamber's first name.^[3] Their first big coup was the leveraged buyout of Gibson Greetings from RCA in 1981 for $80 million, with each partner contributing $330,000 and the balance paid for with loans; After taking Gibson public in 1984, each partner walked away with a profit exceeding $70 million.^[4]

After Simon ended his active involvement in the firm's management, Chambers was responsible for deals including the 1985 purchase of Avis Rent a Car System, which was sold 14 months later to an employee stock ownership plan for $1.75 billion along with the sale of other Avis assets for $674 million, netting a profit of $740 million on a $10 million capital outlay.^[5]

Chambers and Wesray were early investors in buyout firm Vestar Capital Partners, investing in the first Vestar fund in 1988.^[6]

Involvement in Newark

Chambers has played an active role in revitalizing Newark, working with organizations and schools throughout the city, including in the West Ward where he grew up. He is a longtime supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, which he had belonged to as a child in the 1950s. He has funded college educations for hundreds of Newark public school students served by the Club.

Chambers was the founding Chairman of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, helping obtain contributions from local corporations and contributing his own money, with the goal of creating a cultural center for Newark modeled after New York City's Lincoln Center and Washington, D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

As a partner in YankeeNets, Chambers played a critical role in bringing the New Jersey Devils to what is now the Prudential Center, with YankeeNets contributing $105 million to construct the publicly owned facility. Chambers' name was engraved on the Stanley Cup as President of 2003 New Jersey Devils ^[2] Chambers was an early supporter of Cory Booker, helping to convince him that he had a future in politics.^[7]

Global Health and United Nations

In February 2008, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Mr. Chambers as his first Special Envoy for Malaria.^[8] During his tenure, visibility, awareness, and funding for malaria each increased exponentially, contributing to the distribution of over 1 billion life-saving mosquito nets to sub-Saharan Africa and averting over 6.2 million malaria-related deaths, most of which were children under 5 years of age.

In February 2013 the Secretary-General expanded Mr. Chambers’ mandate as his first Special Envoy for Financing the Health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the internationally agreed set of humanitarian targets.^[9] Mr. Chambers worked with key funding partners—including governments, financial institutions and the private sector—to secure adequate resources to provide the essential supplies, delivery mechanisms, systems support and measurement tools needed to attain the health MDGs. In addition to his Special Envoy role, Mr. Chambers served as one of the UN Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates.

With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. Chambers was appointed by the Secretary-General as his Special Envoy for Health in Agenda 2030. In this role he is tasked with catalyzing efforts and commitments required for the successful implementation of the health-related goals in Agenda 2030—which includes ending the epidemics of AIDS, TB, and malaria. Chambers concurrently maintains his role as Special Envoy for Malaria.

Other associations

Chambers was a member of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation. He is the Founding Chairman of the Points of Light Foundation and co-founded America's Promise Alliance with Colin Powell. Chambers is also the co-founder of the MENTOR / National Mentoring Partnership and served as Chairman of the Millennium Promise Alliance. With Peter Chernin, he co-founded Malaria No More and served as its co-chairman until being named UN Special Envoy for Malaria.

Awards and recognition

In 2002, Chambers received the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership.^[10]

In December 2008, President Bush recognized Chambers with the Presidential Citizens Medal for his work helping children worldwide through the fight against malaria.^[11]

In April 2011, Chambers was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[12]

Chambers has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame and American University.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ray Chambers.

Private equity and venture capital investors
Investment strategy	Buyout Venture Growth Mezzanine Secondaries
History	History of private equity and venture capital Early history of private equity Private equity in the 1980s Private equity in the 1990s Private equity in the 2000s
Investor types	Private equity investors Venture capitalists Corporate raiders