LGBTQ+ Strength in Sustainability

Named scholarship funds play a critical role in keeping GSBA’s Scholarship & Education Fund sustainable. They allow donors to invest deeply in the futures they believe in, while ensuring GSBA can continue supporting LGBTQ+ and allied scholars year after year.

This year, GSBA welcomed several new named funds into our scholarship ecosystem, including the N³ Scholarship Fund — short for Not Boring, Numbers, and Nerds.

Founded by long-time GSBA members Jacky-Vy Chau and Greg Serum, N³ is rooted in a shared belief that careers built on numbers, formulas, and precision deserve intentional support.

The Genesis of N³

“We thought about doing the scholarship for awhile now, and when I sold my company last year, it just made sense to put that into place.”

The idea for N³ took shape far from Seattle. While vacationing in Singapore with their family, Greg and Jacky found themselves sitting in the Marina Bay Sands hotel lounge, drinks in hand, a few hours to kill. It was there that a simple question sparked something bigger: what do engineering, accounting, and taxes all have in common?

Numbers. Formulas. Structure.

“No one thinks that engineering or bookkeeping or taxes are like, you know, exciting, sexy jobs. N³ is kind of in the same vein, it’s a formula kind of.”

That moment became the foundation of N³ — a scholarship intentionally designed to support students pursuing accounting, bookkeeping, taxes, and engineering.

The People Behind N³

N³ is shaped by the lives Jacky and Greg have built — in their careers, in community, and alongside GSBA.

Jacky immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when he was 16 years old. His family gave up everything. They didn’t know English, and finding work was difficult. Jacky worked part-time jobs to support himself through college. Coming from a communist country shaped how he understood opportunity, education, and community.

“I came here… for a better life. I always believed that education is the most important thing.”

Greg’s path into community looked different, but led to the same place. In 1990, he founded Your Man Friday — and the very first thing he did was join GSBA and buy an ad in the SGN.

“I couldn’t afford GSBA, and I could barely afford the ad, but I did it. And so, my company was built in the community.”



At a time when many LGBTQ+ business owners could not safely be out, GSBA offered visibility and connection. Your Man Friday grew within that ecosystem, as a member for 35 years, where GSBA remained a client for more than 20 years.

GSBA Directory Guides with Your Man Friday ads inside, years 1991–2020.

“The community built my company, and this is why the organization is there.”

Years later, Jacky began volunteering as a scholarship reviewer for the GSBA Scholarship & Education Fund. Reading application after application, he started to notice patterns — and absences.

“When I was looking at a lot of applications, there wasn’t much representation for bookkeeping, accounting… and as far as engineering goes, there was some, but not so much electrical.”

At the same time, Jacky and Greg noticed that many scholars were pursuing careers in tech. While they celebrate those successes, they wanted to intentionally support students entering careers that may face a harder road when it comes to immediate repayment of student debt.

“Tech wages don’t equal tax wages.”

Together, those experiences — immigration, entrepreneurship, visibility, and years of service — shaped what N³ would become. A scholarship rooted in numbers and formulas, yes, but ultimately grounded in lived experience and community care.

Why GSBA

For Jacky and Greg, GSBA was the natural home for N³ — a place where Jacky’s Asian community and LGBTQ+ community intersected, and an organization they trusted deeply.

“GSBA is one of the non-profits that’s actually really special… it’s well established, and really gives back to the community. I had never seen an organization that gives out so much money… and it’s here to benefit the scholars.”

As a tax professional, Greg structured N³ as a Donor Advised Fund, receiving the tax deduction the same year he sold Your Man Friday. Jacky’s employer, Boeing, offers corporate matching, further expanding the impact of the fund.

Looking Ahead

The first N³ Scholar is yet to be selected, as applications for the GSBA Scholarship & Education Fund are still open (closing Jan 9, 2026). To say Jacky and Greg are excited to meet their first scholar is an understatement.

“We just did it because we felt it was the right thing to do.”

Named funds like N³ help keep GSBA sustainable and rooted in community. We are deeply grateful to Jacky and Greg for their generosity, trust, and belief in the power of education — and we can’t wait to introduce you to the first N³ Scholar.

by Cortney Gosset, GSBA