Eddy Bayardelle is the director of global philanthropy at Merrill Lynch & Company and secretary of the company’s foundation. He oversees corporate and employee giving and volunteer programs for Merrill Lynch’s offices worldwide. He recently spoke with The New York Sun’s A.L. Gordon.

Q: What is the focus of your firm’s philanthropy?

A: We are strong supporters of the arts and human-service organizations, but education is our main priority. Let’s face it: Teachers in schools cannot do the job alone and shouldn’t expect to do it alone.

You have a background in education?

I’ve been a teacher all my life. I was the superintendent for the Hempstead Public Schools in Long Island and executive director of the Division of Special Education for the New York City Public Schools. Before I came here, I’d only worked in the public and nonprofit sectors. But the transition wasn’t abrupt because education is my focus here as well.

Education is a very broad area.

We focus on the firm’s areas of expertise: leadership training, entrepreneurship, and business. We have too many young people who have no idea how the world of business operates. Teachers are not bankers, they’re not financial advisors, they’re not experts in technology or entrepreneurs themselves. The idea is to put our employees into the classroom who do those things on a daily basis.

But investment bankers aren’t teachers. How do you prepare your volunteers?

We don’t just throw them in the classroom. They may not ever have taught a group of kids in their lives. Their conversations with students need a scope and a sequence. We developed the IPO Curriculum – I love the name: IPO stands for Investing Pays Off. It’s specifically for volunteers and it’s being used here and in Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and Hong Kong. And we make it available to the public – anyone can download it from our Web site. It’s a flexible program so it can be done during the day, after school, or on weekends.

What age range do your programs target?

It’s never too early to teach financial literacy. We have a program with Sesame Workshop that starts at age 3. At that age we’re teaching responsibility and delayed gratification. For older kids, it’s long-term planning – understanding the taxes that comes out of your paycheck, how to buy a house, what credit means, and philanthropy. Part of being successful is the ability to give back.

What’s your latest initiative?

Last week we launched an entrepreneurship contest for high school students, working with Baruch College. We have about 25 Merrill Lynch employees serving as coaches and judges. The kids will work together to create a business plan. We run a similar contest for Baruch college students, and we also helped Baruch build a trading floor on their campus.

How many programs do you have?

We have dozens. Our idea is to start small and grow. For example, we have a program for high schools, where they play the Stock Market Game. We work with Kurt Thomas of the Knicks, to help motivate the kids. In our first year, 100 kids played. Last year, our third year, we had 1,600. Based on our success, we started a program for girls only, working with New York Liberty. And now we’re talking with the New Jersey Nets, the Miami Heat, and the Phoenix Sun. It’s the kind of program you can take anywhere. The good thing is that we’ve got Merrill Lynch people all over the country, so it’s easy for us to get the volunteers.

What do children get out of it?

The key is exposure to a world beyond what they know. The winners of the Kurt Thomas Challenge come here for six-month internships. Many of these kids have never stepped foot in a corporation. We take them to our executive dining room – the idea for us is to show kids early what the possibilities are. Why not have Wall Street as one of your options, whether you live in Bed Stuy or Harlem or the Bronx?

How much money did Merrill Lynch give to philanthropy?

Last year, Merrill Lynchers gave out of their own pockets $7.2 million to the United Way. Then we’ve got a matching gifts program, and last year we matched close to $5 million of employee giving. And that’s just what we know; they do a lot more giving on their own. The corporation gave about $31 million – $16 million of that came from the foundation.

You’re in the photograph behind your desk. Where was it taken?

After 9/11, we had one day to come back and get things from our offices. This is the one thing I took home. It was taken in Haiti, where I was born. When I worked for Unicef, we had a lot of projects there. In the photo, I’m with a group of children who had been on the street. We found them a shelter. It’s a reminder that no matter how good you think you have it, these kids have zero, and look at their smiles. I wake up in the morning, I come here and see the photo, and I say, what business do I have not being in a good mood?