A Message from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

SHORT HILLS, N.J., January 13, 2021

On behalf of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Board of Directors and staff, we announce Peter Wilderotter’s departure from his service as President and CEO, effective April 1, 2021. We are deeply grateful to Peter for his leadership of the Foundation over the last sixteen years, during which the Reeve Foundation grew to encompass our dual care and cure mission. He has played a crucial role in the Foundation’s growth and development, and we extend our immense gratitude for his unwavering dedication and the many achievements made during his tenure.

With visionary leadership, Peter has grown the National Paralysis Resource Center to reach more than 100,000 people affected by paralysis with critical services and resources, and awarded more than $30 million through the Quality of Life Grants Program; spearheaded the groundbreaking Big Idea research initiative, which laid the groundwork for the Foundation’s first cure-focused industry investment, made to Onward; created Team Reeve; and established the annual Reeve Summit. Through his efforts, the Foundation developed major collaborations with Eric LeGrand to form Team LeGrand, the Alan T. Brown Fund and, most recently, The Rex Marco, M.D., Fund of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Peter is nationally recognized as a philanthropic trailblazer, and has been featured in The New York Times and named an Icon of NJ Business.

The Board of Directors has appointed current Chief Operating Officer Maggie Goldberg to serve as President. In the coming weeks, we will initiate a process for identifying our next CEO. During this transition, we request your continued support as we carry on our most important work on behalf of the paralysis community. Throughout this process, it is the Board’s utmost priority to ensure the Foundation’s continued stability and steadfastness as we work to identify the individual who will lead us toward an even more successful future.

We will be forever grateful to Peter for his passionate leadership; his energy and enthusiasm; his ever-faithful belief in the Reeve Foundation’s mission; and, especially, his profound humanity in all his efforts to personally support those impacted by paralysis – from his calls to families of those newly injured to his decades-long friendships and advocacy for so many members of our community. He will be greatly missed by all those connected to the Reeve Foundation, near and far. We wish him much continued success in his next endeavor.

Sincerely,

Jay Shepard

Chairman

A Message from Peter Wilderotter

It is with a mix of emotions that I have decided that after 16 years with the Reeve Foundation to step down as President and CEO to pursue a new chapter. I offer congratulations to my esteemed colleague and partner at the Foundation, Maggie Goldberg. Maggie has served the Foundation for 20 years and is uniquely, superbly qualified to lead the organization forward. In addition to having overseen every aspect of the Foundation’s work during her career, Maggie brings to this role personal experience. She experienced a C2 injury at 16 years old and, thankfully, recovered fully, but her injury set her on a path to work on behalf of the paralysis community.

I will be leaving the Foundation with enormous pride, especially after this most unprecedented year during which we persisted and demonstrated incredible resilience, and with deep gratitude for the opportunity to have been part of this esteemed institution and work that has changed so many lives.

I have slept with the phone next to me each night during my career with the Foundation, anxiously anticipating the calls that come when a new injury occurs. But in these terrible moments I’ve experienced compassion and action that stirs souls. The Reeve Foundation is part of a relay race for justice for the people we serve, and it has been my honor to help our community achieve their dreams. The work of the Reeve Foundation persists, and I look forward to the day when our ultimate mission – cures for paralysis – is complete.

Until then, the Reeve Foundation and all who are touched by paralysis will carry forward the torch, a flame of commitment and passion for our shared belief that we will end paralysis. That flame – lit nearly 40 years ago by Hank & Charlotte Stifel, embodied by Christopher & Dana Reeve, ignited again by Peter Kiernan and magnificently passed to Jack and Michael Hughes, aided by giants of industry Jim Welch and Arnie Snider, among so many others, like each of you – will continue to light the way.