Chase Alumni: Tech Column (Generative AI), Oct. 2nd NYC Event + RIP: Scott Taylor

 
 
 
 
Dear [first_name]:
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NEWS & EVENTS (PAST AND FUTURE)                                            
 
# NYC Event, Reminder: Registration is closed for Monday, October 2's Fall CAA NYC reception, to be held 5:30-7:30 pm at JPMorgan Chase, 277 Park Avenue, 17th floor.
 
Stevie Baron, CFO of J.P. Morgan Chase U.S. Wealth Management*, will talk to and then mingle with the more than 100 alumni who have already signed up for the reception. Thank you to JPMC for making the space available. 
 
A voice vote to confirm the election of CAA Board members will begin at approximately 6:20 pm, with Baron speaking afterwards, at about 6:30 pm. After his remarks, we will have the drawing of three door prizes. So please try to arrive by 6:20 pm, if not earlier!
 
*J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, which is part of Consumer & Community Banking, provides clients with wealth management and investment services. The business has more than $890B in assets under management, with 5,100 advisors in more than 4,700 branches and 30 offices. Previously, Baron was Head of Consumer Branch Banking at Chase.
 
The CAA alumni trip to the south of France for May 1 to May 10, 2024 is sold out. To be added to the waiting list, please contact Andrea at news@chasealum.org (917/554-7800). The nine-night trip will begin in Nice and explore the sights, history, food, wine and living culture of the Côte d'Azur (including Monaco) and parts of Provence. And of course you will make this trip in the best of company – fellow Chase alumni! CLICK HERE for a full itinerary, information about hotels, pricing, "the small print" and other factors that will make it obvious why the package has sold so quickly.  
 
As we do every year, we are remembering 9/11's impact on alumni, downtown and elsewhere, on that day and since. We have added new recollections. If you have a story to add to this collection, please send it to Andrea at news@chasealum.org.
 
Memories of 9/11 (published 2001)
 
 
The Belgian Chapter of the CAA has scheduled its fourth reunion, to be held Friday, October 13, 2023. A lunch is planned in the gracious rooms of 'Salons Schoeters' in Antwerp, beginning at 12:30 pm. For more information, please contact Marc Smits.
 
 
CAA TECH CORNER WITH DAN ALVAREZ                                  
 
#  Column #2: Generative AI
Our new (and definitely youngest) CAA board member, Dan Alvarez, has launched a monthly feature dedicated to defining emerging trends in technology, in plain English. His plan is to address these questions at a "100-level" for Luddites, brilliant (of course) but non-technologically inclined bankers and anyone else in the financial world embarrassed to ask basic questions while looking at the "big picture". 
 
For his second column, Dan is addressing Generative Artificial Intelligence.  
  • What is Generative AI (Gen AI)?
  • What is the difference between AI and Gen AI
  • What are other common use cases for Gen AI in the financial services industry?
  • Do Large Language Models (LLMs) know everything?
  • What are the major downsides to LLMs and Gen AI?
  • Why can LLMs tell me what the weather is in Gotham City?

Click here to read Dan's informative and often amusing takes on these questions. Please note that a survey is included with the column. Your answers will guide his writing of future columns, as to the topics, tone and knowledge level required. We would appreciate your response – as we appreciate Dan's offer to provide this Tech Corner for us each month.  

 
LOOKING FOR INPUT...                                                                    
 
# We're always looking for new Lives After Chase (in non-financial areas) and Moments in Bank History. We also welcome new contributions to such existing series of articles as: Ex-Pat Housing, Corruption, Mentors, Bankers in Danger and our newest, Corporate Culture. Please remember to send your story ideas to Andrea at news@chasealum.org.
 
# POLICY CHANGE: We're following up on an alumnus suggestion that when we publish  comments from CAA members, we identify the writers by the years they worked for Chase, Chemical, MHT, First Chicago, WaMu or whatever bank that is now part of JPMorgan Chase. So when you write in, please remember to provide that information.
Many thanks in advance!
 
 
EVENT PHOTOS  (Viewable by dues-paying members)               
 
Photos from the CAA Frankfurt chapter's visit to an exhibition of Niki de Saint Phalle's work in April 2023.
 
