AIChE is supporting the career objectives of chemical engineers in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ+) community, thanks in part to a leadership gift to the AIChE Foundation from chemical engineer Eric S. Reiner. Reiner, a lecturer at the Univ. of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a retired managing director at UBS AG (the Swiss bank), kicked off the fundraising for AIChE’s new LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative with a $50,000 donation. The initiative is one priority of the AIChE Foundation’s Doing a World of Good campaign aimed at advancing the inclusiveness of the chemical engineering profession. The fundraising to endow this initiative will be formally launched at the 2018 AIChE Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA, in October.
In addition to supporting AIChE events and activities that promote inclusivity of LGBTQ engineers at all career stages, funds raised in the campaign will subsidize a newly launched AIChE’s LGBTQ+ & Allies Online Community, which is now in its pilot phase. Building on this, the initiative aims to expand its reach to recognize students, professionals, and companies that show exemplary efforts in LGBTQ+ & Allies causes within the chemical engineering profession, as well as to create greater diversity-and inclusion-related educational opportunities for members and industry allies.
At a recent AIChE reception, Reiner reflected on his own experiences as an openly gay man working in the financial sector, and how the accepting and inclusive workspace he found in that field helped to enable his success. In regard to his financial support of AIChE’s initiatives for LGBTQ engineers, Reiner said that he was pleased to assist AIChE in its work to advance diversity throughout the profession. He concluded, “We want everyone to be able to contribute to the profession to their fullest ability.”
Gift Announcement at 2017 LGBTQ+ & Allies Reception
Reiner is a chemical engineering alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Univ. of California, Berkeley, where he earned his SB and PhD, respectively. He spent more than 20 years —16 of which were as a managing director (partner) —at UBS, where his career focused on equity derivatives trading and enterprise-wide risk management. In 2001, he co-founded the organization’s LGBT network in the Americas. Today, in addition to lecturing on finance, he serves on the editorial boards of several quantitative finance journals.
Information about the LGBTQ+ & Allies Initiative and all of the AIChE Foundation’s programs can be found at www.aiche.org/giving.
Join Eric in supporting this initiative with your gift.
Join the LGBTQ+ & Allies Online Community
Are you an LGBTQ+ engineer or an ally? Join AIChE’s LGBTQ+ & Allies Online Community, where you can discuss opportunities for LGBTQ+ chemical engineering professionals. Learn more about the community and sign up at https://www.aiche.org/lgbtqallies.