Eric was one of the founding executives and investors in GISI. He partnered with GISI’s chairman and vice chairman during AECOM’s formative years when together they built one of our industry’s global leaders. Previously GISI’s general counsel, Eric builds on his technical background and years of experience in corporate finance and mergers to ensure the long-term success of our partner companies.
Before GISI, Eric served as senior vice president, corporate finance, of AECOM for 17 years. He also served as general counsel for eight years during this tenure. In this role, he was instrumental in overseeing and growing AECOM’s capital markets, mergers, employee share ownership, legal/risk management, and ethics/compliance activities. Notably, he managed AECOM’s 2007 IPO (the largest IPO in the E&C sector), built a credit facility of $2 billion and a surety bonding program of $5.5 billion, and helped lead many of the firm’s mergers.
As a result of the ethics program he instituted, AECOM was recognized by Ethisphere as one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” for several years in a row. He also served as the Vice Chairman of AECOM’s pension and retirement committee, overseeing $2 billion in employee retirement assets.
In addition to his role at GISI, Chen served as an outside director of Kokosing Inc., a family-owned heavy civil contractor based in Ohio, and of ACCO Engineered Systems, a large ESOP-owned building mechanical and HVAC contractor based in California. He also served as Chairman of the Audit Committee of both firms. He was a member of the board of directors of Engineers Alliance for the Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring high school students to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, or construction management, and established the Chen Family Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships to EAA graduates who major in those fields.
Eric graduated with honors from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (and passed the CPA examination) and received his JD from the University of California at Berkeley Law School.