Chloe Renee Kelley may not be on the very top of the world, but the view from her 46th floor conference room in Manhattan is still pretty sweet.
Kelley BBA ’06 has lived in New York City for eight years and serves as senior vice president for account management with the international investment management firm PIMCO. In short, her job is to bring the firm’s resources to bear for its clients.
She is a connector. She makes things happen.
“I’ve always tried to be the person who’s very involved in things,” Kelley says.
That’s true in her work and definitely in her relationship with UGA. She’s served her alma mater since the day she graduated—she was the undergraduate student speaker at her commencement in 2006.
Like many young alumni, Kelley bounced around looking for her place and gathering experience. She went from New York to Atlanta to Chicago, then back to New York when she landed at PIMCO. Kelley also married her husband, Aaron, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a Morehouse grad she met during her undergraduate internship in New York. They earned MBAs together at the University of Chicago and now have two children.
Throughout that time, Kelley kept close ties to the UGA community.
She was an inaugural member of the Terry Young Alumni Board and then a member of Terry’s full board, where she leads its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee.
Getting involved with UGA early in one’s career is advice that Kelley regularly gives.
“Right when you are leaving school, you love your school and you’re excited, but you’re also moving on to the next chapter in your life,” she says. “If you catch people then, they can stay engaged. If you wait five years until they’re really established in their careers, they don’t have that same excitement.
“UGA has so many great opportunities for students and young alumni,” she says. “You have a vast network of alumni who can be a support system for you. That’s what has helped propel me in my career.”
For her part, Kelley is always willing to give back.
In the summer of 2021, she was elected to the Foundation Board of Trustees, the 52-member body that oversees the foundation’s work. It’s one of the highest levels of alumni leadership. Not only has the new role increased her connection to UGA, it’s increased her travel too.
She came back to Athens four times in the fall of 2021. Foundation board work made up the bulk of that travel, but she has time for fun. (Kelley is still a Bulldogs season ticket holder and returned to Sanford Stadium for the South Carolina game).
Perhaps her most meaningful 2021 visit was for the dedication of the Jere W. Morehead Honors College on Sept. 30. Kelley considers Morehead, who was director of the Honors Program when she was a Foundation Fellow, a mentor.
“He’s just done so much for the university and for the Honors Program, it’s just fitting that students now will come to the Jere W. Morehead Honors College,” Kelley says. “And they’ll get an even better experience than I had. They’re a part of a small institution with great academics within this larger university where you have all of these different opportunities for research, for engagement with professors, for football, for everything.”