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Jerome Zhang
Jerome Zhang – A Life of Chinese Milestones
Born in Shanghai in 1945, Jerome grew up during a period when the Communist Party was establishing complete control over Chinese society and the economy. Precocious, he completed high school at 15 and earned a Chemical Engineering degree by 20, in 1965, just months before the Cultural Revolution disrupted higher education for the next decade.
Jerome married a fellow Shanghai native and chemical engineer, and the couple was assigned to work at a Chemical Design Institute in Taiyuan, far from their hometown. Their work involved designing and improving chemical plants across China. For more than 13 years, Jerome advanced professionally and began studying English after work—a testament to his persistence, given the lack of resources at the time.
In 1978, under Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, Jerome was selected to join the first class of Visiting Scholars to the U.S., spending two years at MIT. There, he experienced a dramatically different culture of openness and debate while participating in chemical research. As one of the few chemical engineers among the first Visiting Scholars, he successfully negotiated a return to Shanghai for his family.
He was tasked with creating a consulting division for his new company, which he built into a multidisciplinary team of 200 employees in just seven years. He later rose to Senior VP and then to the Board of Directors of Shanghai Chlor-Alkali Company, where he oversaw technology, managed international partnerships, and acquired foreign technologies from Japan, the U.S., and Europe.
In 2010, after retiring at 63, Jerome and his wife moved to Westport to be with their only child. His daughter had earlier studied in the U.S., earned an MBA from Columbia, and settled in Manhattan and Westport.
Now retired, Jerome enjoys cooking, tennis, ping-pong, and Bridge. He looks forward to connecting with new friends and sharing his stories—or his recipes for authentic Chinese cuisine!
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