UnLad’s Founders:
Terry Samala de Guzman and allen de Guzman
About Terry
Terry was born and raised in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines. She graduated from St. Theresa’s College with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and earned her C.P.A. before getting married to Allen and immigrating to the US. She completed her MBA from New York University’s Stern Business School while working in American Express, New York City. She moved on to become Controller/Principal at Kwasha Lipton, then became Division CFO for Bellcore. Terry then deliberately sought to work for mission-driven organizations and joined the Ethical Fieldston School in New York as Associate Head of School, then moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to take the position of Senior Associate Dean at UVA’s Darden Business School. While at Darden, Terry discovered her love for teaching and coaching, applying both at Darden and the executive programs at Harvard and Kellogg. She joined the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, where she was COO until her retirement in 2018. Terry is the recipient of St. Theresa’s College’s 2018 outstanding alumuae award, and is the author of “Here I Am, Learning Along the Way”. She is a certified executive and life coach working with clients through her coaching practice, TSDCoach. Terry has served on the boards of the Piedmont Virginia Community College, the Arts Alliance, Illinois and serves on the advisory board of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD, Manila)
About Allen
Allen was born and raised in Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines and finished his elementary and high-school education at the Don Bosco Academy in San Fernando, Pampanga. He graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the De La Salle University, Manila, where he played basketball and was a member of the 1971 NCAA Champion team. Shortly after graduating and marrying Terry, they both immigrated to the U.S. Allen joined J.P.Morgan Chase in New York City and worked there for 25 years, retiring from the position of Vice-President, Treasury Services in 2007. After moving to Charlottesville, he joined the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Health Foundation, where he served as Senior Associate Director, Medical Philanthropy until his retirement in 2018. Allen is a member of the advisory boards of UVA’s Heart & Vascular Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD, Manila).
The creation of unlad
Terry and Allen retired from employment in the summer of 2018. It was clear to them however, that they were not retiring from “work”. They knew they had more work to do.
They founded UNLAD in 2019 with its broad mission and ambitious goal of providing in the US and the Philippines access to basic education and formative extracurricular activities critical to our youth’s growth and development. They believe that access to educational opportunities are paramount to a young person’s ability to grow, develop and thrive. Having worked in elementary, high-school and university education for a third of her career, Terry believes that in addition to the basic academic training that our schools provide, access to extracurricular programs will enable our youth to discover their interests, talents and passion – passion that will build their confidence, fuel their aspirations, and motivate them to lead fulfilling, rewarding and sustainable lives.
Based on the founders’ own personal experience: Allen’s exposure to athletics, and Terry, to the arts, UNLAD’s focus will include access to basic academic education as well as extracurricular programs around the arts and athletics. Their children, in turn, grew up to be an athlete and an artist, respectively – and they witnessed first-hand how access to the combination of academics and extracurricular programs opened more doors and created more opportunities. In a world that has become increasingly competitive and cut-throat, UNLAD will also support the development of a healthy learning environment, raising awareness for physical and mental well-being.
As dual citizens of the USA and the Philippines, Terry and Allen have a deep appreciation of their own cross-cultural learnings, and plan to include learning exchanges between the two countries in UNLAD’s work.