symposium 2014
DESCRIPTION
Help 4 HD Symposium 2014TRANSCRIPT
THE INAUGURAL EVENT
THE HISTORIC SANTA MARIA INN
— SANTA MARIA, CA JULY 18-20, 2014 —
2
4—Our Directors and
Volunteers
5—The Awards and
Merchandise
18-19
Daniel Medina
Introducing The
Advocates
16-17
The Presentations
Session 2
10-11
Session 1 Keynote
Speakers/Bios
12-13
Session 2 Keynote
Speakers/Bios
6-7
Meet our VIP’s
Reception in the Kent
Room at the Santa
Maria Inn...
20—The Awards
21—The Gala was
lots of fun! This event
will be remembered
forever...
14-15
The Presentations
Session 1
8—Thanking our
Sponsors and
Exhibitors
9—Opening with Con-
gresswoman
Lois Capps
22-23
Many thanks to our family,
friends and donors...
3
OUR WEB-SUITE
www.Help4HD.org
www.BlogTalkRadio.com/Help4HD
www.Research4HD.org
www.H4HDiRegister.org
www.TheHuntingtonsPost.org
www.SpeakInspired.org
SOCIAL MEDIA
Issuu.com/Help4HD
Facebook.com/Help4HD
Facebook.com/H4HDiRegister
Facebook.com/TheHuntingtonsPost
Facebook.com/Research4HD
Facebook.com/SpeakInspired
Twitter.com/MBiliardi
LinkedIn.com/MelissaBiliardi
BROADCAST MEDIA
SoundCloud.com/Help4HD
UStream.tv/Channel/Help4HD
Vimeo.com/Help4HD
YouTube.com/Help4HD
HELP 4 HD HEADQUARTERS
436 Playa Blanca
Santa Maria, CA 93455
Office: 805.441.5618
Fax: 805.934.9614
THE ORGANIZATION
Help 4 HD International Incorporated
Help 4 HD Radio established 2010
Incorporated in 2013
501c3 Public Charity 2014
Melissa Biliardi/Founder/President/CEO
Katie Jackson/Vice President Operations
Ric Gonzales/Treasurer/Director
Katrina Hamel/Secretary/Director
Daniel Medina/International Affairs Director
Lizanne Lawrence/Executive Committees
OUR MISSION
Educate the world about
Huntington’s disease through
all forms of new-age technology
multimedia and broadcasting
PROGRAMS & SERVICES
Help 4 HD Support Groups
Help 4 HD Chapters
Help 4 HD Affiliates
Help 4 HD Conferences
Patient Registry
Relief Fund
Research Portal
Clinical Trial Support
IVF PGD 4 HD
Fiscal Projects
Radio Program
Newspaper
Magazine
4
O
(left to right)
Griselda Barbosa, So Cal Ambassador
Lizanne Lawrence, Executive Committees
Katrina Hamel, Secretary/Director
Daniel Medina, International Affairs/Director
Katie Jackson, Vice President/Director
Michael Sabado, IT Administrator
Melissa Biliardi, President/CEO
Not Pictured: Ric Gonzales, Treasurer/Director
Our amazing friends and special guests from Mexico: Honoree Margaret Gallardo, her son and daugh-ter in-law Gabriel & Lorenza Gallardo, Veronica Ruiz, and Brenda Vega, with our International Affairs Director, Daniel Medina
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Nick McCallion and Nichole Rizzuto
LUNDBECK LADIES: Lynn Gerber and Kim Glisson
Griselda Barbosa and Brenda Vega
AWARDS: By Custom Glass Etching, LA, Las Vegas. Www.GlassEtcher.com
Help 4 HD International Merchandise 4 Sale: SUPPORT, EDUCATE, INSPIRE!