...from a holiday reunion of Chase alumni in the Dominican Republic.  
...from the CAA London chapter's holiday lunch at the RAF Club.
...and from a gathering of Chase alumni in Mexico City on November 10, 2022. (Viewable by all)
 
 
MOMENTS IN BANK HISTORY                                                         

(And remember...you have friends at Chase Alumni who want to see photos of your  Bank memorabilia! Please send to news@chasealum.org.

#  Object of the Week: Photo, 1929, New York City. It isn't indicated whether this was before or after Black Monday, the start of the stock market crash.

 
 
 
 
 
Bank Culture: Values Learned and Retained – We've begun a new series in which alumni articulate how corporate culture shaped the banks they worked at and how corporate culture differed among the banks that are now under the JPMorgan Chase umbrella. We begin with three contributors: Janin Campos, Richard J. Moss and Elease Ruddock.
     Please send your thoughts – or full-blown essays – to Andrea at  news@chasealum.org. Please indicate which bank you worked for and when, and at what stage of your career. Here are some prompts for responses: How were you made aware of expected values, beliefs, behaviors? Were they set at the top or by your more immediate managers? Were they ever challenged in the heat of battle -- or after your bank may have merged with another? Did aspects of the initial culture stay with you always?  
 
To Catch a Thief: Elsie Low's story is both a Moment in Bank History and an example of a banker in danger. Learn how she foiled a bank robbery at a Brooklyn branch of MHT in 1986.
 
 
 
 
 
BANKERS IN DANGER: The third part of our series now includes a story by Nick Binkley, who found himself in Beirut during the 1975 Lebanese Civil War. The series features our intrepid alumni in hair-raising situations in the Middle East, Asia and South America. Were you ever asked to continue working–or struggling to get out of town–in a war zone or amidst other types of violence? Let us know. Here are links to the stories so far: Part 1 (stories by Bob Aberlin, Ed von Leffern, George Lacen, Alan Delsman, Mariana Abrantes de Sousa) | Part 2  (stories by Geoff Scott, Chris Matlon and Jim Haynes) | Part 3 (story by Thomas Lane and about Frank Ciulla).
 
 
LIFE AFTER CHASE                                                                          
 
Nick Binkley, one of our best correspondents, is the focus of a recent Pfeffer on Power podcast on Spotify, where he is interviewed by Jeffrey Pfeffer, The Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Binkley discusses his Chase Manhattan roots and how they helped lead him to a tenure as vice chair of Bank of America. The podcast shares valuable lessons in career building and finding releases from the pressures of stressful work.
 
 
Chase Alumni's leading Amazonian explorer, James Lynch, sent us a link to a new video featuring his participation in death-defying white water canoeing and camping on the Roosevelt River, deep in the Amazon jungle. Such risk for so much breathtaking scenery! Fasten your seatbelt!
 
 
 
 
We've written before about Chase alumnus and  polymath Bob Graboyes, who, while an economics  professor, won the 2014 Bastiat Prize for Journalism, an international award for “writing that best demonstrates the importance of individual liberty and free markets with originality, wit and eloquence.” 
     Graboyes has now left academia and is writing a substack (blog) he has dubbed Bastiat's Window, and it displays that same originality, wit and eloquence over a wide variety of subjects – with numerous references to his experiences at Chase. He published a three-parter entirely related to and heavily laden with Chase Manhattan lore. The first installment is called Fun and Death in Lagos, but you need to register on the site to read it. It's well worth the effort!

