Candi Spitz currently serves as Executive Director for Autism Speaks – Florida. Autism Speaks is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating an inclusive world for all individuals with autism throughout their lifespan. The organization does this through advocacy, services, supports, research and innovation, and advances in care for autistic individuals and their families. In this new role, Candi is responsible for the growth and development of the organization’s initiatives across Florida. She provides visionary and strategic leadership to staff, council and key constituents, with a strong focus on acquiring and strengthening high-level donor relationships and corporate partnerships. Additionally, she collaborates closely with Florida’s field development managers to expand their event portfolios and enhance community-engagement efforts.
Prior to her role at Autism Speaks, she served as Director of Development and Community Relations for 211 Palm Beach and Treasure Coast. With more than 15 years of success in the nonprofit sector, Candi has demonstrated expertise in building strategic partnerships, leading high-impact fundraising campaigns and fostering meaningful community engagement.
Additionally, Candi has spent more than 25 years as a television and radio personality, most recently spending five years hosting WPTV News Channel 5’s segment “Take 5: Now You Know” and is a content writer for special-needs travel at Discover the Palm Beaches. She has also served as a special-needs advocate for the Palm Beach County Court System, and she has served as an autism trainer for Palm Beach County law-enforcement and rescue workers.
Most importantly, she is the mother of identical twin sons, Brendan and Jaden, who both were diagnosed with Autism in 2009. She knows firsthand the struggles and concerns that families face each day as they navigate the maze of life with special needs and is passionate about helping families find the help they so desperately need.
Candi was recognized as a Project Lifesaver International ambassador in 2012 and was appointed as Director of Ambassador Relations in 2021.
Year Recognized: 2012
Haley Moss was diagnosed with autism at age 3 and made international headlines for becoming the first documented openly autistic attorney admitted to The Florida Bar. She graduated from the University of Florida in 2015 with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and criminology and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law in 2018.
Max Gail, after spending the majority of his formative years trying to “make sense” of the world around him, began acting at the age of 27 in a number of small supporting roles in television shows and movies. He explains that he had never really thought about being a celebrity, but that notion flew out the door after gaining notoriety while portraying what is likely known to be his most notorious role: Detective “Wojo” Wojciehowicz on ABC’s hit sitcom, Barney Miller. Many believe that, unlike most other cop shows of its time, the hit-running show portrayed a more factual representation of community policing with just enough wit and comedic relief. Max portrayed the fun-loving “Wojo” for 8 seasons until the show went off the air in 1982.
Dale Neuburger is Director of Burson Cohn & Wolfe Sports Practice – North America, a regional office of the international sports consultancy based in Lausanne, the “Olympic Capital.” From 2005 to 2018, the company was known as TSE Consulting, before its acquisition by WPP Group, one of the world’s leading communications companies. Since 2005, he has provided management expertise to international sports organizations, National Governing Bodies, and nonprofit organizations, primarily in strategic planning, event hosting, program evaluation, and business performance planning. Additionally, he has helped city governments and sports commissions to develop sport tourism plans, event hosting strategies, and international event development programs for cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Ronald Everest Yeaw, Junior serves as the Deputy for the Future Requirements and Emerging Technology (FRET) cell within the Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS) Program Management Office (PMO). The JOMIS PMO provides health information technology capabilities to meet existing and emerging operational medicine requirements. Ron Jr’s role is to identify promising new technology capable of helping our deployed medics and corpsman and getting it in their hands. His expertise in this area, specifically
The highest-ranking firefighter to survive the World Trade Center collapse and the last fireman to escape the devastation, FDNY battalion commander Richard “Pitch” Picciotto was on a stairwell between the sixth and seventh floors of the North Tower when it collapsed on September 11, 2001. His is the harrowing true story of an American hero, a man who thought nothing of himself and gave nearly everything for others during one of out nation’s darkest hours.
Sgt. Michael Sugrue, retired, Walnut Creek (Calif.) Police Department, and former Air Force security forces captain, is a #1 international best-selling author, national speaker
Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, is an occupational therapist with more than 40 years of rich and varied clinical and academic experience.
A native of Media, Pennsylvania, Ron graduated from Penncrest High School in 1961. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in Economics from Grove City College in northwest Pennsylvania in1965. His 50 year professional career is highlighted by his 30 years of service in the Navy where he completed 3 operational platoon combat tours to the Republic of Vietnam with SEAL Team TWO. He subsequently filled such positions as Chief of Staff of the Joint Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, NC and Commanding Officer of both Underwater Demolition Team TWENTY ONE and SEAL Team SIX, the world’s premier commando force that killed Osama bin Laden and rescued Captain Phillips from the Somali pirates in the Maersk Alabama lifeboat. He served two tours in the Pentagon on the Special Operations staffs of the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He earned a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the Navy Postgraduate School, attended the Navy War College, and was the president of his class at the National War College. Ron retired as a Captain in 1995 after having been awarded 45 medals and ribbons including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Navy Legion of Merit, 2 Defense and 3 Navy Meritorious Service Medals, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, 7 Vietnam Campaign Medals, 9 individual commendation medals with the Combat “V” for valor including 4 Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart for multiple fragmentation grenade wounds.
If Jack Jacobs wanted a challenge, he certainly had one in 1966. He had a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, a wife and a daughter, and no money. He had been through ROTC, and his plan was to enter active duty to earn a regular paycheck, then attend law school when his three-year Army commitment was finished. He volunteered immediately for airborne duty. A year later, Lieutenant Jacobs was in Vietnam as a adviser to a Vietnamese infantry battalion in the Mekong Delta. He had wanted to deploy with his unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, and when he asked the Army why he had been chosen for the frustrating job of adviser, he was told it was simply because he had a college degree.