Bobby Shriver

Bobby Shriver, "the co-founder of (PRODUCT) RED (WWW.JOINRED.COM) and co-founder and Chairman of DATA (www.data.org), has spent the last 8 years working to help eliminate the financial and health emergencies threatening the survival of Africa.

"His work on debt relief and AIDS treatment and prevention has brought together Republican and Democrats in Washington, governments around the world, celebrities and leading companies, in innovative and effective ways.

"Robert Sargent Shriver III was born on April 28, 1954 in Chicago. He is the oldest child of R. Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps and leader of the War on Poverty programs of the 1960s, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics.

"After graduating cum laude from Yale College, Shriver began a career as a journalist, working for the Annapolis Evening Capitol in Maryland. From there, he followed a traditional journalist's odyssey, from a news service in Chicago (The City News Bureau) to The Chicago Daily News, and then the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He left the newspaper business to attend Yale Law School. Upon graduation in 1981, he clerked for Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt at the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

"In 1982, Shriver moved to New York to work in the venture capital business where, with former United States Defense Secretary Harold Brown and James D. Wolfensohn, he worked in the venture capital division of the Wolfensohn Firm.

"In 1987, Shriver produced the first ever primetime program on the Special Olympics World Games, for ABC. That same year, he produced the first "A Very Special Christmas" record. The success of these two projects led him to form Special Olympic Productions as an on-going entity for fundraising through entertainment-related projects.

"Since 1988, he has produced a two-hour BBC 1 program on the European Games in Glasgow, a one-hour Christmas show for ABC, the 1991 two-hour show (also on ABC) of the Minneapolis World Games, and, in 1992 a second album, "A Very Special Christmas 2." In 1994 he produced "Jazz to the World," a collection of jazz Christmas songs. In 1995 he produced "World Christmas" for Capitol Records, in 1997 "A Very Special Christmas 3" for A&M Records, in 1999 "A Very Special Christmas Live" and in 2001 "A Very Special Christmas 5." In 2004, Shriver executive produced "A Very Special Acoustic Christmas" for Lost Highway Records. These projects have raised more than $100 million in support of Special Olympic organizations around the world.

"Shriver's feature film credits include the 1994 box-office hit "True Lies," which he executive produced from a story he found and developed. He produced the 1998 HBO film, "Black Cat Run." from Frank Darabont's script. In 1999, Shriver executive produced the NBC primetime movie, "Mary, Mother of Jesus."

"In 2004, Shriver was elected to the Santa Monica City Council by the largest margin in its 120 year history. Shriver is also a Director of The Crossroads at Antigua Foundation, and Chairman of the California State Parks and Recreation Commission.

"He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Malissa and daughter."


 * Director, ONE Campaign