One of his recent pieces, SoHo + 45 — co-authored with his wife — briefly mentions Chase Manhattan and the Rockefeller Family: 

Forty-five years ago, Alanna Siegfried (now, Graboyes) co-authored the first history of and guidebook to New York’s SoHo Arts District—a book that signaled the arrival of SoHo as a tourist destination, according to the New York Times. In this new article, Alanna and her husband, Bob, revisit that time and add in new details. Bob, an economist, adds in (1) how the Central Intelligence Agency’s Cold War machinations may have accelerated SoHo’s ascent, (2) how shifting metal prices created SoHo’s unique architecture, (3) how clever branding contributed to SoHo’s appeal, (4) the titanic battle between urban planning critic Jane Jacobs and “master builder” Robert Moses, (5) the atypical impact of rent control on SoHo, (6) the impact of selective law enforcement on the development, and (7) connections to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, and the Amazon Prime series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Alanna recounts her encounters with musicians and artists and describes the eerie, but vibrant atmosphere that characterized this sort of outlaw precinct of New York. 
IN MEMORIAM                                                                                  
 
Please send remembrances and news of recent alumni deaths to news@chasealum.org.
 
# The CAA mourns the death of member Scott Taylor, who helped Chase Manhattan solve "large problem relationships" as Vice President of its Special Projects Division in the 1970s. Taylor, 77, died in Florida on September 14, 2023.
 
 
 
 
 
 
The CAA mourns the death of longtime member Gabriel (Gabe) Caprio, who helped Chase expand its presence in South and Central America and the Caribbean in the 1970s and 1980s before later becoming President and CEO of Amalgamated Bank. Caprio died on August 21, 2023 at the age of 85.
 
 
 
Francis (Frank) Pomar, Jr., who resolved a billion dollars of bad loans in Chemical Bank's real estate portfolio in the 1970s and 1980s, died on August 19, 2023. He was 77 and had lived in Chappaqua, NY. His In Memoriam includes a remarkable eulogy by his Chemical colleague Mike Berman.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The CAA only just learned of the February 5, 2021 death of Ronald D. Reading, then 75. Reading served Chase Manhattan as a Senior Vice President, head of Global Funding and subsequently Head of Trading and Securities Chief Executive at Chase's London office. 

 
 

Patty Haberstroh, who worked for Chemical Bank in Human Resources and was married for 49 years to Chase alumnus Charles Haberstroh, died of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) on July 24, 2023, age 73 in Connecticut. Diagnosed in October 2017, she became a leader in the ALS community through her relentless advocacy and fundraising activities.

 

Barbara Maynor, a much-loved administrative assistant who worked at Chase/JPMorgan Chase for nearly 50 years, died in Florida on July 27, 2023, age 78.  

 
 
 
 

Susan Hughes, who held many positions, including in sales for the Branch Divisionm over a long career at Chase Manhattan, died on Long Island on August 11, 2023, age 82.  

 
 
 

Seymour (Sy) Sherman, PhD, who led early teams in information security for Chase Manhattan, died in New Jersey on August 14, 2023. He was 98.

 
 
 
 

How Best to Use the CAA Membership Directory                        

 
If you have not done so recently, please update
the information in your profile, so that the CAA and other members would be better able to contact you. Using the Membership Directory is a privilege of dues-paying CAA members.
 
Now get a refresher on how to best use the membership directory to find an individual or
groups of individuals you would like to contact. (Note that only dues-paying members have
access to the directory.).
 
To get to the directory, log in at www.chasealum.org. On the home page menu, click on Membership and then Member Directory.
 
When searching by name, or in any of the other search areas, we advise starting by putting in less information in the search field. For example, if you want to find William Smith, type only Smith in the Search by Name box; if you put in “William Smith” and he is calling himself Bill Smith in his profile, you will not find him.
 
If you want to find members who live near you, enter the city, state or country (or any combination) under Location. The Years at Chase search is very valuable. Type in 1996-2005, for instance, and you will find everyone who worked for the bank (including heritage banks) during those years. You can narrow your search by also typing in a location or job title.

Once you have entered the search words, click on Search at the bottom of the page. When members’ names appear, click on their names to obtain more detailed information about them.

If you have any problem with any of this, contact Ken Jablon at jablonkt@aol.com.

As always: If the links do not work for you, you can always access the latest stories by logging on to CAA's web site.

If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to Ken Jablon or call Ken (during normal working hours) at 212-799-9525.

By the by: Don't forget to explore the rest of the CAA Web site. (www.chasealum.org) Just click on the home page menu buttons to find the news archive, photo album, membership directory, past In Memoriams and benefit information.

 

The Board of the Chase Alumni Association  

          
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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