Aaron Dean
Board of Directors
Aaron Dean
Member
Aaron Dean is the founder and President of Cydean LLC (“Cydean”), an investment and management company focusing primarily on residential real estate. At Cydean, Aaron oversees the acquisition, financing, renovation, refinancing, operation and disposition of residential properties, as well as setting and executing its growth strategy.
Mr. Dean is also a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Borough of Brooklyn Center for Arts & Technology (BoBCAT), a 501 (c ) 3 nonprofit whose mission is to identify and obtain living wage careers for people who do not have college degrees. BoBCAT was founded in 2021 and has sent almost 40 people to the carpenters union.
Prior to launching Cydean and BoBCAT, Aaron spent over 20 years on Wall Street, working in various advisory and investment capacities at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company (now JPMorgan Chase), Drexel Burnham Lambert, Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, M.D. Sass and Prudential Securities. At Prudential, he was Chief of Staff to the head of Wealth Management Group with a combined $10 billion in assets under management, and responsible for overseeing the operational and business integration and reporting for seven business areas, including estate planning, life insurance, retirement services, and annuities. At other times in his career, Aaron was engaged in the financial and operating restructurings of a wide range of companies.
Aaron is currently a mentor in the CUNY Startups program. In this role, he works with other mentors and the program’s administrators to guide and advise young entrepreneurs as they devise, develop, and finance their startup ideas.
He believes people from every walk of life have the opportunity to advance their lives through education and support for their basic needs. As Board Chairman of Brooklyn Community Services (BCS) from 2010 to 2016, he worked with a 500-person team to empower people from low-income communities to overcome their obstacles through services including early childhood, after-school, high school and equivalent education, youth development, family counseling, services for people with disabilities, mental health and wellness, a variety of job training and support programs, and disaster recovery and relief. Aaron led BCS in the hiring of a new executive director, oversaw the 15oth anniversary planning process which guided the agency to stronger financial footing. BCS serves over 15,000 clients and family members per year.
For over thirty years, he has mentored numerous young men of color, including one who now teaches other young men to be productive men in our society. Others he has guided have gone on to become successful real estate or corporate professionals.
He has previously served on the boards of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Workshops in Business Opportunities, the Harvard Black Alumni Association, and was President of the Clermont Greene Block Association.
He has a Bachelors degree cum laude in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration degree from Harvard University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Deborah, daughter Cydney, and their dog Leo.
