Candidates' Forum: Carlton Chin, the person

At the Candidate's Forum, I wanted to introduce myself as a person.  Here is the unabridged version of my introduction.  

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My name is Carlton Chin, and in my introduction, I will talk about "luck."  
First, my wife and I have a daughter in the middle school.  Now, having children at that age -- all of us, as parents -- sometimes worry about that "adolescent age."  Especially me, because when I was an adolescent, I was a rotten kid.  

Mentors and Teachers

When I was that age, I would say things like, "I am not going to college."  Or -- "If I go to college, it will be far away from here!"

In addition, I grew up in Brooklyn, where we had almost 5,000 students in the high school or about 1,200 per class.  It would have been easy to get lost between the cracks.  

However, I was lucky to find mentors and teachers that inspired me.  I grew up and matured as a person.  And for that, I have a deep and heartfelt appreciation for education, teachers, and mentors.

Rolling Dice

I have another story about luck.  All kids do crazy things.  My crazy thing was rolling dice.  When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I wanted to figure out the odds for games like Monopoly or backgammon.  I would sit there for an hour tallying up the 2s, 7s, and so on...  And then come back and roll the dice some more.

Luckily, my mom eventually walked by and said, "You know there are formulas for that!"  This was before the internet, so I looked at the encyclopedia.

I have always loved how math and numbers can be used to describe the world around us.  

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At the Candidates' Forum, I mentioned how my skill with finance and data analysis could be useful for the BOE and our community.  Some of my friends were disappointed that I didn't toot my own horn (mention credentials) at the debate.  Probably too much of that Brooklyn, Asian, modest upbringing!!  I feel that actions speak louder than words -- BUT as they suggested, the Candidates' Forum is certainly the "forum" to discuss credentials.     

Anyway -- these stories give a natural lead-in:

• Mentors and teachers inspired me, and this combined with -  
• my love for how numbers can be used to describe the world - 
• led me to MIT, where I earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees.  I have been lucky to do something I love every day: using numbers in fields as diverse as engineering, actuarial pension consulting, asset allocation and investments, and sports analytics.    
  

• My work has been used by institutional investors (Goldman Sachs and others), sports organizations, and college universities (Princeton and U. of Chicago).  
  
• Contributor to New York Times.  Also interviewed and quoted by the Wall St. Journal, ESPN, and others.
• SM and SB degrees from MIT in Mechanical Engineering, with concentrations in Economics and Business.
• I am a respectful person -- and someone who values others and their opinions.  

• Winner of local tennis tournaments; champion backgammon player.
• Supporter of the arts and volunteerism.  http://playitforgood.com/