Vernel Bennett, President and Co-Founder

Vernel Bennett, President and Co-Founder was born and raised in Harlem NY and has an AAS Degree in Accounting from NYC Community College, also has a BBA Degree in Management, with a concentration in Black Studies, from The Bernard M Baruch College of The City University of New York and received his certification as a Certified Financial Planner from Adelphi University of New York.

He worked in the financial industry for over 40 years and has retired from the NYC Department of Finance as a Group Chief Field Tax Auditor; Certified Financial Planner and Investment Broker, and he was also the President of the 224th /22th Street Civic Association of Laurelton from 1999 to 2019 (20 years)

He took his first golf lesson in 2004 while on vacation on a cruise ship. In 2005, he joined the Roosevelt Golfers Association, Inc. In Roosevelt NY, where he began taking lessons, and eventually becoming the Financial Officer and then the Executive Officer of that Association. It was through the urging and interest of his many friends and colleagues that he and his now Vice President, Jacques M. Léandre, we decided to form the UBGA on March 14, 2014 to help stimulate interest in the game of golf to people of color in Queens NY.