Profiles

The valedictorian of her eighth-grade class, Chavon Sutton ’99 was accepted to all of the top schools near her hometown of Newark, N.J. Still, the intellectually curious student felt thwarted by the shortage of resources available to her.

That changed when Sutton earned one of the first scholarships funded by Ambassador Annenberg’s historic gift to Peddie. “While I may have done OK in life attending a top school at home, going to a school as nurturing and progressive as Peddie ensured that I would CRUSH life!”

Sutton immersed herself in many activities at Peddie and had the opportunity to travel to Trinidad as part of the Principio Project (a precursor to the current Signature Experiences Program) to study HIV/AIDS at the Caribbean Center for Epidemiology.

One of Sutton’s favorite memories is when she opened her mailbox on December 10, 1998, to find a big envelope from the University of Pennsylvania. It was then that Sutton learned that she would be the first person in her family to attend an Ivy League university. 

Sutton graduated Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania and obtained an M.A. and MBA from New York University. She was a financial analyst at Bank of America, then a reporter for CNNMoney.com and eventually a vice president at J.P. Morgan. She recently took on an independent consultant role at Momentum Advisors. Sutton is a board member of Hyde Leadership Charter School in Bronx, N.Y. All of that and she is also a classically-trained soprano.

“I am eternally grateful to Ambassador Annenberg,” said Sutton. “My experiences at Peddie made me the well-rounded creative professional that I am today.”