[Academy]
2021 Courageous Leader Award Winners In 2019, the Archons established the Courageous Leader Award to recognize individuals who, through acts of selflessness or courage, make an impact in the lives of others and demonstrate a commitment to their values at a testing point. The second annual Courageous Leader Award winners were announced at the 2021 Fiji Academy during the closing session. The first recipient is David Ellis (Virginia Commonwealth 2021), former President of the Mu Pi Chapter. In the summer of 2020, when incidents of racial inequality and violence increased, David knew he needed to stand up for what he felt was right. The Virginia Commonwealth University community pulled together all student organizations to raise awareness and support for the Black community. David worked closely with his chapter to manage their interest in fundraising and joining the protests safely, while navigating challenging communication through the entire Greek community. As a part of this effort, David led others to assist local Black-owned businesses, raising over $3,000. He also worked with his chapter to make the house a safe zone for protesters to organize. The second winner is Richard "Rich" Zane, MD (Johns Hopkins 1988). Rich is an emergency room physician who worked on the front lines of the pandemic in Aurora, Colorado. Early in the pandemic, Rich faced a testing point when he chose to help people by sharing important medical facts instead of staying quiet. He has participated in podcasts and interviews and has been active on social
media. Rich is also the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), professor and chair of Emergency Medicine at the CU School of Medicine. As CIO, Rich works to disrupt and reinvent healthcare, and he has led a massive redesign of emergency services. The third winner is William Bradshaw (Rose-Hulman 2023). William was elected Recording Secretary of the Rho Phi Chapter on February 17, 2020, as a freshman and new initiate. As an officer, he was heavily involved in his chapter's COVID-19 planning during the spring and summer of 2020. Once students returned to campus at the beginning of fall 2020, he personally created PPE kits for every brother living outside of the house. He also went grocery shopping and ran errands for brothers who were in quarantine. Even when William got COVID and was quarantined himself, he still organized brothers to get groceries for others who were quarantined. William's care for his chapter brothers is not the only reason he is a Courageous Leader. He also was selected because he spent the last half of his senior year working to become a volunteer firefighter, completing 400 hours of training in six months while attending school fulltime. William currently studies mechanical engineering and hopes to one day design lift-saving equipment for first responders. Nominations for the Courageous Leader Award are accepted year-round, and recipients are announced each year in January. All brothers, new members and friends of Phi Gamma Delta are eligible to receive this award. For more information or to nominate someone, visit www.phigam.org/ CourageousLeaderAward. t
THE PHI GAMMA DELTA
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