Gerry Ohrstrom

Gerry Ohrstrom is a private investor in New York City. He is former vice chairman of G.L. Ohrstrom & Co., a private equity firm founded by his grandfather the 1940s, and former chairman of the Ohrstrom Foundation, established by his grandfather in the 1950s. He is currently chairman of Vistan Corporation, a family holding company, and is a director Nanotronics Imaging, a microscopy company. Gerry has served as chairman or director of numerous private companies and was a director of Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE) in the 1990s. In the 1980s he worked in corporate finance at Bear Stearns & Co., and prior to that he worked at manufacturing companies in Michigan and Germany.
 
In recent years, Gerry has spent much of his time in the nonprofit sector, principally in scientific research, science education, and public policy. He serves or has served as a director of the Reason Foundation, the Property and Environment Research Center, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Africa Fighting Malaria, the International Policy Network, the Gruter Institute, the American Council on Science and Health, the Museum of the Rockies, the Booker T. Washington Learning Center, and the Yellowstone Park Foundation. He is a member of the Intelligence Squared U.S. Foundation board and the virtual advisory board of its debate series. From 2008-2010 he served as co-chairman of the President's Council at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He is a member of the New York Academy of Science.  His primary interests include education, scientific research, economics, public policy, and issues of poverty.