Maryland Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Celebrates Board Chairman Aris Melissaratos Being Named the 2014 Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year

    BALTIMORE, MD, November 13, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Maryland Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation celebrates Board Chairman Aris Melissaratos being named the 2014 Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year, by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Maryland Chapter (AFP). The AFP's criteria for Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year are: direct giving to multiple non-profit organizations, evidence of advocacy and encouraging others to become involved in charitable activities, and serve as an active role in the community. Aris has served as the chairman of the CF Foundation Board of Directors for the past 10 years. He is being honored not only for his undying dedication, leadership, and philanthropy to the CF Foundation, but also his commitment to humanity and the inspiration he gives others to take part in improving the world. Aris has given his time and financial support to numerous community and charitable organizations, such as United Way and Hands Across America, Port Discovery, Baltimore Museum of Industry, Paul's Place and The Baltimore Heart Ball. As a philanthropic organizational leader, Mr. Melissaratos knows how to position people into areas of service where their skills can provide the greatest benefits to accomplish the mission. Through his exemplary leadership, Aris has inspired many key business leaders along with their entire organizations to become involved in Cystic Fibrosis fundraising events," said Josie Schaeffer, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Mr. Melissaratos has been instrumental in making the Baltimore chapter become No. 6 in the country for major gifts and has raised close to $25 million during his time on the board.

Aris was born in Romania to parents of Greek descent. For the first 6 years of his life, he and his family fought to survive the close of World War II, escaping Russian and German air raids over his birthplace of Galatz, ending with his family finally becoming refugees in Greece. From age 6 to 13 he was educated in Greek schools where he was able to build a foundation and source of pride in his Greek heritage. Aris immigrated to the US at age 13 and settled in Baltimore where he began a new journey as an American citizen. Aris received his high school education at Patterson High School while working at his family's bakery in Greektown. He was then accepted into the prestigious Johns Hopkins University electrical engineering program, and he continued to work full-time at the family bakery and the Slayman Company machine shop. He has always valued learning from work experience more than academic learning, because work taught him to interact with the public and how to collaborate and learn other. These experiences were invaluable in establishing the leadership style used throughout his corporate and government careers. Mr. Melissaratos holds a BES in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Science in engineering management from George Washington University; he has also completed the program for Management Development at the Harvard University School of Business, along with advanced graduate work in international politics at Catholic University of America. Aris's professional life has been centered around science and technology, economic growth, the relationship between government and the private sector, and the effective unlocking and management of America's greatest resource- its intellectual power. The first 25 years of Aris's career were spent at Westinghouse Defense Electronics Group in Baltimore, which is now known as Northrop Grumman Corporation. He was Chief Operations Officer for the company's Defense Electronics Group, responsible for $3.2 billion dollars in sales. He then served seven years the Vice President for Science and Technology and Chief Technology Officer, managing Westinghouse's research and development center and it's Pittsburg Headquarters.

During his career with Westinghouse Aris's made significant contributions in the pioneering some of our nation's most important scientific and technological advancements of the 20th century. Aris's has contributed in development of many ground breaking radar, sonar, countermeasures, and satellite communications technologies. He was also involved in the development of the camera that sent to earth those historical photos of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. Throughout his career with Westinghouse, Mr. Melissaratos managed as many as 16,000 individuals (most of whom he knew by name), including some the brightest engineers, and manufacturing workers who produced miracles in scheduling and technological achievement. Aris is a believer in the power of people and ideas, and tries to include as many people as he can in successes of his enterprise. Mr. Melissaratos says, "Leadership should capture and develop people and their ideas, along with the appropriate credit, and should be conducted on the ideal that the whole is, larger than the sum of its parts."

After working at Westinghouse, Aris went on to work for 3 years as VP of Research for the ThermoElectron Corporation managing thirteen defense and research-oriented businesses. After ThermoElectron, Aris founded Armel Scientifics and became an "angel investor", investing over 4 million dollars in 31 different start-up technology companies, which he helped make successful. In 2003, Aris was appointed Secretary for Business and Economic Development of the State of Maryland serving in this capacity. During his term, he was instrumental in reducing statewide unemployment to 3.3% with 9 of the 23 jurisdictions in Maryland being under 3%. His other major accomplishment during this period was the successful implementation of BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) process, which created 60,000 technology-oriented jobs in the state of Maryland, and positioning Maryland's leadership in the knowledge economy. In 2007, Aris became senior advisor to the President at Johns Hopkins University to help the school transition its technology more effectively from laboratory to the marketplace. In July 2014, Aris joined Stevenson University as the interim dean of the Brown School of Business and Leadership, where he works closely with faculty and students to prepare them for jobs in the local workforce.

Mr. Melissaratos has managed, collaborated and studied with tens of thousands of people in business, government and academia, while addressing some of the most sophisticated technological challenges of our time. These experiences have made Aris a valuable asset as chairman of CF Foundations Board of Directors "To be a good director, you have to understand the business. You have to understand the objectives of the organization and you have to care.", says Aris. He stated in his book, Innovation- The Key to Prosperity, " I believe completely in the power of ideas to transform both the physical world and our society for the better...It is about our ability to dream great dreams, the dreams that move the world." This statement resounds in his dedication and leadership of the CF Foundation's mission, and in his belief that a cure for CF will be found through ideas and innovation. "The most meaningful thing about serving with this [Cystic Fibrosis] foundation is when the foundation was started 50 years ago, the life expectancy was five and a half years. Now we're up to 42 years. Seeing progress being made to cure this disease is very rewarding. I see children growing up, going to college, getting married, and having kids. Just to contribute something to extending their lives is really, really rewarding. It doesn't get any better than that." Mr. Melissaratos has been the recipient of several civic and philanthropic awards and honors, including the 2009 William Donald Schaefer Industrialist of the Year Award; Baltimore's Extraordinary Technology Advocate for 2008; Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009 and Corridor, Inc. Person of the Year for 2012 for the Baltimore/Washington Corridor, "Commitment to Community" Award at Paul's Place and the Baltimore County Education Foundation's Legacy in Leadership Award.

About the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation is the world's leader in the search for a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF). Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening, inherited chronic disease that obstructs the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). The Foundation's focus is to support the development of new drugs to fight CF, improve the quality of life for those with CF, and ultimately to find a cure for all CF patients. Currently, the Foundations efforts have produced drug therapies that have increased the life expectancy for CF patients from 5 years of age to over 40 years of age. Much of the Foundation's effectiveness in fighting CF can be attributed to its efficient use of charitable funding. Over 90% of every dollar raised supports CF research, patient/family care, and education programs. The Foundation's drug development success has been recognized by Harvard Business School and by publications such as Forbes, Discover magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. With the support of its Board of Directors, the Maryland Chapter of the CF Foundation alone generates an approximately net $3.5 million annually. For more information about the Maryland Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, please visit: maryland.cff.org or contact Josie Schaeffer, Executive Director, at [email protected].

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