Raymond G. Chambers (born August 7, 1942) is a philanthropist and humanitarian who currently serves as the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

Ambassador for Global Strategy. Chambers' philanthropic efforts are diverse, with major focus areas in global health, mentoring, and revitalizing his home city of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.West Side High School. Chambers attended Rutgers University–Newark where he was a member of

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an interna ...

fraternity, and earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the ...

in 1968.Fallon, Scott
"Sports Arena Is Part of Grand Plan for Newark, N.J."
, ''

The Record (Bergen County) ''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and ...

'', June 11, 2001. Accessed August 26, 2016. "Born in 1942 into a blue-collar family, Chambers attended public schools before studying at Rutgers-Newark. He received an MBA from Seton Hall in 1968 and went to work for a series of Wall Street firms."

Career

Private Equity

Chambers is the former Chairman of

Wesray Capital Corporation Wesray Capital Corporation was an early private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout investments. The firm was founded by former US Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and former New Jersey Nets owner Ray Chambers. The firm is known ...

, a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

holding company which he co-founded with

William E. Simon William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during the Nixon admi ...

, the former

United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

. The "WES" in the firm's name represented Simon's initials and "RAY" was for Chamber's first name. Their first big coup was the

leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...

Gibson Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting cards, electroni ...

from

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

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. 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 Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar are all units of Avis Budget Group. Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in South Afric ...

, which was sold 14 months later to an

employee stock ownership plan Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Emp ...

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. Chambers and Wesray were early investors in buyout firm

Vestar Capital Partners Vestar Capital Partners is an American private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout transactions in middle-market companies in the United States."About Us"8/27/08 The firm, which was founded in 1988, is headquartered in New York City with offic ...

, investing in the first Vestar fund in 1988.

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 The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors ( ...

, 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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

. As a partner in

YankeeNets Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC, formerly YankeeNets, LLC, is an American limited liability company (LLC) which owns the New York Yankees baseball team, along with a plurality stake in YES Network and a 20% and 10% stake in New York City FC and AC ...

, Chambers played a critical role in bringing the New Jersey Devils to what is now the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...

, 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 Chambers was an early supporter of

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...

, helping to convince him that he had a future in politics.

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. 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. 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 was tasked with catalyzing efforts and commitments required for the successful implementation of the health-related goals in Agenda 2030—which included ending the epidemics of AIDS, TB, and malaria. In 2018, Mr. Chambers transitioned his focus to supporting the World Health Organization (WHO), the specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. The WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appointed Mr. Chambers as the WHO Ambassador for Global Strategy to advise him in mobilizing the international community to advance the global health agenda. Regarding Mr. Chambers’ appointment, Dr. Tedros said “Ray Chambers is a giant of public health who understands as well as anyone the critical need to prioritize the health and wellbeing of all people on the planet.”

Other associations

Chambers was a member of the

President's Council on Service and Civic Participation The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation was created by U.S. President George W. Bush in January 2003 by executive order. Its mission is to encourage volunteerism and to recognize the contributions Americans make through serv ...

. He is the Founding Chairman of the Points of Light Foundation and co-founded

America's Promise Alliance America's Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest cross-sector alliance of nonprofit, community organizations, businesses, and government organization dedicated to improving the lives of young people. The organization was founded on the idea ...

with Colin Powell. Chambers is also the co-founder of the MENTOR / National Mentoring Partnership and served as Chairman of the

Millennium Promise Millennium Promise, or The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., is a non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, dedicated to ending extreme poverty within our lifetime. Its flagship initiative is the Millennium Vi ...

Alliance. With

Peter Chernin Peter Chernin (born May 29, 1951) is an American businessman and investor. He is the chairman and CEO of The Chernin Group (TCG), which he founded in 2010. TCG manages, operates and invests in businesses in the media, entertainment, and technolog ...

, he co-founded

Malaria No More Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, a ...

and served as its co-chairman until being named UN Special Envoy for Malaria.

Awards and recognition

In 1993, Chambers received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

. In 2002, Chambers received the

William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership The William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership is an annual award given by the William E. Simon Foundation in honor of its founder, former Secretary of the Treasury and financier William E. Simon, and administered by the Philanthropy Ro ...

. In December 2008, President Bush recognized Chambers with the Presidential Citizens Medal for his work helping children worldwide through the fight against malaria. In April 2011, Chambers was named by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world."The 2011 TIME 100"
''

Time (magazine) ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

''. Accessed August 26, 2016. 2014 New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee. Chambers has been awarded honorary degrees from Brown University , the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

, and American University.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Ray 1942 births Living people Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey New Jersey Devils executives Private equity and venture capital investors Rutgers University alumni Seton Hall University alumni Stanley Cup champions West Side High School (New Jersey) alumni American officials of the United Nations Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations