Stephen Gerard

Alumni Trustee

Stephan GerardStephen Gerard graduated from The Cooper Union with a mechanical engineering degree in 1967. After two years as a design engineer at Du Pont (earning a Marketing MBA from Rutgers) and two years as an Internal Auditor with Citibank (earning an accounting & finance MBA from NYU), he passed the NYS CPA exam and spent over 30 years with C&L (subsequently merged into PWC). There he became a globally-recognized expert in fair market valuation of intangible assets & businesses for tax & financial reporting purposes (in connection with accounting for M&A), retiring as a Partner in 2004. Post-retirement, he was a part-time ‘Senior Technical Advisor-Valuation’ for the FASB (the organization that promulgates ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Principles’ in the US) and was a part-time Consultant to PWC.

Today, he is President of CaesarEx, a company founded by his older brother Henry in early 2013. They are developing a compressed-air-driven turbine generator, a device (invented by his brother) for which they received a US patent in 2013 and EPO approval for European patent registration in 2016. If they succeed, they will radically increase global use of renewable energy sources by enabling grid-scale Compressed Air Energy Storage & Recovery (“CAES”).

Stephen helped found: (1) the Greenwich Village Little League in 1984, (and served as Treas. for almost 15 years thereafter); (2) the Greenwich Village Soccer Club in 1988 (and served as Pres. for two years thereafter); and, (3) the Manhattan RBI League for 16 to 18-year-olds in 1997. In 1987, as President of the Ad Hoc Tenants’ Committee, he successfully negotiated the conversion of his building to a ‘Condop’ and served on and off as its Treasurer for over 18 years. He is still serves on its Board.

Role: Trustee, Vice-Chair

Elected: July 2017

Class Term: 2021

Term Limit: 2021

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.