The CEO Roundtable on Cancer salutes Coach Mike Krzyzewski on his 1000th victory, further solidifying his legacy as the winningest men’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history. In addition to his recent history-making win, Coach K’s trailblazing resume includes leading the U.S. men’s national basketball team to gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships and serving as assistant coach for the Olympic gold medal-winning “Dream Team” in 1992.
On and off the basketball court, Coach K has been a vital part of another “Dream Team” in the fight against cancer as a Charter Member of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. Since the organization’s founding in 2001, when former President George H.W. Bush challenged a group of executives to “do something bold and venturesome about cancer,” Coach K has played a unique role in providing inspiring leadership to this unique group of globally statured business leaders.
“Coach K has inspired those of us united in the effort to prevent and cure cancer with the same legendary leadership and intensity he brings to his team on the basketball court,” said Chris Viehbacher, chairman of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. “We salute Coach K on this coaching milestone and thank him for continuing to set a Gold Standard of leadership for our CEO Roundtable on Cancer.”
At a meeting of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer in September, 2009, Coach K pledged to wear on his lapel the round golden pin representing the organization’s CEO Cancer Gold Standard, recognizing the commitment of employers who take concrete actions to reducing cancer risk of their employees and family members. The CEO Cancer Gold Standard™ was created in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, many of its designated cancer centers, and leading health non-profit organizations and professionals. Today, more than four million employees and family members are benefiting from the vision and leadership of Gold Standard employers.
At the CEO Roundtable on Cancer’s most recent meeting on November 8, 2014, it was Coach K who recognized AstraZeneca and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as “MVPs on the Cancer Dream Team.” Coach K presented those two cancer patient centric organizations with the 2014 Dr. Charles A. Sanders Life Sciences Awards in recognition of their innovative and collaborative work on Project Data Sphere, LLC, an independent not-for-profit initiative of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer’s Life Sciences Consortium. Project Data Sphere (www.ProjectDataSphere.org) is a clinical trial data sharing platform created in collaboration with SAS Institute to advance research to improve the lives of cancer patients around the world.