Aug 10, 2018   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation Welcomes Christopher Clinton Conway as Executive Director

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Aug. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation is pleased to welcome Christopher Clinton Conway in the newly-created position of Executive Director. Mr. Conway will serve as a highly-visible representative of the foundation and is responsible for planning, implementing and assessing the foundation's future direction. Mr. Conway is an accomplished and globally engaged nonprofit leader serving high-net-worth individuals in pursuit of meaningful impact.

"We are proud to have Christopher on our team," said Co-Founder Victoria Jackson. "His experience and ability will not only help us, but the entire Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) patient community, as we continue to spearhead advances in clinical research toward a cure. We are ready to show the world how the power of rare is reshaping the future of medicine."

"Bringing Christopher on board represents an exciting new era for our foundation," said Co-Founder Bill Guthy. "He will play a critical role leveraging resources and building strategic partnerships, which will place NMO in the spotlight like never before."

Mr. Conway launched his career assisting Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter pursue an innovative global health agenda at The Carter Center of Emory University. Immediate past President & Executive Director of The Joffrey Ballet, Mr. Conway also held key development positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and forged an historic partnership between the Doheny Eye Institute and UCLA Stein Eye Institute.

"Victoria's and Bill's entrepreneurial spirit and incisive business acumen directs transformative change in pursuit of a cure for NMO," said Mr. Conway.

A sought after speaker and consultant, Mr. Conway is well known for equal emphasis on outcomes, efficiency and style. Mr. Conway has a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Mr. Conway was a Visiting Scholar in Gift & Estate Tax, Northwestern University. Mr. Conway obtained his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.

About The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation

Bill Guthy and Victoria Jackson have each achieved extraordinary success as self-made entrepreneurs. Bill may be best known as a founding principal partner of direct marketing giant Guthy-Renker--the infomercial/media pioneer--while Victoria, a Hollywood makeup artist turned businesswoman, revolutionized the beauty world as the founding CEO of the iconic brand, Victoria Jackson Cosmetics. Longtime philanthropists on behalf of many worthy causes, the couple shifted their focus closer to home in 2008, when their beautiful teenage daughter Ali was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO)--a life-threatening autoimmune disease. Upon learning that even the top medical authorities knew little about NMO, Bill and Victoria moved at record speed to establish The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation.

Over the past 10 years, The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation has dedicated more than $55 million, funding 76 research projects in the quest to understand the pathophysiology and biochemistry of the rare autoimmune disease Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) and its Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD). Supporting research that rewrote the book on how to diagnose NMO, the foundation passionately supports programs and awareness that elevate the clinical paradigm for NMO patients and improve options for treatment, prevention and a cure for this disease. To date, the foundation's milestones include:

    --  Catalyzing innovative science finding new therapeutic targets and
        biomarkers in NMO/SD.
    --  Launching of three Phase III clinical trials to test new NMO/SD
        therapies; others emerging.
    --  Forming International Clinical Consortium for NMO/SD; 96 members from 30
        countries.
    --  Supporting the first-ever tolerization trial in NMO patients,
        representing a breakthrough cure in disease.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact Information:
Christopher Clinton Conway
Direct: (310) 562-7912
Email: ccconway@thegjcf.org

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SOURCE The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation