Gerald Schulze was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States at age 8. He received both a Bachelors and a Masters degree from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business Administration.

After a couple of years with GE, Gerald joined Pfizer, Inc and retired after 25 years as an Elected Corporate Officer. After a series of assignments in sales and marketing, he managed Pfizer’s pharmaceutical operations in Canada and Germany, heading its Medical Devices Division, and was in charge of Corporate Strategic Planning. After Pfizer, he became CEO of US operations of a mid-size British pharmaceutical company (Medeva), which was acquired by another British company, and from which he retired (again).

Gerald has additionally served as Director of Empi Inc. (a St. Paul, Minnesota medical device company); Broad River Healthcare Inc.; United Way of the Lowcountry; Beaufort Memorial Hospital (12 years, including the last 6 as Chairman), Sea Island Rotary (including a term as President). Along with SCELP, he currently serves on the boards of Beaufort/Jasper Water and Sewer Authority and Nemours Wildlife Foundation (Secretary/Treasurer).

Gerald has been married for 50 years to Kathryn (Missy) from Lima, Ohio. They moved from Westport, Connecticut to Beaufort and currently live on Cat Island. His hobbies include fishing, sailing, travel, photography and scuba.