“IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, you’re going to have to study at a place where you experience the intersection of theory and the day-to-day toss and tumble of politics.”

This is the advice Charles Grice MPP 1985 received from colleagues at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which he had joined in 1979—a time when inflation had soared above 12.5% and the U.S. prime rate eventually surpassed 21%. “I’d been working under Paul Volcker [former chairman of the Federal Reserve] and with Lloyd Bentsen [former chair of the Senate Finance Committee]. The Fed at the time had more than 300 professional PhDs in economics, but even they were restless to understand why theory didn’t translate to practice as it did in our textbooks. These were extraordinary people who set economic policy and tax rates, and I kept trying to figure out, how do these decisions get made? And everybody kept saying, ‘You might want to think about the Kennedy School.’”

He applied to a number of graduate schools—some of which offered him full financial aid—but he decided to take out loans to attend HKS because of its unique combination of theory and practice. “In my desperate plea for aid, the Kennedy School showed me their economic situation—they showed me their books so I could understand the problem. I could see there was almost no money for financial aid, but I still had to go there.”
 

Charles Grice

 

His HKS experience was marked by great teachers, many of whom became lifelong friends. “I was part of that lucky generation that got to go to the School when the original founders were still there.” He cites renowned faculty members Howard Raiffa, Nobel Prize winner Tom Schelling, Richard Neustadt, and his beloved Dean Graham Allison as particular influences. “I got to know some of them like family,” he says. “Each of these people was not only super qualified but, more importantly, they all were warm human beings, dedicated teachers, and experienced policy practitioners, so they could talk about the real world as well as the theories. I’d never seen that before. I wouldn’t be me were it not for these really generous people who would give you all the time in the world.”

After HKS, Grice went on to a career fixing broken banks and fighting financial fraud. “I’m like a plumber—I get hired to understand and fix or recover from fraud and other financial crimes.” Clients have included both the U.S. and international governments—the president of Chile hired him to investigate the financial fraud of dictator Augusto Pinochet—as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ) and major banks. He has served as an expert witness in dozens of high-stakes court cases and provided testimony before the Senate, the DOJ, the Federal Reserve Board, the Department of the Treasury, and the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. “Financial crimes happen with predictable regularity. And I like fighting them because it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack of needles, because the smarter bad guys try to hide their crimes.”

Throughout his career, Grice has remained an active alumnus of HKS. “I’m one of these connector types of people, and I like staying in touch.” When he lived in California, he married an MPP classmate, held a wedding that felt like an HKS reunion, and spent time with friends from HKS; this group became the foundation for what is now the HKS San Francisco Alumni Network. At their gatherings, he and his friends discussed the many complex challenges of the time. “The Berlin Wall was about to come down, communism was about to end, Tiananmen Square exploded in violence—the world was changing. It was obvious that our teachers at the Kennedy School understood this—and these great teachers, including Richard Neustadt, Robert Reich, and Dean Robert Putnam, made themselves available to fly out and talk to us in San Francisco.”

“I want to make sure nobody has to figure out the financial aid problem the way I did. Once you meet the students, it becomes the easiest investment decision in the world.”
Charles Grice MPP 1985

He continued his connection with the School by serving as chair of the Alumni Board; today, he is a vice chair and member of the Leadership Circle of the School’s Dean’s Council. Members of this group are international leaders from all sectors who support the School’s mission of creating a better world. The group meets twice a year, typically once on campus and once in London, engaging in discussions with HKS faculty, students, alumni, and public leaders. “It’s terrific fun—some of the most fun you’re ever going to have as an adult. And it does good—not just for the world, but for you. It’s something that makes you feel excited and proud every day.”

Grice says he stays involved with HKS because “the magic of the founding professors has extended to powerfully gifted research and teaching in today’s HKS by folks such as Erica Chenoweth, Tarek Masoud, Ron Heifetz, Arthur Brooks, and former Dean Doug Elmendorf.” He is an especially enthusiastic cheerleader for student financial aid, including for international students. In addition to his Dean’s Council philanthropy, he recently donated funds to establish the Charles H. Grice Graduate Fellowship. “The reason I care so deeply about financial aid is that when I came to HKS, I didn’t have two nickels—and at the time, it was awful. I want to make sure nobody has to figure out the financial aid problem the way I did. And once you meet today’s students, it becomes the easiest investment decision in the world.”

He says he is just getting started. “The more I meet people who benefit from financial aid at the Kennedy School, the more inspired I am to do more.”


Photographs by Jessica Scranton and Lydia Rosenberg.