Forever Young Foundation
Founded in 1993 by NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP Steve Young, Forever Young Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that serves children facing significant physical, emotional, and financial challenges. Funds raised further our efforts to provide academic, athletic, and therapeutic opportunities currently unavailable to these children.
Forever Young Foundation primarily focuses our efforts in Northern California, Arizona, Utah, and Ghana, Africa. Our development projects include Forever Young Zones, which provide technology and multimedia labs for those living in underserved communities as well as state-of-the-art interactive play areas in children's hospitals. We have also partnered with the National Football League in their nationwide development of Youth Education Town Centers (YET Centers) in each Super Bowl city. Our international initiatives include the building and expansion of schools in Ghana, Africa, as well as enhancing health, educational, and athletic opportunities for Ghanaian youth.
Board of Trustees
Steve and Barb Young - Founder and Co-Chairs of the Board
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Bob Gay
Mr. Gay is a Managing Director, Co-founder, and the Chief Executive Officer of Huntsman Gay Global Capital. He has been involved in the private equity business since 1986. From 1989 – 2004, he served as a Managing Director of Bain Capital. During this period he led or was a key sponsor of over 30% the firm's deals. Mr. Gay's large network of contacts allowed him to source over half of the above transactions outside of an auction process.
Mr. Gay was a leading member of the Management and Business Policy Committees at Bain Capital, and was head of the Industrial Products Group. Mr. Gay was also a founder and the leader of the firm's expansion into Europe.
Mr. Gay resigned as a full time partner from Bain Capital when his church asked him to take an assignment as its Mission President for the countries of Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia from July 2004 to July 2007.
Also while at Bain Capital, Mr. Gay led the start up of two important companies outside of Bain. First he co-founded Unitus, a global micro-credit company which has become one of the largest micro credit organizations in the world. Unitus has been recognized world wide and for the last two years has received the prestigious Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist award naming it one of the top 45 social capital companies in the USA. Secondly, Mr. Gay organized Sorenson Capital. Mr. Gay was approached by the Sorenson family in 2002 to organize a private equity firm. Although his commitments at Bain Capital prevented him from day to day involvement, he provided seed capital and contributed the largest “partner” co-invest commitment to the fund, brought the founding group of partners together, and became a member of its Advisory Board.
Mr. Gay started in private equity when he joined GE Capital from McKinsey & Co. where he was an Engagement Manager. At GE he was responsible for formulating GE's strategy to expand its role in leveraged buyouts. At GE he was named Executive Vice President of the GECC Capital Markets group. Mr. Gay also worked as a Vice President and Principal in the LBO group of Kidder Peabody.
Mr. Gay graduated in 1982 with a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University where he also taught economics for two years and received a HBS Division of Research fellowship. Mr. Gay also graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Utah.
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Rich Lawson
Mr. Lawson is a Managing Director of Huntsman Gay Global Capital. Mr. Lawson is also a member of Huntsman Gay's Policy and Investment Committee. Prior to the inception of Huntsman Gay, Mr. Lawson was a co-founder, Managing Director and member of the original four-person board of directors of the general partner of Sorenson Capital Partners, L.P., a private equity fund which focused on middle market leveraged buyouts in the Western United States.
While at Sorenson Capital, Mr. Lawson was involved in all phases of the firm's development since its founding and had responsibility for originating, structuring and managing investments across a number of industries in middle market companies. Mr. Lawson currently serves as a director on the boards of Provo Craft and Kiddie Kandids having completed his other remaining Sorenson Capital board obligations in 2007 as a result of the sale of both Vitron Manufacturing and Atlas Aerospace to Graham Partners as well as Amp Resources' cross-border sale to Italy's largest power company Enel SpA.
Mr. Lawson also serves as a director on the boards of Wasatch Adaptive Sports as well as the Forever Young Foundation, an organization that is a primary benefactor of a portion of Huntsman Gay's carried interest proceeds used to support extensive philanthropic work in children's causes around the world.
Prior to co-founding Sorenson Capital, Mr. Lawson served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Found, Inc., a Bain Capital portfolio company that provided inventory management solutions to major retailers and manufacturers. Mr. Lawson began his investment career in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley and worked in the New York and Tokyo, Japan offices as a member of the Corporate Finance and Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructuring Departments.
Mr. Lawson received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Amherst College.
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Junior Bryant
Junior Bryant most recently served as co-founder, Vice-President and co-Managing Director of Smith & Bryant, Inc., a real estate investment company. Junior had overall management responsibility for Smith & Bryant's funding activity with a specific focus on investment origination and selection, strategic placement, business development and investor relations.
Junior has actively invested in real estate development, emerging software, and innovative technology projects since 1996.
A veteran of the National Football League, Mr. Bryant retired from the San Francisco 49ers in 2003, after a successful ten year career as a defensive lineman. Mr. Bryant earned a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Notre Dame and currently serves on the board of the Forever Young Foundation.