Pan-Mass Challenge Heroes #4: John Cass

This is an ongoing series profiling some of the people I believe to be the real heroes of the Pan-Mass Challenge: the sponsors who donate their money to fund cancer research. Please considering joining them by donating any amount to http://pmc.org/DH0159.

I consider John Cass to be part of my “social media” network of friends, but truthfully I met him just before I really dove headlong into social media, at a MITX technology awards event in 2005. Around that time he was also serving as the local chapter president of the American Marketing Association, so between that and his day-job duties i would run into him at several events, and more so once regular meetups like Social Media Club and the Social Media Breakfasts got started.

John is always good for a well-thought-out opinion on public relations, marketing and social media- many of which he pours out in his blog: http://pr.typepad.com.

Some more from John:

– Why did you sponsor me in the Pan-Mass Challenge?

Thought it was a good cause, really like you and the work you do to support your local communities, such as the Newton Blog (note: I occasionally contribute to The Garden City Blog, curated by Kristine Munroe-Mahoney and my old colleague Chuck Tanowitz) , etc.

– Name one interesting fact or story that makes you unique and interesting

At the beginning of August 2002 I drove 12,000 miles to Alaska and back on the AL-CAN and Caucasian Highway. We saw tons of cyclists making the return trip on the way up, the weather was summer on the way up, and we hit snow storms when we came back at the beginning of September (note: have a look at the map here to see how crazy this trip really was).

Thank you, John. And thank you, everyone who has supported the Pan-Mass Challenge in any way. Here’s the link for you to sponsor my ride and fight cancer: http://pmc.org/DH0159. Please feel free to pass the link to others as well.