FORMER INVESTMENT BANKER JOINS LOCAL CHARITY BOARD

PALM DESERT – Parkinson’s Resource Organization (PRO) proudly announces that Michael Rudder, formerly with TJ Bettes Company and the current President and CEO of Thermaltech Development, Inc. (TDI), a business development consulting firm providing governance and strategic direction and planning, has joined the PRO Board of Directors. Michael Rudder is an eleven-year veteran of Parkinson’s, diagnosed in 2008.

Mr. Rudder has been helping emerging entities recognize their full potential in fulfilling their mission and finding their financial sustainability. His humanitarianism, board memberships and personal philanthropy include Chairman and Business Plan Developer for Project Open Hand (San Francisco) replicated as Project Angel Food (Los Angeles) and God’s Love We Deliver (New York); A founding Board Member of Ford Foundation’s National AIDS Fund, D. C.; California Pacific Medical Center Executive and Finance committee member for their five-campus hospital in San Francisco; and the Kinsey Institute, Indiana University; Board of Directors’ member and IU Executive Committee.

“I’ve spent much of the last 40 years in the world of non-profits and particularly with those who fill the gaps where the community, and the industry, don’t have the answers but the ORGANIZATION does.” Says Rudder, “I think this is what PRO has done and I am delighted to be a part of that.”

According to Jo Rosen, President and Founder of PRO, “What Mr. Rudder thinks is exciting about PRO is that the Parkinson’s community has many of the answers within itself and PRO has made it possible for others to know that.  He thinks that PRO’s mission is much more powerful than any medication. Isn’t that neat?” Rosen further says, “Watch us grow, helping millions of people affected by Parkinson’s. It’s a 28-year dream come true after helping one-person-at-a-time.”