We held our 28th Annual Awards and Charities Dinner on Wednesday, October 16, 2013, and we are still receiving donations at press time. This was the second year we focused on the Maryann Ingoglia Memorial Research Grant in Leukemia. Last year, we raised $75,000 for the Hackensack University Medical Center. We made a commitment to work with them again in an attempt to raise $150,000 in total. To say that we could not be more pleased would be a vast understatement. To our amazement, we exceeded $200,000 in donations between this year and last, and we are still waiting for a final accounting from HUMC.
We hosted over 250 industry notables who comprised a “Who’s Who” in the industry, and it was by far, our most heavily attended event. If there were any major industry players who did not attend, I could not tell you who they were.
Our Sincere Thanks
We extend a special thanks to Larry Weiss, President of CDA, and Bill Fraser, a CDA member, for highly promoting our event and asking us to reschedule it from September to October this year. They wanted our dinner to coincide with their CEO meeting in New York City on October 17 and 18.
We would also like to thank Everbank, who absorbed the total cost of transportation for over 70 attending CDA members, along with many of their spouses.
Lastly, please allow me to thank Mike Stramaglio of MWAi, Martin Brodigan of Ricoh, and Rick Taylor of Konica Minolta, who were the leaders in terms of donations followed by Keith Allison from Systel, Larry Weiss of Atlantic, Rick Bastinelli of Centric, and Lou Scantland of Documation. The donations from these industry leaders alone represented $74,000 of the approximately $135,000 raised that evening.
Stramaglio, in particular, made a special presentation to Bob Ingoglia of the jacket he wore when he rode for Maryann as a part of Rolling Thunder, the huge bike motorcade that winds its way into Washington, D.C., in honor of all those who have served and those who have paid the ultimate price for our liberty. Stramaglio made the commitment to raise money for Maryann’s research grant, and his effort was particularly heartfelt. Bob Ingoglia was truly humbled by the outpouring of love and genuine affection shown to him and his beloved late wife. Again, we thank Mike Stramaglio for his efforts.
While there are several others who deserve our sincere thanks, to mention everyone who was instrumental in helping make this event the most successful we have ever had would take up an entire issue. I hope that those of you whom we did not mention will understand, and please know that you have our sincere heartfelt thanks. We could not have done this alone.
Lifetime Achievement
The highlights of the evening were the acceptance speech by Katsumi (Kirk) Yoshida, former Chairman Ricoh Americas Corporation (now retired), upon receiving our Lifetime Achievement Award and a brief yet powerful speech by John Fernyak of MT Business. Yoshida had me in tears when he spoke of his love for America, and all the people he knew and worked with during his long tenure in the United States. And Fernyak clearly demonstrated how much he valued the contribution Yoshida made to MT’s success.
This is only the ninth time we have given the Lifetime Achievement award in 28 years “” we choose to present it when specifically warranted. This year, we not only chose a worthy recipient, but a noteworthy presenter as well. The Funny thing is that Fernyak does not consider himself a great speaker. What he discounts is how definitively his integrity and honesty come through when speaking publicly.
In closing, we’d once again like to thank CDA and all of you who were so kind, forthcoming and generous in supporting our philanthropic efforts “” not only this year, but in all the previous years we have added that focus. Carol, CJ and I can never express our appreciation enough.
Most importantly, we know in our hearts how much all of this would have meant to Maryann.