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Ric & Caryl Gonzales, Steve and Jan Reniere Mona Gable, Shirley & Kevin McCormack
Sonia Slevinski, Dr. Peg Nopoulos Alan Fernandez, Katie Jackson
Dr. Jan Nolta, Mona Gable
Katie Jackson, Marie & Hubert Jessup Ameet Khara, Dr. Jan Nolta
Nichole Rizzuto, Phyllis Rizzuto
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Dr. Ira Shoulson, Katie Jackson Nan Meek, Melissa Biliardi, Josie & Dr. Ira Shoulson
David & Dr. Ellen Feigal Melissa Biliardi, Sharon Thomason, Katie Jackson
Lynn Gerber, John Sarley, Kim Glisson, Terry Tempkin, Ameet Khara Ric & Caryl Gonzales
Frances & David Saldana, Margaret Gallardo Dr. Suzanne Pontow, Dr. Jan Nolta, Katie Jackson, Kayla Horton
8
O ur exhibitors were fabulous, educational and inspirational: Stanford HOPES, GPI, UI Kids-
HD/Kids-JHD, UCI HD Care, Farmers Insurance, CIRM, Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals,
UC Davis Stem Cell Research
W e are grateful and give thanks for the generosity of our sponsors: Auspex Pharmaceuti-
cals, the Griffin Foundation, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Raptor Pharmaceuticals, who
have invested millions of dollars into drug discovery, clinical trials and care for Hunting-
ton’s disease. We give them much appreciation and praise for helping our HD community. Without
our sponsors dedication and commitment to helping our HD individuals, we will not have viable
drugs, treatments, therapies or the cure.
9
T he opening address was given by Congresswoman Lois Capps. Lois is an inspiration to all for
her tenacity and perseverance, her professional, educational and nursing experience and especially
her mission to serve the underserved and under-heard. She has weathered many storms in her life
and has prevailed and triumphed through it all. She is a woman of integrity, wisdom and grace.
In honor of Woody Guthrie, the opening song was “This Land Is Your Land”. We paid homage to the man
who we consider the father of Huntington’s disease advocacy and awareness. Then, we honored Sister Ja-
net Corcoran who provided a grant which started Help 4 HD on its mission. A Franciscan Sister, and VP of
Missions at Marian Medical Center, Sr. Janet saw the potential in 2008 when Help 4 HD founder, Melissa
Biliardi came to her with the project to serve the Huntington’s disease community. A center of excellence for
Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease is planned for sometime next year in
Santa Maria, thanks to Sr. Janet’s encouragement and the “Nun’s Fund”. Thank you Sr. Janet and God!
has long been an advocate for earth causes and has even earned the title "Green Franciscan Sister" by her supporters.
"I treasure every moment and I think each day is a learning experience. We're called to be the core of love and servitude."
That's why Sister Corcoran says she tries to spend each of her 80,400 seconds a day serving others.
THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Professor of Neurology, Pharmacol-
ogy at Georgetown University, Founder HSG/PSG. From
1990 until 2011, Dr. Shoulson was the Louis C. Lasagna
Professor of Experimental Therapeutics and Professor of
Neurology, Pharmacology and Medicine at the University
of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry in Rochester,
New York, where he currently holds adjunct appointments
as Professor of Neurology, Pharmacology & Physiology.
Dr. Shoulson founded the Parkinson Study Group
(www.parkinson-study-group.org) in 1985 and the Hun-
tington Study Group (www.huntington-study-group.org) in
1994
Dr. Shoulson presented “The Connection between Clinical
Care and Clinical Research: Huntington Disease as a Pro-
totype” and talked about the goal of this Help 4 HD Sym-
posium and the need to illustrate the need and potential
for expert clinical care and clinical (trial) research to serve
the HD community.
10
H ow did we choose our keynote speakers? Each of our keynote speakers were selected
specifically for this inaugural symposium for their superior and outstanding service in
research and care for our Huntington’s disease community from the most prestigious insti-
tutions and organizations around the country. Each have either appeared on Help 4 HD Radio or
have been a featured speaker for the most credible organizations in the world. Many have dedicated
their entire life’s work and careers to Huntington’s disease research and care, and they hold very
high-level positions within their institutions and organizations. These are our Huntington heroes.
Professor of Neurology and Co-
Director, Center for Human Experi-
mental Therapeutics at the Universi-
ty of Rochester Medical Center. He
is the PI for a new clinical study
Connect.Huntington (Telemedicine
Study), connecting anyone any-
where to care. He is also the New
President of HSG (Huntington Study
Group).
