The Gerald Sherwin ’55 Young Alumni Service Award was established in 2013 to honor an individual or group of individuals who has demonstrated exceptional service to the College’s young alumni community.
The awardee(s) shall be a Columbia College young graduate (of the past 10 years) who, by their action and support, has enhanced the community, well-being or engagement of the College’s young alumni. The award is named in honor of the late CCAA president emeritus Gerald Sherwin CC’55, aka Mr. Columbia. Sadly, we lost Jerry in 2022, but we will continue this tradition and honor his legacy.
2024 Recipients
- Jessica Chi CC'15 is the Global Marketing Director of Fenty Skin at Kendo Brands, LVMH’s beauty brand incubator, where she leads the creation and execution of global marketing strategies and campaigns.
She is a 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 - Marketing & Advertising Award Recipient, and prior to starting this role, she has spent her career in various global and U.S focused marketing roles across L’Oreal and LVMH.
Jess lives in San Francisco and has remained enthusiastically involved in the Columbia Community through a variety of ways. She is the Co-Chair of the CCYA Development Committee, and was an active member of the Young Alumni Fund Advisory Board (YFAB) before it was merged with the CCYA, playing a crucial role in that process. Having a strong passion for mentorship and service she has volunteered through digital engagement opportunities, ARC interviewing, CCE Mentorship and countless student events. She has also been Co-Chair of the CCW Outreach & Recruitment Committee, served on her Reunion Planning Committee, and is a consistently enthusiastic supporter around organizing alumni events centering on community and engagement in the Bay Area. She graduated from Columbia College in 2015 with a Degree in Sociology, Pre-Law and received an MBA from the Columbia Business School in 2021. During her time as a student, Jessica served as a member of the Senior Fund. - Brian Chung CC'16 is the Associate Director of US Investments at Oxford Properties Group. Prior to this, he held various roles at Citibank ranging from Senior Analyst to Vice President. He began his career at JP Morgan Chase & Co. as a Corporate Investment Bank Analyst.
Brian lives in Brooklyn, with his wife, Katherine (CC’16). Brian and Katherine met at Columbia, and both remain enthusiastically engaged in the Columbia community as active members of the Young Leaders Council. Brian is also the former President of the CCYA (2019-2021), where he strived to navigate the young alumni community through COVID and instilled framework in the board structure that is used to this day. He is a Class Agent, has served on his Reunion Planning Committee, and most recently was elected to the CCAA. In addition to serving in these formal leadership positions, Brian is always eager to support current students. He has mentored dozens of students and regularly posts positions through CCE and Odyssey Mentoring Program. He graduated from Columbia in 2016 with a degree in Political Science, Pre-Law.
Past Recipients
- 2023 • Abigail Pritzker Pucker CC'14, Andrew Wood CC'14
- 2022 • Andrew Heinrich CC’13, Julian Richardson CC’14, BUS’21, SIPA’21
- 2021 • Riley Jones IV CC’17
- 2020 • Kevin Zhang CC’14
- 2019 • Matthew Amsterdam CC’10, LAW’13
- 2018 • Zahrah Taufique CC’09, BUS’15, PS’15
- 2017 • Gairy Hall CC'11, BUS'16
- 2016 • Jennifer Hsia CC’06
- 2015 • Ganesh H. Betanabhatla CC‘06
- 2014 • Justin Ifill CC’06
- 2013 • Nathania Nisonson CC’03 and Michael Novielli CC’03
