MDA's Wings Over Wall Street® 2008
For Wings 2008, we were honored to have our event Co-Chaired by Ray Tierney from Morgan Stanley and Matt DeSalvo of Credit Suisse, and we welcomed a new Presenting Sponsor, RBC Capital Markets. Wings 2008 honorees were Dr. Christopher Henderson (Diamond Award), Phil and Laura Carlo (Spirit Award), and former Wings Co-Chair Mary McDermott-Holland (Beier Award). Phil, who was unable to make the event, gave a moving speech on his video acceptance, followed by a fantastic video of former and present ALS patients and Wings committee members preceding the research minutes auction.
WNBC Sportscaster Bruce Beck hosted, with auction assistance from My 9's Giovanna Drpic. Among the fantastic items were a live puppy and a chance to have Ray Tierney be your golf caddy at Maidenstone! In spite of the disruption on Wall Street and with the economy in general, Wings supporters came out in great numbers to help find a cure for ALS. Demonstrating the commitment of the Wall Street community along with all Wings supporters from various walks of life and industries, Wings 2008 grossed over $900,000.
MDA's Wings Over Wall Street® 2009
In 2009, Wings celebrated its 9th Anniversary by moving its venue to the fabulous Gotham Hall in New York. Co-chaired again by the remarkable Ray Tierney and Matt DeSalvo, Wings was honored again to have RBC Capital Markets as our Presenting Sponsor. Wings 2009 honorees were Leonard and Clair Tow (Spirit Award), Kerry Flynn-Berry (Beier Award), and Dr. Jinsy A. Andrews (Diamond Award).
Wings 2009 was hosted by CNBC's Joe Kernen and LX.TV's Sara Gore, and Fox 5 / My9’s Giovanna Drpic acted as the auctioneer for the live and research minutes auctions along with Joe Kernen. Entertaining the large crowd was the band, Aged Inventory, and the NYC Fire Department's Emerald Society's Pipes and Drums, which opened the proceedings. Helping to keep the momentum for a successful event high were pre and post-events like Bar Night, Jeans Day, and two fabulous charity trading days sponsored by BTIG and ICAP. With the continued support of the Wall Street, insurance, financial services, legal, construction, and many other industries and, of course, caring people, Wings 2009 netted over $850,000, brining its 9 year total over $8 million solely for ALS research.
To start Wings 2010 off right, Wings has partnered with the New York City Triathalon and is sponsoring an MDA-ALS team.
MDA's Wings Over Wall Street® 2010
In 2010, Wings celebrated its 10th Anniversary. It's hard to believe that Toni's vision has reached its tenth year and that Wings has turned into a major ALS research funding event and a destination event for the Wall Street Community. We were again at Gotham Hall in New York City and our host was Natalie Morales from NBC's Today Show. Co-chairing Wings 2010 were Michael Marrale from RBC Capital Markets and Angela Sun from Bloomberg. Award recipients were the late Tony Judt (Spirit Award), Ray Tierney (the Beier Award), and Dr. Nicholas Maragakis (the Diamond Award).
A great Bar Night and Jeans Day kicked off Wings. The house was packed on a cold September 30th with an enthusiastic crowd and tons of great auction items. Our goal was to reach $10 million in our tenth anniversary, but we fell a little short. Gratefully, however, with the support of Wall Street, the ALS community, the New York City community, the insurance, financial services, and legal industries, and many other friends, we raised over $800,000, bringing our ten-year total to over $9 million in net funds for ALS research.
Stay tuned as MDA's Wings Over Wall Street® continues to provide significant funds to the MDA-ALS Research Initiative and the research teams at Columbia and Johns Hopkins in 2011 and beyond.