,
Co-Director, Umbilical Cord
Blood Collection Program, UC Da-
vis Stem Cell Program. Suzanne
Pontow, PhD, is a cell biologist fo-
cusing her research on neonatal
stem cells at the Institute for Regen-
erative Cures within the UC Davis
Health System in Sacramento. Dr.
Pontow received her BS in General
Sciences from University of Iowa in
1985, and her PhD in Cell and Mo-
lecular Biology from Washington
University School of Medicine in
1995. After 11 years studying how
HIV infects cells, Dr. Pontow joined
the laboratory of Jan Nolta, PhD, Di-
rector of the Institute for Regenera-
tive Cures. The move to UC Davis
allowed Dr. Pontow to pursue an in-
terest in the remarkable stem cells
that are routinely discarded with the
placenta and umbilical cord following
birth. In 2010, Dr. Pontow and Jon
Walker, CLS were named Co-
directors of the Umbilical Cord Blood
Collection Program for the state of
California, which is administered from
the UC Davis Health System.
Professor of Psychiatry, Neurolo-
gy, Pediatrics, University of Iowa
Carver College of Medicine; Kids-HD/
Kids-JHD. Peg Nopoulos received a
Bachelor of Science degree from the
University of Iowa in 1985 and a M.D.
degree from the University of Iowa
Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College
of Medicine in 1989. She remained at
the University of Iowa to complete an
internship and residency in psychiatry
and a fellowship in neuropsychi-
atry. In 1993, she became a Fel-
low Associate at the University of
Iowa Hospitals’ Department of
Psychiatry, Assistant Professor
in 1994, Associate Professor in
2000, and Professor in 2005. In
2001 she developed a program,
the Iowa Medical Student Re-
search Program and continues to
direct that program. In 2009 she
was awarded the Kate Daum
Research Professorship. Dr.
Nopoulos’ clinical work focused
on the care of patients with
Schizophrenia and other major
mental illnesses for the first dec-
ade of her career. She then
turned her attention to the care
of patients with Huntington’s Dis-
ease (HD). Since 2003, her pri-
mary clinical work has been
working in the HD Center of Ex-
cellence at the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics.
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Associate Director GPI (Genetics
Policy Institute) Alan has focused his career on ad-
vancing stem cell sciences and the
field of regenerative medicine since
2006. While working with Burrill &
Company, he began working with
GPI on the 2007 Stem Cell Summit
with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
He then joined the Genetics Policy
Institute full-time in 2008.
Alan's skills in business development
and marketing were cultivated at
companies like Dow Jones, Ziff Da-
vis and Burrill & Company. Earlier in
his career, Alan worked in technolo-
gy and grassroots business commu-
nications, working for start-ups and
mid-sized companies, including a
network of 139 regional business
publications called the National Busi-
ness Network (NBN).
Alan's background serves the global scope of GPI well. Alan has lived in Austria, Chile, England, France, Ro-
mania and Switzerland. Alan's fond-ness for different cultures and rela-tionships across the world assists GPI in expanding its international
network of stem cell and regenera-tive medicine advocates and innova-tors.
is the Director of the Stem Cell Pro-gram at UC Davis School of Medi-
cine, and directs the new Institute for
Regenerative Cures. The UC Davis
stem cell program has over 150 faculty members collaborating to work toward stem cell-related cures for a spectrum of diseases and injuries. The current
research in Dr. Nolta’s laboratory is focused on developing therapies that will use mesenchymal stem cells to deliver factors for treating Huntington’s disease. Her group focuses on “bench
to the bedside” research, and she has been involved in numerous clinical tri-als of gene and cell therapy. In 1994 she developed her passion for cellular
therapy by performing the first cord blood stem cell gene therapy trials for newborns with “bubble baby disease”, with her mentor Donald Kohn at the
University of Southern California. A scientist with 25 years’ experience with human stem cells, Dr. Nolta has pub-lished over 100 manuscripts in the stem cell field and has authored 25
book chapters. She has served on over 200 review panels for the National Insti-tutes of Health and other grant-funding agencies, is Editor for the Journal
“Stem Cells” and was editor of the Book "Genetic Engineering of Mesen-chymal Stem Cells". Dr. Nolta was in-spired by HD patients and patient advo-cates to focus her laboratory work to try
to help make an impact on HD. From 1987 to 2007, she had used adult bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (often referred to as “the para-
medics of the body”) to produce growth factors that would cause dying cells to survive and to heal tissues. She had worked on using the engineered cells
to heal many organs, but all were
outside of the brain. After moving back to UC Davis and meeting Dr. Vicki Wheelock, Director of the HD center of excellence, and many HD
patients, Dr. Nolta was moved to focus the majority of her own labor-atory work toward developing future clinical trials for HD using cell and gene therapy. The HD community,
friends and lab members who are at risk provide daily inspiration.
