About

A graduate of Harvard Business School, Gerald Chertavian co-founded tech company Conduit Communications in the mid-90s, grew it to produce more than $20M annually, then sold it during the dot-com boom of 1999. Following the sale, Gerald turned his full attention toward closing the opportunity divide in America. In 2000, Year Up was born. 

Year Up has become one of the nation’s largest youth workforce development programs. The Monitor Group recognized Year Up as one of the top 25 organizations using business excellence to engineer social change and the Non-Profit Times has consistently recognized it as one of the nation’s top 50 non-profits to work for. 

Gerald has been committed to working with under-served young adults for more than three decades. He has lived out his passion for supporting under-served young adults by participating in the Big Brother mentoring program since 1985 and is recognized as one of New York’s outstanding Big Brothers.

Chertavian received 2008 and 2013 gubernatorial appointments to serve on the Massachusetts State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and as Chairman of the Roxbury Community College Board of Trustees, respectively. He serves on the Board of Advisors for Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise Initiative, is an Emeritus Trustee of Bowdoin College and the Boston Foundation, and is a former member of the World Economic Forum’s Youth Unemployment Council. Gerald’s 2012 book, A Year Up, is a New York Times bestseller.