American Institute for Stuttering - Freedom of Speech

NEW YORK, June 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Gala Co-Chair Arthur M. Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Co-Founder of The Home Depot, has announced that Jack Welch and Jes Staley – two titans of the business world - will be honored tonight with the Freeing Voices Changing Lives Award at the eighth annual American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) Benefit Gala at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

A powerhouse audience representing a broad spectrum of the financial sector will gather to pay tribute to these remarkable men during an awards presentation hosted by Becky Quick, popular co-host of CNBC's Squawk Box.  Vice President Joe Biden has sent a congratulatory video to the honorees with an important and hopeful message aimed at young clients and their parents – "Stuttering need not define you."

Arthur Blank and John Farmer are the presenters of tonight's awards.  Farmer is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Rutgers University and principal author of the 9/11 Commission's final report.

The Freeing Voices Changing Lives Award is presented annually to individuals who have successfully overcome a stuttering problem and later excelled in their professional careers.  This year's recipients possess incredible determination and are symbolic of recipients who are given this prestigious accolade. 

Jack Welch is one of the most influential CEOs in the business world.  He became General Electric's youngest CEO in 1981 when he was appointed its Chairman and held the position until 2001.  In 2009 he founded the Jack Welch Management Institute, offering online executive MBA degrees and remains its guiding force.  Jes Staley has been one of the financial industry's foremost leaders for more than three decades.  Currently with BlueMountain Capital Management, Staley is the former CEO of J.P. Morgan's Investment Bank and the former CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The Benefit Gala is a festive and educational event and includes a Cocktail Reception, Awards Presentation and Dinner.  It attracts a diverse crowd comprised of more than 300 individuals from the worlds of finance, politics, sports and the arts. 

Past award recipients include Samuel L. Jackson, Vice President Joseph Biden, Oscar® winner Colin Firth, NBA star Kenyon Martin, Carly Simon, TDAmeritrade Chairman Joe Moglia and actress Emily Blunt, an AIS Board member.

More than 3 million Americans and 60 million people worldwide stutter.  It is a genetic and neurological disorder that is not, as many assume, caused by anxiety.  Stuttering is often dismissed as a minor hindrance, when in fact it can govern a person's life, affecting their education, relationships, and career. Greatly misunderstood, stuttering is one of the few disorders that provoke undeserved shame by humiliation and even laughter by an uninformed public. 

The American Institute for Stuttering serves children and adults who stutter with specialized speech therapy.  Founded in 1998 by Catherine Otto Montgomery, its goal is to help clients achieve freedom and confidence in the face of stuttering. Their clients have come from across the United States and over a dozen countries around the world. The organization also trains speech-language pathologists in the expertise of stuttering therapy and engages and encourages people who stutter worldwide.

About the American Institute for Stuttering
The American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) is a leading 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States that offers state-of-the-art speech therapy to people of all ages who stutter, guidance to their families, and much-needed clinical training to professionals. AIS offers a range of services, including early intervention therapy for children as young as two years old, support to school-age children (who are more often bullied than their peers), group therapy courses that accommodate diverse schedules, and unique three-week intensive treatment programs. AIS also provides training to speech-language pathologists, who traditionally are inexperienced in treating stuttering, to meet the great need for specially trained therapists. AIS is committed to advancing public understanding of stuttering and worked in Washington, D.C. to increase federal funding for research. The Institute adheres to the motto of our founder, Catherine Montgomery, who so eloquently noted, "Free a voice and save a life."

Media Contact:  Christine Madden   212-725-7139

For more information about stuttering and AIS, please visit http://stutteringtreatment.org.

Quotes from Stutterers

"The intensive speech therapy program at the American Institute for Stuttering was a life-changing experience for me," said Dr. Zhanna Livshits. "Words cannot adequately reflect the feelings of liberation, pride and hope I gained from treatment."
       - Dr. Livshits is an emergency room physician at Bellevue Medical Center and toxicology fellow at the Poison Control Center in Manhattan.

"Stuttering was worse to deal with than blindness because people just don't understand stuttering."
       -Eric Warren, client of the American Institute for Stuttering who is also blind.

Contact:  Christine Madden             
212-725-7139
[email protected]

Event Press Contacts:
Vanessa Flynn
917-288-2310
[email protected]

Emily Garibaldi
646-515-8156
[email protected]

SOURCE American Institute for Stuttering