Mr. McCormack is the communica-
tions director at the stem cell agen-
cy, the California Institute for Re-
generative Medicine. Kevin sees his
role as being the "official translator"
for the agency, taking complex sci-
ence and turning it into plain Eng-
lish so everyone, including himself,
can understand it. He says his fa-
vorite part of the job is working with
the Patient Advocate community to
raise awareness about the tremen-
dous progress being made in stem
cell research. Before joining the
stem cell agency Kevin worked in
media relations at California Pacific
Medical Center, a four-campus hos-
pital in San Francisco. Prior to that
he spent more than 20 years as a
journalist both here in the US, at
San Francisco's KRON-TV as a
health and medical producer, and in
the UK.
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is a California Institute for Regener-
ative Medicine Bridges to Stem Cell
Research Graduate student at Uni-
versity of California, Davis and Cali-
fornia State University, Sacramento.
Her current research project is aimed
at developing a non-invasive method
of delivering Mesenchymal stem cell
(MSC) therapeutics for the treatment
of central nervous system disorders,
such as Huntington’s disease, Parkin-
son’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease,
and spinal cord injuries. This re-
search is done in the Martinez
Cerdeno laboratory in Shriners Hos-
pital for Children at the Institute for
Pediatric Regenerative Medicine. My
love for regenerative medicine stems
from my hope for a brighter future for
my little brother (who has Cystic Fi-
brosis), my brother in law (who has
HD) and my nieces and nephews
(whom are at risk for HD). Their pas-
sion for life, despite their daily battles
and fears, has shaped me into the
curious scientist that I am today.
Nurse Practitioner
HDSA Center of Excellence
University of California Davis Health
System
Terry is an Adult Nurse Practitioner, a
Huntingtons Study Group Coordina-
tor, ENROLL Investigator, and the
Clinical Project Manager for the UC
Davis Stem Cell trial. She is Co-
Director of the HDSA Center of
Excellence at UC Davis. She has
been an advanced practice nurse
for over 35 years and has cared
for HD families for 16 years. You
can find Terry in the HD Clinic, or
at the UC Davis research site con-
ducting clinical trials in HD. Her
primary focus is to be a part of the
effort to find a meaningful treat-
ment for Huntington’s Disease,
and to help families navigate their
HD journey .
Senior Vice President, Research
and Development
California Institute for Regenera-
tive Medicine Dr. Ellen G. Feigal is the Senior
Vice President, Research and De-
velopment at the California Insti-
tute for Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM). In this role, she is re-
sponsible for the scientific leader-
ship and implementation of the
development programs, and inte-
gration of the interface with busi-
ness development, research and
development, of this three billion
dollar, California voter-initiative,
whose mission is to advance stem
cell research for the discovery and
development of cures, therapies,
diagnostics and research technol-
ogies for patients with chronic dis-
eases and injuries.
Prior to joining CIRM in January,
2011, Dr. Feigal was Executive
Medical Director, Global Develop-
ment, at Amgen, where her prima-
ry focus was in clinical develop-
ment of therapeutics in hematolo-
gy/oncology. She also led the sci-
entific/clinical interface with patient
advocacy organizations, formal-
ized the company’s policy on ex-
panded access to therapies for
those with limited or no treatment
options, and led the cross-
functional teams to the company’s
first collaborative research and
development agreement with the
National Cancer Institute. From
2007 until joining CIRM, Dr. Feigal
was adjunct professor and found-
ing Director of the American
Course on Drug Development and
Regulatory Sciences, UC San
Francisco, School of Pharmacy.
