Alumni Profile: Georgena Terry ’72
You might say Georgena Terry forged her own path, but it would be the only cliché in her story. Georgena earned her first bachelor’s degree as a drama major at Chatham College. “I did lighting and tech. I was always more comfortable behind the scenes. I loved math and physics and all that stuff,” she says. Small wonder, then, that she earned her second bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University which Georgena completed in two years, due to having so many transferable credits from Chatham (Georgena also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania).
A lifelong avid biker, Georgena became interested in bicycle frames, and built her first frame in her basement. It was an exact copy of the bike she was riding at the time, and she found herself questioning the choices that were made in its construction. It was a short step from there to hand-building frames for women’s bodies that were in increasing demand among women cyclists in her community. Recognizing an unmet need, Georgena launched Terry Precision Bicycles for Women, which grew to include award-winning components and apparel.
The accolades began to pile up: In 1996, Georgena was named one of four cycling pioneers by Bicycling magazine. In 2002, she was the only woman recognized in Outside Magazine’s list of 11 cycling innovators. In 2005, the Direct Marketing Association of New York named her Marketer of the Year. And in 2010, Georgena received the Pioneering Woman award from Outdoor Industries.
As Georgena was being recognized, she was also working to engage and encourage women cyclists and to protect the wilderness that has always been so important to her. In 2001, she began to sponsor a women’s road racing team, focusing on developing young female riders. In 2006, Georgena donated thousands of dollars to breast cancer research and to grassland conservation efforts. In 2008, she held the first “Wild Goose Chase,” a fundraiser for the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Georgena sold Terry Bicycles in 2009. “The CEO said ‘Do you want to keep the handbuilt bicycles? We don’t have the expertise’,” Georgena recalls. “So I took that part with me.”
Today, that part is Heart of Steel Bicycles. Georgena notes that contrary to popular opinion, steel is a great choice for the serious cyclist. “Maybe it’s because of the diamond frame,” she muses. “…Tube diameters have increased and tubes that were once round may now be oval or tapered. But the frame is still a diamond.”