Honoring Colonel. Eric G. Kail

Col. Eric G. Kail, an assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at West Point died peacefully July 24, 2013 at his home in Austin, Texas. He was a 25-year Army career and a combat veteran of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. His awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with “V” Device, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Combat Action Badge and the Ranger Tab. Col. Bernard Banks, head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, said “We mourn the loss of a great leader, friend and human being—Col. Eric Kail. His valiant struggle against cancer reflected his character, optimism and selfless orientation. The academy and the Army will benefit from his example for years to come.”

Honoring Gail Costantini

Longtime NetApp leader and great friend, Gail Costantini, whose cancer was found after a surgical biopsy. She was diagnosed on 2/15/19 and had surgery on 3/12/19 for Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. A malignant tumor was found, lymph nodes were taken and no cancer had spread. There is radiation required with potential for chemo therapy after oncotype is completed. We stand in solidarity with her.

Cancer is among the worst of words in any language. If possible to make the word often said in a whisper worse, combining it with the image of it afflicting a child with this insidious disease accomplishes that.

Since 2007, I have had the pleasure and honor to participate in 100+ St. Baldrick’s events around the world. While those events can be traced to raising over $8 million ++ and counting in support of childhood cancer research, I am just as proud of the countless other events that started as spin-offs from Bill and Joey’s Excellent Shaving Adventure. The name alone tells you how long we have been supporting this battle as we ready for our 13th Annual Event.

In that time I have been proud to see how St. Baldrick’s events have evolved and caught fire in surprising ways. My involvement with St. Baldrick’s can be traced back to 2005, when NetApp President Tom Mendoza and I hosted a CIO dinner in NYC. John Lacava, then COO of QBE joined us and the conversation quickly turned to his freshly sheared dome. John mentioned that years earlier he and some friends started a silly bet about shaving their heads, for no good reason. What seemed a silly discussion took a sudden turn when one of the execs threw out the challenge—raise money, shave heads, and donate funds to the fight against childhood cancer. All bets were off, and the fund-raising challenge was on.

Something magical happened that night. Executives, families, and friends decided to stand in solidarity with kids who lost their hair while going through treatment. In the years that followed they had raised $17 million dollars and formally incorporated St. Baldrick’s.

Moving to 2007, the morning after the first NetApp St. Baldrick’s event in NYC, my then 9-year-old son Liam (our inaugural shave) burst into tears and heartfelt pleas about staying home from school that day. My wife Kate and I were prepared for this reaction. Liam woke up to meet the reality that he might be teased at school, a heavy burden for a 9-year-old. After discussing how lucky we both were, that shaving our heads was an option for us as opposed to an all but certain side-effect that comes on top of having to fight for your life. Sharing how proud I was of his commitment to fighting childhood cancer, Liam pulled it together and stood a little taller that day as he walked out the door on his way to school. He and his group of 10 or so St Agnes CYO teammates efforts had a contagious effect - inspiring over 60 kids to show up the local event at Pub that itself has grown to be an Annual Top 5 event for St Baldrick's at the St Agnes Cathedral Parish Center in Rockville Centre, NY - raising $400,000+ over this past weekend.

Thirteen years later, friends from those NetApp days are still committed to raising funds for the charity as are friends from my current firm SecurityScorecard and other leaders across the tech industry. Many of these NetApp Alumni like my namesake partner Joey Santamorena at UIPath, Ryan McGinty at Elastic, George Ballantoni at BMC Software, Brian Mooney at Cohesity, Kevin Carney, Jim Klein, John Foley, Sal Stornello and Nick Manzione at Fortinet, Terence Leach at Snowflake and of course Eric Mann at Mainline. NY Giant Great and 2x SB Champ Justin Tuck has been with us every step of the way. Volunteers from the beginning like Laura Czaczkowski, Victoria Reale, Megan Quinn, Angela Samaro, Megan Santiago and Phil Eletto, Jay “ the Barber”, our stylists from Staten Island and others that have played key roles along the way are still driving the efforts each year. Tom Mendoza, Rob Salmon, Ron Robbins, Jim Kavanaugh, Joe Koenig, Matt Horner, John McCarthy, Mark Marron, Phil Brotherton, Chris Cummings, Mike Sweeney, Roman Kochanowsky, Rick Congdon, Mark Parrinnello, Rob Benoit, Shaun Mahoney, Rob Ryan and Vito Guiliani are just some of the industry heavyweights that have supported this effort over the years. I could go on and mean no offense to any of the thousands that joined us in our efforts. It is through all these fine people who continue to inspire so many. Good friend and cancer survivor Mike Sims from Fortinet will also brave the shave again this cancer free. Of course, what Col Eric Kail meant to all of us has been embodied in our efforts.

In addition to the funds raised, the compounded impact is so much greater, thanks to customers, business partners, family and friends who realize, like Liam did back in 2007, just how lucky and blessed anyone not forced to fight cancer finds themselves - all standing together on behalf of kids battling this terrible disease. Thirteen years later we stand at thousands of shavees and volunteers and the funds raised have been tremendously impactful. Liam is back this year with a BlaiseATrail Team honoring our angel Villanova Super Fan Blaise Davis who was taken from us too soon due to Ewing Sarcoma. With 32 team members consisting of former Regis classmates and current friends from universities across the states and elsewhere to supportive effort.

Anthony Petrocelli is a 16 year old form Rockville Centre we honored last year who was winning his fight with Ewing Sarcoma and though cancer free last year, its back and he is battling with the help of friends at Sloan Kettering. We honor him again this year. Long time NetApp leader and great friend Gail Costantini is battling breast cancer herself and will be at our event knowing we will all be honoring her as well and standing in solidarity in her fight. Similarly dear friend Lisa Crowley continues her fight and we honor her. Beautiful Mary Ruchalski is our special Angel looking down on us also being taken away from us to soon. Too many stories.. We are winning more than we once did and will not stop until we find a cure, especially for the kids.

Thank you to any and everyone who has helped and supported in the past, and going forward, as we head into our second decade supporting the fight against childhood cancer. Again, my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you!

Come to Connolly’s April 3rd between 5-9PM to catch up with old friends and make new ones in support of a great cause. If you cant make it, consider hitting the donation page.