St. Jude Breakfast and Tour with Richard Shadyac, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer
ALSAC
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Breakfast, 7:30am
St. Jude Domino's Event Center
262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105
Guest Fee - $25
Registration Deadline - Monday, March 16, 2020
The Economic Club of Memphis will meet at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's Domino's Event Center for a breakfast and tour on Thursday, March 19, 2020. The speaker will be Richard Shadyac, President and CEO of ALSAC, St. Jude's fundraising arm. A breakfast buffet will begin at 7:30 am.
Richard C. Shadyac, Jr. has been President and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, since 2009. The American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC) has become the largest healthcare charity in America, generating more than 75 percent of funds needed to operate and sustain St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The grandson of Lebanese immigrants, Rick has spent his entire life devoted to St. Jude founder Danny Thomas' vision that no child die in the dawn of life. St. Jude was founded on the principle that all children regardless of race, religion or ability to pay would be treated equally. Today St. Jude has taken the overall childhood cancer survival rates from 20 percent to 80 percent, and we will not stop until no child dies from cancer.
His father, Richard Shadyac, Sr., served as ALSAC CEO. Shadyac, Sr., was personally tapped by Danny Thomas from the beginning to help with fundraising needed to begin St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Danny Thomas opened St. Jude in 1962 as a way to say thank you to God and the United States of America for the opportunities given to him and his fellow citizens of Arab descent. Today, St. Jude is supported by millions of generous donors from communities everywhere.
Shadyac, Jr. received the 2017 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, a prestigious award for individuals who have embraced America's ideals of patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity. Presented by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor recognizes "individuals who have made it their mission to share with those less fortunate their wealth of knowledge, indomitable courage, boundless compassion, unique talents and selfless generosity; all while maintaining the traditions of their ethnic heritage as they uphold the ideals and spirit of America."
Prior to joining ALSAC as CEO in 2009, Shadyac, Jr., served as the chairman and president of the ALSAC Board of Directors. He was an active board member since 2000. A practicing attorney for 27 years, he also worked as a partner in the Washington D.C./Northern Virginia law firm, Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell, LLP. He has been named the CEO of the Year from Inside Memphis Business and the Corporate Social Responsibility's CEO of the Year.