The course, developed under her
leadership as a collaborative effort
with the FDA, UCSF’s Department
of Bioengineering and Therapeutic
Sciences, its Center for Drug De-
velopment Sciences and the Euro-
pean Center of Pharmaceutical
Medicine at the University of Ba-
sel, was launched in 2007. It is
taught in Washington, D.C. with a
separate parallel course in San
Francisco.
13
The first 35 years of my career was spent in the practice of Internal Medicine. The past
decade I have focused exclusively on Huntington’s disease, and presently care for about 50
Huntington’s patients. I have demonstrated leadership in the HD community by initiating the
project to create guidelines for the pharmacologic treatment of symptoms of HD. During this
project an international core group of HD expert clinicians were surveyed for preferred pre-
scribing patterns. The results led to publication of best treatment paradigms for Huntington’s
and guideline recommendations for pharmacologic management of chorea, irritability and
obsessive and compulsive behaviors. I have successfully completed projects for HD involv-
ing clinical research education in HD support groups, which accessed awareness and willing-
ness to participate in clinical studies and trials. As an extension of that project, I compared
the success of different strategies for recruitment in the HART clinical trial offered at Ever-
green Neuroscience Center. During this effort, and those that have followed, I have demon-
strated the ability to aid in recruitment of participants. Www.HDDrugWorks.org
Dr. Nathan Goodman, a computer scientist by training, has been working in biology for more
than twenty years. He is presently a Senior Research Scientist in Lee Hood’s laboratory at
the Institute for Systems Biology; his current research is on Huntington’s disease looking pri-
marily for early molecular effects in mouse models. Previously, he ran a group developing
public disease-centric websites that integrate omic data and present the information in a form
useful to scientists with limited omic expertise; his group developed such websites for type 1
diabetes, glioblastoma, and prion disease. During his first year at ISB, Dr. Goodman served
as an Affiliate Professor of Bioinformatics at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at the
University of Alaska in Fairbanks where he helped establish a bioinformatics research pro-
gram for the university. He is also founder and Vice President of Huntington’s Disease Drug
Works, a nonprofit, patient-led organization that provides information and care for people
with Huntington’s disease.
Previously, he was a founding member of the Whitehead Institute / MIT Center for Genome
Research, one of the nation’s first and most illustrious genome centers, and ran the center’s
bioinformatics group from 1991-1996. He subsequently ran his own bioinformatics research
group at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine where he worked on information sys-
tems for large scale biological laboratories and mining of large biological datasets. He has
also worked in the bioinformatics industry, heading a technical marketing group at Compaq
Computer Corporation focused on bioinformatics applications in the pharmaceutical industry,
and serving as a bioinformatics consultant.
14
Katie Jackson
Melissa Biliardi
Congresswoman
Lois Capps
Dr. Ira Shoulson
Dr. Ray Dorsey
SESSION 1
15
Set design by Julie Carr
Dr. Suzanne Pontow
Dr. Peg Nopoulos
Alan Fernandez
16
Dr. Jan Nolta
Kevin McCormack
Kayla Horton
17
Teresa Tempkin, RNC
Dr. Ellen Feigal
Dr. LaVonne Goodman Dr. Nathan Goodman
18
Daniel has brought a tremendous amount of energy and compassion to Help 4 HD Interna-tional by reaching out to our international friends in Mexico and other countries. He intro-duced our dear friends and fellow HD organi-zations and advocates here in the US and from Mexico City, Mexico.
