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The 2018 ADAPT
Leadership Award honorees included, Al
Roker, Co-host
and Weatherman of NBC's Today Show and his wife Deborah
Roberts, ABC News
Correspondent for 20/20, Nightline, Good
Morning America, and ABC
World News Tonight with David Muir; The
Hausman Family, one of the Founding
families of United Cerebral Palsy of NYC; Marissa
Shorenstein, President, Northeast, AT&T;
and Amy Wright, Founder and CEO
of Bitty & Beau's Coffee, and 2017
CNN Hero of the Year.
2018 Co-Chairs of
the gala were: James Hausman
and Liz Cohen Hausman; James
Kase and Helene Miller; Sabina
McCarthy; and Alan Zack.
Honorary Chair of
this year’s gala were
Lynda Carter, Actress, Singer and Activist. Honorary
Co-Chairs are Tamsen
Fadal, Eight-time Emmy
winning Anchor of PIX 11 News and Mike
Woods, Meteorologist
and Reporter FOX 5’s Good Day New York.
Judy
Woodruff is
the anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. She
is also a past Women Who Care honoree. Woodruff has covered
politics and other news for more than four decades at CNN, NBC
and PBS. For 12 years, Woodruff served as anchor and senior
correspondent for CNN, where her duties included anchoring the
weekday program, "Inside Politics." At PBS from 1983 to
1993, she was the chief Washington correspondent for The
MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. From 1984-1990, she also anchored
PBS' award-winning weekly documentary series, "Frontline with
Judy Woodruff."
She is the recent recipient of the Cine Lifetime
Achievement award, a Duke Distinguished Alumni award, the Edward
R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast
Journalism/Television, the University of Southern California
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Al
Neuharth/University of South Dakota Award for Excellence in
Journalism and the Gaylord Prize for Excellence in Journalism
and Mass Communications from the University of Oklahoma, among
others.
Al Roker is
currently the Co-host and
Weatherman of NBC's Today Show. As
a host and weatherman of NBC’s Today Show, along with Savannah
Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, Al Roker has the undivided attention of
the nation (over 32 million viewers per week) every weekday
morning as America prepares for work. Spanning a 35-year plus
career and a thirteen-time Emmy winner, Al conducts interviews
with celebrities and newsmakers around the world and does a wide
variety of segments on every imaginable subject.
Al is also an accomplished television
producer. He is CEO of Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. (ARE); a
thriving multimedia company involved in the development and
production of network, cable, and home video. ARE produces
programming for a diverse clientele including NBC News, MSNBC,
Spike TV, Lifetime Television, A&E, The History Channel, E!,
Discovery Networks, PBS, TV ONE, Oxygen, The Cartoon Network,
The Weather Channel and NBC Television Stations Group.
Deborah Roberts is
an award winning ABC News
Correspondent for 20/20, Nightline, Good Morning America,
and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir. A
media veteran, Roberts is a highly respected journalist who has
traveled the world in her reporting. She has also served as
substitute anchor for Good
Morning America, World News Weekend and 20/20, as well as a
co-host on The View.
Roberts is author of “Been There, Done That: Family Wisdom For
Modern Times,” a book written with her husband, Al Roker. She
makes her home in Manhattan with her husband and two children.
The Hausman
Family has had a profound impact on
healthcare systems in New York over decades. This began with
three brothers born and raised in New York; Sam, Jack and Leo
Hausman, who spent their lives in the textile industry building
a family-owned and operated national business. Their
philanthropic nature combined with a personal connection to
disability, when Jack and his wife Ethel Hausman’s son Peter was
diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age. This sparked a
family commitment to raising money for medical advances,
research and life improvements for children andadults with
cerebral palsy and related conditions. In 1946, they founded
United Cerebral Palsy of New York City (now ADAPT Community
Network), which is celebrating its 71st year. Jack
and Ethel, together with Leonard and Isabelle Goldenson, then
created the Cerebral Palsy Research & Education Foundation and
established the Greater NY &
National UCP Telethon, which raised over $500 million. Leo
Hausman served as Board Chair of United Cerebral Palsy of NYC
for 40 years.
Marissa
Shorenstein currently serves as
Regional President, Northeast Region for AT&T where she oversees
the company’s external affairs for all states from Maine to
Virginia, including Washington, DC. She previously served as
AT&T’s New York State president. Prior
to joining AT&T, Marissa ran Marissa Shorenstein LLC, where she
offered strategic communications consulting services to a wide
range of clients including private sector institutions facing PR
crises, tech startups looking for guidance on product launches,
hedge funds and private equity firms requiring investor
relations and sales and marketing assistance and non-profit
organizations desiring speechwriting and story placement
expertise.
Amy Wright is
the Founder/CEO Bitty & Beau’s Coffee. Born the oldest of five
children, Amy has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
Eventually, her backyard talent shows were replaced with a stint
on Broadway after she earned her BFA from the University of
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Fortunately, along the
way, she met and married “Mr. Wright.” Today, they're the proud
parents of four children – their two youngest having Down
syndrome, which makes them feel like they won the lottery twice!
As an advocate for the value, acceptance and inclusion of people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), Amy has
worked collaboratively with the Special Olympics and Best
Buddies International producing music videos that promote their
platforms. She is also a contributing writer for Maria
Shriver's "Architects for Change."
About ADAPT
Community Network
ADAPT Community Network
(formerly United Cerebral Palsy of New York City) is
the leading human service not-for-profit and a pioneer in
providing cutting edge programs
and services for people with disabilities.
Every day, we build a more inclusive world for thousands of New
Yorkers through education, technology, health, residential and
recreational programs in all five boroughs. Our
schools and services encompass many people who have challenges
beyond cerebral palsy such as autism, Down syndrome, spina
bifida and neuromuscular disorders, among others. We are the
largest provider of pre-school education for children with
disabilities in New York. ADAPT’s 100 comprehensive programs
serve over 18,000 children and adults with disabilities
and their families.
www.adaptcommunitynetwork.org |