A NEW DAY DAWNS - Boston Latin School

ProfiLeS
had the kind of moment you read about
in stories or comic books—ones about
people who rise from moments of almost
embarrassing vulnerability to heights of
undisputed greatness. he was 15 and
riding the T back from the Charles River,
where he was a sailing instructor and
snack bar worker. Suddenly, two guys
robbed him.
“i didn’t like the feeling, the fear. i let them
take the money,” he says. “i vowed i was
never going to be afraid again. i wanted
to go after people who would bully people
like that.”
At Latin School, where he enrolled in the
seventh grade, Linskey didn’t consider
himself much of an academic. “You had to
study so hard,” he admits. he recalls being
terrified of the school, thinking, ‘Will i ever
make it? … There’s so much work every
night.’ But he did and went on to
Northeastern University and the Marine
Corps (serving during the first Gulf War in
iraq, but not shipped overseas). “Latin
School prepared me for all of that. i’ve
topped the promotion exams [at the Police
Department].”
Linskey says his Alma Mater also helped
prepare him for the many cultures he has
encountered in law enforcement.
“i came from a community which was mostly
white and middle class,” he says, “and i
went to Latin and it was diverse cultures
and races and religions and types of
people. it gave me an appreciation for the
world. it helped at an early age to see that.”
one irony, he says, is that as a top
administrator in the Police Department,
he maintained relations with former
Boston Schools Superintendent Michael
Contompasis ’57, who was head master
at Latin when he was a student. “We’d
be at meetings and i’d say, ‘Yes, Mr.
Contompasis,’” he says.
Linskey is just a few rungs down from the
commissioner’s position, the top ranking
job at the Boston Police Department. But
his only aspirations, he says, are “to be a
good husband to my wife and father to my
children. i’m amazed and overwhelmed by
where i am at in my career.”
16 Bulletin fall 2007
To china
and Back Again
BY MARIA BLACkBuRn ’86
Kelly Gushue ’95 expanded Her
Career—Globally
Pig brains. Chicken feet. Fried scorpions. The array of exotic dishes presented to Kelly
Gushue ’95 at the banquets she attended in China, where she worked in finance from
2003 to 2005, never failed to surprise her. As the guest of honor, she was expected to
take the first helping of food. But at a banquet in Shandong province one evening, she
looked down at the 40 or so fried scorpions sitting before her on a platter and Gushue
knew she had to do something.
So she made a joke out the situation. “i mentioned that in the U.S. we have a TV
show called ‘Fear Factor’ where there’s a $100,000 reward for eating different things,”
Gushue says. “i said that if there’s a $100,000 reward i would be happy to try these
fried scorpions. otherwise maybe my colleague would like to try them first.” everyone at
the table laughed.
Gushue, who works as a wealth advisor for Citigroup Smith Barney in San Francisco,
has never been the type of person who sits around waiting for things to happen. As the
youngest of four children growing up in Dorchester, her family didn’t have the money to
take vacations, so she went to the library and read about far-off places in books like The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Passage to India.
At Latin School, she learned about the world in history Master Gregory Turpin’s Global
issues class and realized she wanted to see it for herself. “i became interested in Asia
because my history book in my junior year ended in 1950 with Japan a devastated
country,” she says. “But i knew that in the 1980s there was a threat of Japan taking
over the world. if Japan could do that in less than 40 years, why couldn’t another
country? Mr. Turpin’s class served as the cornerstone of my international exploration.”
After graduating from Latin School, Gushue went to harvard where she majored in east
Asian studies, interned in London and studied abroad in Australia. She knew a career in
finance would allow her to work around the world and she wanted to work for an Asiabased
company. So, after three years at J.P. Morgan in San Francisco, she decided to
move to Shanghai, China. “it was one of the easiest decisions i’ve had to make,” says
Gushue, 30. “i wanted to go and witness the dramatic economic growth in Asia—why
not be there and be a part of it?”
Gushue arrived in China without a job and unable to speak the language. She wasn’t
worried. “When you have to eat you learn fast.” Within four months she was the
first non-Chinese employee hired at XiangCai Securities, the eighth largest Chinese
investment firm. Gushue was brought in to help improve the research division and
market the company to international banks. She also coordinated the production of the
company’s first english report. After a year, Gushue was recruited to start a research
division for a U.S. firm based in China. She lived in China for more than two years
before returning to the United States in 2005.