Albert P. Carey ’74

Albert P. Carey, a longtime executive at PepsiCo and supporter of the University of Maryland, has doubled down on his commitment to helping undergraduate Terps afford to reach for their dreams.

Carey recently made his second million-dollar gift to the Maryland Promise Program, which provides need-based scholarships for undergraduates from underserved populations from Maryland and Washington, D.C. The Albert P. and Victoria V. Carey Maryland Promise Scholarship endowment is matched by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation and the University of Maryland.

Carey’s first gift to the Maryland Promise Program has supported 13 students in the Robert H. Smith School of Business. His second gift will enlarge the group of scholars enrolled in the Smith School, as well as support a second cohort of scholars in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS).

Carey was once a BSOS student himself, majoring in the then-BSOS major in urban studies. (Today, the urban studies and planning program is housed within the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.)

Although his career wound up taking a more business-focused route—from being recruited to join Proctor and Gamble and climbing the ranks there, to eventually serving as the CEO of PepsiCo North America—Carey says that the lessons he learned in his urban studies classes are a few of the many gifts UMD gave him.

“Urban studies had an interesting curriculum that included a focus on sociology, political strategy, urban planning and race relations,” recalled Carey. “Many of those learnings were helpful in my business career as they helped me better understand human behavior in large organizations.”

Carey also credits his success to the leadership opportunities he was presented with at UMD, where he served as president of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, and as a captain of the cross-country team. The track and field team was the reason why the New York native came to UMD in the first place, the team having offered Carey a scholarship to attend the university.

Carey’s coach felt he was too focused on sports and had to remind him that he needed to put forth the same amount of discipline on his academics as he did on the track. From that experience came yet another UMD-induced benefit for Carey.

“I listened to my coach and it definitely paid off,” said Carey. “Upon graduating I had a lot of great memories about the whole UMD experience. Maybe the best of all was when I won a student athlete award in my senior year. I proved to myself that I could succeed in both areas if I worked hard at both. I will always be grateful for that lesson.”

Carey says that he’s motivated to give back to UMD because of the financial support he received, the opportunities he was given to find his way, and the people who believed in his ability to do so.

“I wasn't coming to UMD if I didn't get that scholarship, and I can’t believe what a difference it made in my career to have mentors that built my confidence and changed the way I thought about myself and my expectations of myself in those early days,” said Carey. “I hope to have a one-on-one relationship with the students who get these scholarships so that I can pay it forward.”

In addition to his decades of experience at Proctor and Gamble and PepsiCo, Carey is now the executive chairman of Unifi, a global textile solutions provider, acts as an advisor to the CEO of Chobani, is a Jersey Mike’s franchisee, and is the vice chairman of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, which provides services to men, women, and children facing hunger, homelessness, and addiction in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Recently, Carey also became chair of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees, where he hopes to inspire more alums to offer support to the university—no matter how small.

“If you're an alum, big gifts are great, but small gifts are also great,” he said. “I made a small gift with another alum to support a young lady whose family was going through a tough time. Her mom wrote me a thank you letter that I still have today, and I read when I need a little bit of a lift. The feeling of giving is like nothing else, and what’s uncanny is that it seems that giving comes back to you many times over.”