Founder & Member, Board of
Directors, St Baldrick’s Foundation
BA Marketing, 1987
John Bender a 1987 graduate of The Tobin College of Business has
used many of the values and lessons he learned at St. John’s in
both his business career and in his commitment to give back to the
community. John is currently the COO of Allied World
Reinsurance Company and Co-Founder of the St. Baldrick’s
Foundation. While attending St. John’s he worked at Waldbaums
to help fund his education. After graduation, Bender met with
friend, former Waldbaum’s co-worker and fellow St. John’s grad
George Mitchell, who informed him about the reinsurance industry
and a potential position within his firm, St. Paul Re. “I
kind of fell into the industry because I was looking for something
to do when I grew up”, says Bender. And grew up he did.
Bender started out working in the claims department as a claims
assistant and was eventually recruited into underwriting, where he
spent the next 12 years learning everything he could. While
opportunities to move on for a bit more money were always
plentiful, staying put and truly learning the business from great
professionals and mentors at St. Paul Re really paid off in the
long run. When St. Paul Companies spun off their reinsurance
Company into Platinum Underwriters, Bender was named Senior Vice
President, Commercial Underwriting and ultimately Chief
Underwriting Officer.
After almost twenty years at the combined entity, Bender used an
important tool taught to him at St. John’s, this was the power of
networking. It has always been extremely important to meet
new professionals and keep in touch with former colleagues.
“You never know when someone from your past will have a major
influence in your future”, Bender says. In his case it was
former Chairman & CEO of St. Paul Re and mentor, Jim
Duffy. Now retired for several years and serving on the Board
of Allied World Assurance Company, Jim mentioned at dinner one
night that Allied World might be starting up a reinsurance
operation in the United States and that John would be a good fit to
lead this operation. Having reinsured Allied World for
several years, and knowing Scott Carmilani, CEO of Allied World
made this a very good fit for Bender. Bender says “having
your mentor on the Board and having great respect for Scott, it was
an easy decision for me”. Bender accepted the job. Now
eighteen months into his new position, Bender is enjoying building
a very successful and professional reinsurance company, which
includes adding several other St. John’s Alumni.
But all of this was not enough for a tenacious and driven
Bender. While at a friend’s BBQ on July 3, 1999, after a day
of golf, Bender and his two friends Tim Kenny and Enda McDonnell
discovered a new and unique way to raise money for a good
cause.
“We were having a great time, and it got into the wee hours of the
morning. We were still enjoying a few “lemonades”, when our
host turned the conversation a bit serious. Tim said that he
thought it was great our careers were going so well. We all
drank to that, but then Tim asked us; “what are you giving
back?” “The sad truth was we were not, and had not even
thought much about giving back”, says Bender.
So we started to think how we could give back. It turns out
during the conversation, that we all knew someone growing up in
school that died of cancer. So we thought we would do
something for kids with cancer. But what could we do to raise
money for childhood cancer research? Bender explains that
kids with cancer often get treated with Chemo and lose their
hair. “I looked at Enda, and his Flock of Seagulls haircut –
big & long- and said in solidarity with these kids who lose
their hair in treatment, we can raise a lot of money shaving your
head. Not one to run from a challenge, Enda said I will if
you will, We decided that night to turn our industry St. Patrick’s
drink fest into a fund raiser for childhood cancer. Then we
called it a night.
With a goal of raising $17,000 on March 17, 2000 for the National
childhood Cancer Foundation, Bender and his cohorts asked fifteen
friends to join McDonnell & Bender in shaving their heads in an
effort to conquer kid’s cancer. We asked each guy to raise
$1,000 that day. Hoping to raise $17,000, seventeen
guys shaved their heads on March 17th. By the time the day was over
we had raised $104,000 and knew we were on to something. As
the years went by we had more events and raised more funds.
At that point, we were talking about a lot of money being raised
and the only thing we could do was start our own Foundation.
And The St. Baldrick’s Foundation was born to raise awareness and
funds for childhood cancer research. Since 2000, they have
raised more then $64 million by shaving over 100,000 people’s heads
(both male and female) in every state in the U.S. and in 20 other
countries around the globe.
The Foundation also offers fellowships for pediatricians who want
to specialize in childhood oncology, whereby fellows conduct very
specific research under the mentorship & supervision of an
expert. “We noted early on from our involvement in childhood
cancer that the doc’s treating our kids are in their fifties and
sixties. Who is going to treat our kids in the future with so
few young doctors entering this area of medicine? By offering
fellowships, we are ensuring that what research uncovers today
helps the treatment and cure of cancer for more children tomorrow”,
says Bender. So far thirty fellows are either in or have
completed their St Baldrick’s Fellowships around the country.
“We can’t cut chemo or radiate our kids anymore, the cure is often
worse then the disease with far ranging side effects later in these
children’s lives. The science is there to find new and better
ways to treat our kids, while at the same time protecting their
dignity and future health. Ten years ago, Tim gave us a reminder it
was time to give back, a lesson learned many years before at St
John’s, but some how forgotten. The St Baldrick’s Foundation
hopefully provides an option for everyone to get that same friendly
reminder Tim gave us all those years ago. I hope this
in an opportunity for people to have some fun while addressing a
deadly serious disease”
St Baldrick’s has also received the Better Business Bureau
Accredited Charity Seal. For More information about St.
Baldrick’s, log onto www.stbaldricks.org.