2005 Essence of Leadership Award Winners

The National Human Services Assembly honored five leaders in the human services sector on Thursday, September 8 in a reception held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

Award for Excellence in National Executive Leadership

M. Cass Wheeler

Chief Executive Officer

American Heart Association

From left to right: Robert K. Goodwin, Chair, National Human Services Assembly; M. Cass Wheeler, Chief Executive Office, American Heart Association; Irv Katz, President & CEO, National Human Services Assembly

M. Cass Wheeler was the first to be honored with the Award for Excellence in National Executive Leadership. Mr. Wheeler is Chief Executive Officer of Dallas based American Heart Association. The National Assembly Award for National Executive Leadership is for that and more: it is for a bridgebuilder, someone who bridges organizations for the greater good of our sector and the greater good for the people and communities served. This honoree, M. Cass Wheeler meets this criteria, ten fold.

During his tenure, revenues in the American Heart Association have grown an astonishing 64%, the structure of the association has been consolidated and streamlined, new programs have been successfully initiated, and much more.

On a broader scale, Cass has held or holds leadership positions at the National Health Council, Independent Sector, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, National Human Services Assembly and other organizations. But more important, he is the person at these organizations who identifies the opportunities for synergies between and among organizations.

That is particularly true in one of the issues he champions most - ethics and accountability. Not only was the American Heart Association one of the first organizations to see and receive the new BBB Wise Giving Alliance Seal, but Mr. Wheeler has linked the standards-ethics-accountability work of the National Assembly, National Health Council, Independent Sector and no doubt other organizations in which he is involved.

Excellence in National Board Leadership

Geoff Biosi & Ray Chambers

MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership

From left to right: Robert K. Goodwin, Chair, National Human Services Assembly; Geoff Biosi, Founder, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership; Irv Katz, President & CEO, National Human Services Assembly. Ray Chambers, not pictured

Among National Assembly member organization alone, there are probably upwards of 2,000 excellent board leaders. That Award for Excellence in National Board Leadership seeks to recognize those individuals who perform their board duties conscientiously and go steps beyond; innovating, connecting to resources and ideas beyond the agency, connecting their voluntary efforts across organizations, advancing the field, not just their respective agencies interests.

The National Assembly is privileged to honor Geoff Biosi and Ray Chambers, who represent all the criteria and so much more. Each deserves an award in his own right, but Mr. Chambers and Mr. Biosi work so closely that it was decide to recognize them as a team.

A Boston College and Wharton grad, Mr. Biosi became the youngest partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1978. Today, he is Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan Chase & Company.

With degrees from Rutgers and Seton Hall, Mr. Chambers co-founded the Financial Advisory Group in 1968. Today, he is perhaps best known professionally as the founder of the Amelior Foundation.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Chambers and Biosi got mentoring children and youth on the national radar screen. More than advocating for it, they brought organization to mentoring by forming the National Mentoring Partnership and getting the public and private sectors to support mentoring.

They have forged connections between many of the organizations they serve and lead: MENTOR, Communities in Schools, America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth, and more.

Excellence in National Civic Leadership

Representative Tom Osborne

Nebraska

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

New York

From left to right: Robert K. Goodwin, Chair, National Human Services Assembly; Susan Weinberger, Board Member, National Human Services Assembly (Accepting for Representative Tom Osborne); Irv Katz, President & CEO, National Human Services Assembly

The National Assembly and the human services sector is grateful to Representative Tom Osborne on many counts. The renowned coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, with the longest tenure for a nebraska coach—36 years, 25 as head coach, Rep. Osborne has more than made his mark on congress, where he serves in his 3rd term as the Representative of Nebraska’s 3rd district. Nominated by the Washington Group of the National Collaboration for Youth because of his extraordinary leadership on the Federal Youth Coordination Act, that act is but one of many ways rep. Osborne has taken his coaching to the next level: guiding us all to develop the best possible laws and policies for young people. A leader on mentoring, mentoring children of prisoners, national service, protecting youth from steroids and other abuse—in truth, it’s about time the we recognized tom osborne, one of the nation’s leading champion’s of youth.

From left to right: Robert K. Goodwin, Chair, National Human Services Assembly; Elizabeth Nieliwocki, Office of New York State Attorney General, Internet Bureau.

Eliot Spitzer, in the words of the American Foundation for the Blind, who nominated him for this award, “led the way to ensure that the full power of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) be realized across the country.”

Through lawsuits and out-of-court settlements, he “encouraged” two major travel industry organizations---Ramada.com and Priceline.com---to make their website's accessible to blind and visually impaired users.

This is no small achievement. For those with visual and auditory impairments, or both, utilizing the internet, something that has become essential for most of us in our business and personal lives, is equally important.

There have been huge technological advances that improve internet access by people with visual and hearing impairments, but their use remains the exception rather than the rule.

There are also accessibility standards provided by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide web Consortium. But, Spitzer has ensured that companies that operate on the internet use them.

Corporate wrong doing is in the public eye. Ensuring public accommodations, such as internet access, for people with disabilities is less visible. Attorney general spitzer has put these issues on the radar screen.