Boy Scouts of America honors Shawn Baldwin, Chairman of AIA Group, for service to inner-city youth

CHICAGO, Nov. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Shawn Baldwin, international financier, global investments advisor and Chairman of the AIA Group, was among the five top-tier business and community leaders to receive the Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award from the Boy Scouts of America, Pathway to Adventure Council, at a ceremony last Saturday at the Hyatt Regency. The award is presented to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional service and have blazed a trail of leadership toward improving life for inner-city youth.

The award is named after American civil rights leader Whitney M. Young Jr., an educator and head of the National Urban League for 10 years, who dedicated his life to serving and improving the lives of African Americans across the country.

Baldwin, 49, has enjoyed a prolific career in finance that reads like a bestseller, where the good guy works harder and smarter to get the gold, and pays it forward. The Oxford University graduate became only the second African American member of the Chicago Stock Exchange at age 28. Baldwin went on to found an investment bank that participated in over $68 billion of IPOs in a three-year period for companies such as Google, The Travelers Companies and the New York Stock Exchange. He is currently chairman of the AIA Group, an advisory and investment firm that specializes in alternative investments, foreign exchange, derivatives and commodities markets.

To his credit, Baldwin has spearheaded as well as participated in several of the most influential and exclusive international finance forums worldwide. Magazines such as Forbes, Fortune, Money, The Economist, BusinessWeek and Fast Company have profiled him as well as published his discussions and analyses with billionaires such as Carlos Slim, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on crucial monetary policy issues. Baldwin has provided trading, advisory, research and investment banking services to pension funds, foundations, endowments and corporations. 

Baldwin says he was especially proud to stand alongside four of his peers to receive the award: Marlow Colvin, Vice President, Governmental Affairs, ComEd; James W. Compton, retired CEO, Chicago Urban League; Lou Sandoval, co-owner and co-founder, Karma Yacht Sales, LLC; and Howard Patton (posthumously), retired regional director, Department of Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt Saving Bond Division.

The award recipients' contributions include donating funds to send underprivileged youth to camp, facilitating financial-literacy programs, volunteering in scouting programs, providing jobs and job training, and chaperoning trips aimed at enlightening youth about opportunities to attend college.

"Their dedication to organizations like the Boy Scouts of America make our communities better places to live and work," said Marc Ryan, Chief Operating Officer, Pathway to Adventure Council, Boy Scouts of America. "Mr. Young would be proud to know these fine gentlemen and would delight in not only what they have accomplished thus far, but what they are sure to do in the future."

Baldwin, a native of Dayton, Ohio, resides in Chicago. Media contact: Shawn Taylor | 312-371-6260 | [email protected].

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151117/288268

SOURCE AIA Group