May 19, 2012 was the date that my HD jour-ney began. At that time I was attending my first HD event. As I was learning about the disease, I was also learning the names of those people that were afflicted by it. One name in particular kept coming up time and time again…Frances Saldana! At that time I had no clue that she would play such an important role in my growth as an HD advocate. The following year we had a brief conversation at another HD event that was held on April 27, 2013 and where we exchanged contact information. It was not until August 2nd of that same year that the seed of our friendship really blossomed. As I got to know Frances at a personal level, my admiration for her grew even more. Frances has been such a passionate HD advocate for the past 20 years and continues going strong. She is a survivor that has endured hardships that would be unbearable for most of us. Frances is always looking for new ways to im-prove the lives of those in our HD community. Her versatility as an advocate is evident in all that she has accomplished and the lives she
has touched in the process. She leaves no stone unturned and will find some way to pursue a mission once she sets her mind to it. I don’t understand how she finds time to do all the things that she does! Over the past 12 years, she has worked full time as an Assistant Direc-tor for Corporate Relations at the Paul Merage School of Business at UCI, while at the same time being a caregiver to her children and also advocating for HD in all areas. Over the past 2 years she has served as the president and is the co-founder of the non-profit HD organization, UCI-HD CARE. She is also the wife of a very supportive husband.
19
I remember that first time I heard the name Margaret D’Aiuto Gallardo. It was brought to my attention several months ago by Help4Hd Am-bassador, Griselda Barbosa. She told me how several years ago a Mexican television station broadcasted a report about a lady in her 80’s named Margaret that was the founder and pres-ident of a Mexican HD Organization. In this report, Margaret spoke of how HD patients and their families were able to attend an Adult Day Center in which therapies and other compre-hensive services were provided in order to make their lives more sustainable. Soon after that I decided to contact Margaret. I will never forget our first conversation, she was so over-joyed to hear that an American HD organization was contacting her or as she put it, “Nobody from the US has ever contacted us before.” Not long after that we had Margaret on our Podcast Radio show sharing her extraordinary life jour-ney. We learned that she has cared for those affected with HD for over 43 years. She is also a pioneer that 22 years ago founded the first Mexican HD organization- Asociacion Mexicana de la Enfermedad de Huntington. At the age of 90 she is still highly motivated and going strong. She has led the way in making her or-ganization and Adult Day Center a model that other HD organizations around the world should emulate.
“My name is Veronica Ruiz and I am the President of Fundacion Veronica Ruiz, which we founded in 2014. In 2005 I was diagnosed with Huntington’s Dis-ease. I declared myself a lucky and blessed person from that moment on. I decided to have a life full of miracles and magic, with success and not the victim of circumstances. I decided to improve my quality of life, using alterna-tive medicine, eating foods with lots of antioxidants, meditation, exercise and I started learning more about the dis-ease. Armed with wisdom, support and confidence, the benefits of it being an incurable disease is that you can try anything.
I run marathons to become the woman that inspires and I run for those who can no longer do so. These are the mara-thons I have participated in- 2007 Chi-cago, 2008 Toronto, 2009 Montreal, 2010 San Antonio, 2011 Locally in Mex-ico, 2012 Berlin where I made an im-pact, the media wrote Exemplary Mexi-can running for a cause. In 2013 in Chile the governor recognizes me as example of hope and inspiration for the people of Chile. In 2014 I am planning on running a marathon in Costa Rica, 2015 in Brasil and 2016 in Jerusalem. We not only run but we give confer-ences, visit those afflicted by Hunting-ton’s and invite the locals to join us by wearing blue shirts in support of our
cause.”
When Brenda Vega initiated her nonprofit organization in 2011 she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task, but her desire to help the Mexican HD community over-shadowed any and all obstacles she would encounter. Brenda Vega is the President of Fundacion Huntington Mexi-co. When I first spoke to Brenda several months ago, I knew there would be no limitations on the goals she set out to accomplish. Her all out approach includes educating the public and HD community on prevention, research, nutrition, medi-cations, alternative medicine, therapies and spiritual relaxation. She understands how difficult it is to live with HD because her and her family have been affected by it. Her doors are always open for those that seek guidance or help of any kind, but she hopes one day in the near future to open an Adult Day Center that will fa-cilitate the implementation of her pro-grams. Don’t let Brenda’s demeanor fool you, even though she’s low key, she’s a go getter. She does not shy away from an opportunity to appear on any media outlet that will help spread her message. Be-sides running an organization, Brenda is also a dedicated wife and mother. That’s why I thank her for being here today.
