Houston’s Visionaries of the Year Revealed — 13 Young Professionals Raise More Than $1.6 Million In a 10 Week Race

What: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Visionaries of the Year awards evening

Where: River Oaks Country Club

PC Moment: Previously known as the Man and Woman of the Year Campaign, the newly named fundraiser pitted 13 young professionals and their teams in a 10 week race to raise the most money for blood cancer research projects and win the visionary titles.

For more than 30 years, Man & Woman of the Year has been a philanthropic staple of the society with a group of highly motivated individuals in Houston and throughout the country leading the way in the fight against blood cancer

As LLS evolves for the future, volunteers are now being recognized what is needed most — visionaries. Thus, the new name for this campaign.

Houston’s Visionaries of the Year certainly stepped up. They had special events. They tapped friends and family. They invited co-workers to chip in. And in the end the group raised a more than handsome $1.6 million plus. With 500 guests attending in cocktail attire, the evening itself raised $135,000.

Highlight of the fundraising  was auctioning off artwork from the evening’s Honored Hero Evan Pesek for $17,000. The young man artist is a childhood leukemia survivor, who served as an inspiration for many of the candidates’ fundraising efforts. Also honored was Trace Langin, a High Grade B-Cell Lymphoma survivor.

Winning top honors as Visionary of the Year was Claire Warren and her team dubbed More than 4, which raised $360,000. Visionary of the Year runnerup Claudia Walkup and her Walkup Warriors team collected $160,o00. Right behind her was Visionary of the Year second runnerup Billy Bray with his Longhorn Pledgers who brought in $150,000.

Visionaries of the Year leadership team: Laura Lewis, Abby Lestin, Brandi Lee, Kristi Conway, Lauren Paine, Nick Conway, Stephanie Carroll, Angela Williams, Charlye Egbo, Kyle Kelin, Meredith Rice, Scott Gildea, Terie Gresham, Alyssa Parish Bublewicz, Brandi Berryhill, Jason Barron, Laura Persia, Mike Lopez, Shauna Barron, and Nnamdi Ezenwa.