Parents’ Association Benefit Honors Board President Jim Chanos

The Parents Association’s Spring Benefit 2015 honored Browning Board of Trustees President Jim Chanos P’07, ’09, ’11, who is stepping down from the Board after 17 years of service, including 15 as President. “Zoo in the Sky,” which took place at the Central Park Zoo on May 15, kicked off with a welcome by PA President Ken Metz and a “thank-you” video featuring Browning boys and other community members. Mr. Metz said, “Thank you to the over 440 parents, faculty and staff who came out to honor Jim Chanos at this benefit. Your support helped make the benefit a success, and the money raised will have a significant school-wide impact.” 

Mr. Metz added, “The weather cooperated, and the evening and venue were both beautiful. It was a once-in-a-lifetime ‘New York City’ experience. A very special thank-you to our benefit co-chairs, Chanda Chapin, Paige Hardy, Karen Naber and Alka Singh, for their hard work in making this event so special! Thanks as well to PA Liaison Christine Bramble and the Benefit Committee.” 

Headmaster Stephen M. Clement, III spoke of Mr. Chanos’s incredible leadership through the years and offered a congratulatory toast. Lower School music teacher Lucy Warner was joined on stage by a group of faculty members who serenaded Mr. Chanos to the tune of Andrew Gold’s “Thank You for Being a Friend.”

The Benefit Chairs presented Mr. Chanos with a set of gold cuff links engraved with a bear representing Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation. The bear motif adorned the benefit invitation and other décor as a nod to Mr. Chanos’s reputation on Wall Street for his “bearish” calls, as well as his Greek heritage, since the famous Ursa Major constellation originated in Greek mythology. Art teachers Nik Vlahos and Zack Davis presented Mr. Chanos with a photograph of a sculpture created especially for him by Browning boys at all division levels, followed by Headmaster Clement’s announcement that as a tribute to Mr. Chanos’s love of Browning and his love of art, the gallery space outside the School’s new art classrooms will be named The Chanos Gallery.