These three successful meetings-industry entrepreneurs have found inspiration from an entirely different track — giving back to their communities. And by making room in their hectic lives for causes that they believe in, they have created lasting change in others' lives. For Chris White, that meant giving underprivileged children a shot at college; for Mary Tribble, it was bringing CEOs together to examine the issue of corporate conscience; and for Claudette Weston, the goal was to get involved with as many charities as she could squeeze into a 24-hour day. ¶ We hope that you will be as inspired by their stories as we were, and reflect upon them at the start of 2008 as examples of the power of a single human being to change the world.

Mr. Education

Chris White, chairman and CEO, Global Event Partners and Krisam Group, Washington, D.C.

Although he is a Massachusetts native, Chris White, 65, has spent most of his life in the Washington, D.C., area, close by the two companies he founded: Global Event Partners and Krisam Group.

By the early 1990s, with his business prospering, he realized that he had the chance to start looking in a new direction. “My wife and I knew that Washington was our home, and that it was time to start giving back to the community. Education has been a passion for both of us. In most big cities, you can find school systems in deplorable conditions — and D.C. was no different.”

In 1992, the Whites read an article about the “I Have a Dream” Foundation. The program is designed to help children from low-income areas to reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring, and enrichment — ultimately paving the way to a college education. They decided to become sponsors, taking on the personal and financial commitment necessary to try to get 75 young adults through high school and college.

Although he was a successful businessman, White was “not in the same league” as typical “I Have a Dream” sponsors, such as the late Abe Pollan, who owned Washington, D.C.'s professional basketball and hockey franchises. So the couple decided to raise the money they needed. Then the hard work — getting their 75 “dreamers” through school — began.

Sponsors of the program become involved with a class of students when it hits the third grade. White soon realized that he needed to surrender the idea that he had to get all of his students through college. “Things are so awful with many of these kids that you have to make sure they can just make it through high school,” he says. “I went in thinking ‘I will save every single kid,’ but it finally hit me that that was not going to happen.”

But the Whites were determined to get as many through as they could. “We were very hands-on. We had countless conversations with the kids, lots of visits to their homes — every parent knew us personally.” And when their first students reached middle school and the couple saw the deplorable condition of the schools they would be entering, they recommended — and paid for — private school.

While they couldn't get all of the 75 through high school and college, this past May 20, the Whites' first group of students graduated from four-year institutions such as Penn State University, Clemson University, the University of Maryland, and Emory University. “When it's all said and done, we will graduate close to half [of the original 75],” he says.

Since becoming involved, White has developed a passion for a new education alternative: charter schools. “You don't know until you get in the trenches and see firsthand how disgusting the schools really are,” he says.

When a charter school law passed for Washington, D.C., White helped to form one of the district's charter schools. He is on the board of trustees of the Friendship Public Charter School, a system of charter schools within the D.C. school district. “It's been one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” he says. “I only wish my business functioned as well as Friendship does.”

The last 15 years have forever touched his life, and he is proud of what he has accomplished. “Right now, I'd be happy to see my tombstone read: ‘He did a lot to see that inner city kids got an education,’” he says. “That's a lot better than what it would have said before 1992, which was: ‘He booked a lot of rooms in a lot of hotels.’”