Osbert Hood '86

Osbert Hood ’86 came to Adelphi’s University College—then called the Adult Baccalaureate Learning Experience (ABLE)—knowing that to attain his dream of becoming a chief financial officer, he first needed a college degree.

After emigrating from Grenada to Canada at age 20, Mr. Hood began working for American Express. He relocated to the firm’s Great Neck, New York office, and enrolled at Adelphi a few years later. “Adelphi worked for me at a time when I needed it to,” he said.

At the time, he could scarcely imagine the day- to-day life of a chief executive officer overseeing several hundred employees, while keeping a keen eye on fiscal performance and emerging opportunities. MacKay Shields, LLC, where he finished his career in finance, is an investment advisory firm that manages more than $45 billion in assets across all capital markets. Mr. Hood recently retired as its chairman/CEO.

Earlier, he had served as chief operating officer and then CEO of Pioneer Investment Management, as well as CEO of John Hancock Advisers.

His management philosophy comes through in his advice to younger employees and jobseekers: “You’ve got to understand business. I would rather work with a good listener than a good speaker. If you are talking too much, you’re not learning.”

After receiving his B.S. cum laude from Adelphi, Mr. Hood completed an M.B.A. at New York University and the advanced management program at the Wharton School of Business.

In March 2010, Mr. Hood was elected to the Adelphi Board of Trustees.

In addition to his corporate achievements, he has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Boston Ballet, the Boston Museum project, the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston. He has focused his philanthropy on children’s services because he remembers the challenges his own family faced.

In his leisure time, Mr. Hood is passionate about reading, and routinely chooses a book or magazine over television, which he finds too slow. The New York Times and The Economist are included on his reading list because he feels strongly that no one can afford to ignore what is going on in China, Italy and Japan. An avid tennis player, he has recently taken up golf.

Looking back, he fondly recalled Professor Saul Myers, who taught Intermediate Accounting. “He was in his 60s when he taught my class,” he said, “and what a joy to listen to. He brought real life to the subject matter and had a great sense of humor. He was a great man, and I was saddened to hear of his passing.”