| This CPRF inaugural Silver Dinner builds on our highly successful signature event, the President’s Luncheon, which has been held in Toronto for the past 19 years.
This annual luncheon routinely attracted over 300 supporters, volunteers, corporate and community leaders who gathered to hear about the challenges, activities and advances in the mental illness and mental health sector and personal stories of struggles, triumphs and compassion. The Silver Dinner is sure to do the same.
Silver was chosen as a signature colour for this event as it is that has been used in the U.S. and abroad by other organizations supporting brain research. As well, silver is associated with elegance and the festive season that we all so enjoy.
The year’s speaker is Christopher Kennedy Lawford, an actor, lawyer, activist and writer/producer who speaks from the heart of real life experience about the horrible effects of alcohol & drug abuse and life in the spotlight as a “Kennedy”.
Past notable speakers have included: The Honorable Trevor Eyton, Canadian Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Smith, The Honorable Michael Wilson, The Honorable Bob Rae, University President Dr. John Evans, Don Tapscott, Senator Roméo Dallaire, journalist Rex Murphy and the Toronto Board of Trade’s CEO Glen Grunwald.
Some past sponsors have included: Aim/Trimark, AstraZeneca, BMO Financial Group, CIBC, Fidelity Investments, Franklin Templeton Investments, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Janssen-Ortho, Mackenzie Investments, RBC Financial Group, TD Financial Group, Toyota, and Wyeth. |
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Speaker Biography
Christopher Kennedy Lawford is the first child of Peter and Pat Kennedy Lawford. Mr. Lawford holds a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University, a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School and a Masters Certification in Clinical Psychology from Harvard Medical School where he gained an academic appointment as a Lecturer on Psychiatry. For much of his young adult life Mr. Lawford battled drug and alcohol addiction.
Today he has been sober for 20 years. Mr. Lawford has worked extensively in politics, government and the non-profit sector. He has held public speaking appearances throughout the United States and the world for political candidates and non-profit organizations.
Mr. Lawford spent over fifteen years in the film and television business as an actor, lawyer, executive, and producer. Mr. Lawford has grown up and worked in Hollywood and Washington for much of his life. He not long ago merged his interest and experience in these two worlds by creating weekly segments on political and social stories within the entertainment community for CNN’s American Morning and the entertainment news program Extra. |
