Jorge Serpa ’83, M.S. ’86, has raced the European circuits and traversed the Atlantic in his beloved 39-ft. sailing boat Cintra III.
Jorge Serpa goes where the wind blows—literally. He is an avid sailor who has raced the European circuits and traversed the Atlantic in his beloved 39-ft. sailing boat Cintra III.
Although Serpa is passionately devoted to sailing, he also managed to earn a bachelor’s (1983) and master’s (1986) degree from URI in mechanical engineering as well as an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. After graduate school, he went on to work as a top executive in the power and gas industry.
In addition, he is raising two children with his wife, Lucy Tamlyn, a United States diplomat currently posted at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.
Visiting the United Nations with Serpa, a native of Portugal who is “fluent enough to get myself into trouble in five languages,” is an extraordinary experience. As he walks the halls, he becomes an informal ambassador greeting members of the UN staff in their own languages. He conducts a thorough behind-the-scenes tour taking time to explain the different branches of the institution. He pops in and out of rooms normally seen only on television. He lingers over favorite works of art gifted to the United Nations by an impressive array of countries.
His admiration and pride in his wife’s work as a diplomat shines throughout the visit. He explains that while juggling her own career and family responsibilities, she has whole-heartedly supported his sailing trips. This support never wavers despite the fact that these trips sometimes take Serpa away for months at a time.
After receiving his M.B.A. from Georgetown, Serpa got into the business of electrical energy and gas. He started out with a small company located in Washington, D.C., and moved on to Community Energy Alternatives, which later became PSE&G Global. “I did a lot of work in Latin America,” he said. “I went to Brazil and opened a PSE&G office. Then, I led the $1.5 billion acquisition of Rio Grande Energy.”
The success of the acquisition changed the course of Serpa’s life. “I bought my first sailboat, Cintra I, with a bonus I had earned from Rio Grande Energy,” he said.
Buying the boat became the catalyst for his leaving the business world. “I had made the move to a local affiliate of Enron in Brazil. At the same time, I was trying to sail my boat from the U.S. to Brazil. I ended up having to leave the boat in the Bahamas and fly back for work,” Serpa recalled. “I was sitting in my office looking out at the water thinking, ‘I just hired a crew to sail my boat for me while I come to work; there is something wrong with this!’”
Serpa’s wife supported his decision to take a sabbatical. In the meantime, Tamlyn ended up transferring from Brazil to Rome. Serpa took full advantage of this relocation, racing in the Grand Prix Europe circuit in his second boat, Cintra II. “I was the only owner in the circuit who delivered his own boat to the races,” Serpa noted proudly.
Not only did Serpa race extensively, he also formed the first ever U.S. Embassy Rome Sailing Team. “We had an interesting mixture of people,” he recalled. “We were the only U.S. embassy with a sailing team. We had diplomats, families of diplomats, and local staff on the crew.” Serpa laughed as he recalled teaching the team to sail. “It took three months to pull it together. I started with saying ‘this is the red line, and until you know what the red line does, just pull on it when I tell you to.’” The team ended up competing off Capri in the 2002 IMS Offshore World Championship.
In 2002, Tamlyn was transferred back to New York to work with the United Nations. Serpa took the opportunity to sail Cintra III to the U.S. The Atlantic crossing took from September to December 2002. “Sailing has its own rhythm,” Serpa commented. “You have to work with Mother Nature. You realize how small you are in a 39-ft. sailboat—you are very, very, close to the water.”
Serpa is a born adventurer who takes life as he finds it. His career at URI was the result of a travel whim: “I was in Bridgeport, Conn., on my way to Louisiana. I had grabbed a bus schedule and found URI listed as a stop. I decided to go see it and fell in love with the campus.” He thought of URI as a temporary stop on his way to the University of Michigan: “I wanted to study naval architecture, but I loved URI so much I changed my major so I could stay. I had six wonderful years in Kingston.”
During his URI years, Serpa spent every weekend out on Narragansett Bay racing boats from Newport. “URI had a great sailing program, but I wasn’t able to sail for URI because the competition was so intense—there were so many great sailors on the team. You had to make two weekly training sessions in order to qualify for racing on the weekend. As an engineering major, I didn’t have the time.”
Serpa also has fond memories of his studies. “Engineering is a great field—it trains you on developing algorithms to get to solutions,” he said. He found two faculty members especially inspiring. “Frank White was a great professor who made fluid mechanics extremely interesting and inspired me to get my master’s in it. And Professor Dick Lessmann was one of those formative pillars of my life. I worked on my master’s with him—we concentrated on submarine hulls.”
So, how does a nautical man get his sailing fix in New York City? He races model sailboats in Central Park, of course.
But those days are numbered. In July the peripatetic Serpa family is moving to Chad, a land-locked African nation. Tamlyn will be the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in the capital city of N’Djamena where the Serpas’ 13-year-old son and 10-year old daughter will attend the American International School.
Now Serpa’s eyes are on other horizons. “I really want to drive across the Sahara—after all, in many ways it would be just like being at sea,” he remarked.
No matter where he roams, whether over seas or sand dunes, Serpa would love to hear from URI friends. He can be reached at jorge@tamlyn-serpa.com.
Jennifer Sherwood is the director of development and marketing for Turtle Bay Music School in New York City.