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T hank you Gary Burk and Jenay
at Costa de Oro Winery for
pouring incredible wines at our VIP
Reception on Friday night. Visit
their unique tasting room located at: 1331 S. Nichol-
son Ave, Santa Maria, CA 93454. For more infor-
mation visit: www.cdowinery.com. Call 805-922-
1468, and be sure to tell them Help 4 HD International sent you. Open
daily 11-6 pm, Friday 11-8:00 pm. Stop by the tasting room for “Friday
Wine Down” every Friday from 5-8:00 pm for live entertainment and lots
of fun with “The Paisleys Brothers”, Gary Burks’ coastal CA based trio
(sometimes quartet) performing fun music and originals on the Central
Coast. CDO also has a fab wine club.
T hank you Nick and Coley for
running the Hospitality
Suite. They traveled all the way
from Brentwood, California to
save the day by keeping us and
the suite stocked and everyone
well fed and beveraged-up. This
was a crucial function for the en-
tire Help 4 HD team and all the
guests and VIP’s. You both are
a valuable part of H4HD.
T hank you to our most dearest friends,
Meta Orear, Lizanne Lawrence (Exec
Committees) and Betty Hogan (pictured
right), for holding down the merchandise
and registration tables and for wo-manning
the card machines among other duties and
responsibilities. Without your hard work and
dedication the event would not have been
as successful. Everyone deserve a spa day.
You are our dearest friends and we appreci-
ate you more than you know.
T hank you
Nate Sparks
for the wonderful
array of photo-
graphs from which
we were able to
illustrate and docu-
ment this amazing
symposium. With-
out your beautiful
photography, we
would not have
been able to show
the world what we
are doing and how
successful our in-
augural symposi-
um was. You are a
Help 4 HD Hero!
23
T hank you Koch family of Eufloria Flowers in Nipomo, California for graciously donating 150 stems of your premiere pure white rose
“Akito”. Lizanne Lawerence, Nan Meek and Meta Orear, feverishly and painstakingly sprayed some of these roses our signature HD blue with special floral spray. They also arranged 24 vases to decorate sever-al rooms at the Santa Maria Inn for the 2-day event. It was a beautiful display and accented the décor for the entire weekend. Thank you Chad Nelson at Eufloria for making this happen for us. Order your flowers from Eufloria Flowers at 805-929-4683 or toll free: 866-929-4683. Visit their website: www.eufloriaflowers.com
T hank you Julie Carr for the most awe-inspiring, incredible set design
and for all the labor you put into making our event XX special. Your
creativity is so amazing. You know exactly what design is appropriate for
every event you touch. You are AMAZING! Thank you Fred Carr for
transporting all the panels and for helping us too. You are definitely the
dynamic duo. Will you travel with us?
T hank you Santa Maria Inn for providing a beautiful venue to hold our inaugural sympo-
sium. All of our VIP’s and special guest who trav-eled from all over the nation and Mexico were ex-tremely well taken care of from the moment they walked into your lobby until they checked out.
Chef Alex Araizaga’s cuisine (Santa Maria Style BBQ) was fantastic! Thank you so very much Sarah Klinesmith, Catering Sales manager for handling last-minute changes; Kristen Palera, Director of Sales and Mar-keting for making sure all of our rooms were pristine and all the details handled; Chris Wood for making sure we had access to all the amenities, and staff who always had a smile to go along with superior service. For events, call Kristen at: 805-346-7900. For banquets, call Sarah at: 805-346-7952. Call or visit The Historic Santa Maria Inn located at 801 South Broadway, Santa Maria, CA 93454.
Visit: www.SantaMariaInn.com.
A special thanks to a very spe-cial person to
everyone at Help 4 HD. Nan Meek, of Dark Horse Media Biz, drove clear from Montara, California just to help her “Swisster” President Melissa Biliardi with everything and any-thing that needed to be done. From the minute she arrived on Friday afternoon until Sunday morn-ing she was on task, making copies, ar-ranging flowers and chauffeuring mom and Melissa’s son James (Jimbo) from home to hotel. Addi-tional thanks too for her expert help and advice on publicity for the event. We are so lucky to have her on our team!