Distinguished Alums to Return to Campus as Honored Commencement Speakers
Bill Prady, C'77, and Lisa Lapides Sawicki, K'74, have been chosen as this year's recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award. This award is presented to an alumna and alumnus who has brought honor and distinction to herself/himself and to Cranbrook Kingswood through career achievement, public service or through contributions in other areas.
This year's recipients will also speak at the upper school graduation ceremonies on June 5, 2009. We congratulate them on all they have accomplished and look forward to welcoming them back to campus in June.
Lisa Lapides Sawicki graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood in 1974. Following her time there she attended college at Boston University. After originally starting out as a psychology major, Lisa had a change of heart and switched her major to communications. She graduated from Boston University’s School of Public Communication in 1978 and received a B.S. in Communications
After graduation she quickly jumped into the fast-paced world of public relations. Some of her jobs included working directly under Roone Arledge, former President of ABC News and Sports in New York, Florine Mark of Weight Watchers and Tony Franco at Franco Public Relations.
After working for the aforementioned companies, Lisa Lapides Sawicki opened Lapides Publicity Group, Inc. in 1986. Her foresight was “right on,” because it now became easy for corporations and non-profits to realize they needed specialized publicity professionals to obtain the positive media coverage they felt they deserved. Many of these companies had teams of other professionals taking care of their other business needs such as annual reports and advertising. However, to truly send messages out to their communities, they needed experienced people who understood this special art form called editorial
After 17 years of working together with Mida Giragosian, the two partnered up and Lisa expanded the name of her company to Lapides PUBLICITY Giragosian. Right from the beginning Lisa was sure that she and Mida would form a dynamic, winning team due in part to Mida’s talent and devotion to Lisa. Lapides PUBLICITY Giragosian is now entering its’ 24th year in business.
In 1993, while her company was in its seventh year of operation she met her future husband, David Sawicki. At their first lunch meeting he told her of his dream, which was to give the younger generations wisdom through their favorite types of music. He told her that he was disturbed by many of the inappropriate messages that were in much of the youths’ music. After hearing this, it was as if he sparked something within Lisa. She knew that she understood the power of music and cared greatly for the youth. David and Lisa’s connection was life-changing on both a personal and professional level. They both realized they were committed to spreading positive music to the younger generations. Lisa soon realized the power of David’s lyrics and melodies that he had devised. The two of them went on to create a CD called “Mello-D’s Youth Under Construction.” The CD received 4 national awards and much recognition as a watershed item in the movement for positive influences on youth and families in Metro Detroit. Their music and live performances have reached thousands of children throughout Michigan. The purpose of their music programs is to find a way to transfer wisdom, life skills, character and common sense values to the young developing minds that receive it.
Because their programs have worked so successfully, it was a natural next step to create Pages to Stages, a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit. The mission of Pages to Stages is to promote and implement products and programs relating to literacy, academic achievement and positive behavior for youth and families. The work that Lisa has done with youth has been an extremely meaningful part of her life. She realizes the generations that came after her live in a very different world than the one that she grew up in. With all of the challenges and harsh realities these young people are forced to endure on a daily basis, Lisa and David feel a strong responsibility and purpose to give the younger generations a chance to be successful. It takes a village to raise a child, and Lisa and David are so happy to be part of the many villages.
The experience that Lisa had at Cranbrook Kingswood left a permanent mark on her and shaped her into the woman that she is today. It was there that she discovered all different levels of creativity, intelligence and passion. The multi-dimensional female student body as teachers gave her such fond, lasting memories. Her time at Cranbrook Kingswood gave her a foundation that allowed her to live out her dreams and realize that it is possible to accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Bill Prady began his work in entertainment in 1992 at Jim Henson Productions (then Henson Associates, Inc.). This followed a brief career as a computer programmer and partner in a computer software company.
Working with Jim Henson, Bill wrote a wide variety of projects from episodes of the animated version of “Fraggle Rock” to MuppetVision 3-D, a theme park attraction directed by Henson and exhibited at several Disney theme parks. His final work with the Muppets was as one of the writers of The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, a posthumous tribute to the late puppeteer for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Following his work with Henson, Bill wrote for a number of television comedy and drama series. His first produced episode of series television was an episode of “Married... With Children” in 1991; his first staff writing job was on the HBO series “Dream On” in 1995. In 1997 he joined the writing staff of “Dharma & Greg,” rising to Executive Producer and taking over as “show runner” (industry slang for the job that combines head writer and Executive Producer) in 2001.
In 2007, Bill co-created the CBS series “The Big Bang Theory” with television veteran Chuck Lorre. He currently serves, along with Mr. Lorre, as Executive Producer and show runner of that series.
In addition to the Emmy nomination for the Jim Henson special, Bill has received two Writers’ Guild awards, a CableAce award and two People’s Choice awards for his work as both a writer and producer. He has also been nominated for two additional Writers’ Guild awards and two Golden Globes.
In 2003, Bill was a candidate for the office of Governor of the state of California, an act of nonsense that he insists everyone take seriously.
Bill graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood in 1977 and attended Wayne State University in Detroit. He is married to Kirith Prady (née Bernstein). The Pradys have two children: Stella, born in 1999 and Asher, born in 2006.
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This year's recipients will also speak at the upper school graduation ceremonies on June 5, 2009. We congratulate them on all they have accomplished and look forward to welcoming them back to campus in June.
Lisa Lapides Sawicki graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood in 1974. Following her time there she attended college at Boston University. After originally starting out as a psychology major, Lisa had a change of heart and switched her major to communications. She graduated from Boston University’s School of Public Communication in 1978 and received a B.S. in Communications
After graduation she quickly jumped into the fast-paced world of public relations. Some of her jobs included working directly under Roone Arledge, former President of ABC News and Sports in New York, Florine Mark of Weight Watchers and Tony Franco at Franco Public Relations.
After working for the aforementioned companies, Lisa Lapides Sawicki opened Lapides Publicity Group, Inc. in 1986. Her foresight was “right on,” because it now became easy for corporations and non-profits to realize they needed specialized publicity professionals to obtain the positive media coverage they felt they deserved. Many of these companies had teams of other professionals taking care of their other business needs such as annual reports and advertising. However, to truly send messages out to their communities, they needed experienced people who understood this special art form called editorial
After 17 years of working together with Mida Giragosian, the two partnered up and Lisa expanded the name of her company to Lapides PUBLICITY Giragosian. Right from the beginning Lisa was sure that she and Mida would form a dynamic, winning team due in part to Mida’s talent and devotion to Lisa. Lapides PUBLICITY Giragosian is now entering its’ 24th year in business.
In 1993, while her company was in its seventh year of operation she met her future husband, David Sawicki. At their first lunch meeting he told her of his dream, which was to give the younger generations wisdom through their favorite types of music. He told her that he was disturbed by many of the inappropriate messages that were in much of the youths’ music. After hearing this, it was as if he sparked something within Lisa. She knew that she understood the power of music and cared greatly for the youth. David and Lisa’s connection was life-changing on both a personal and professional level. They both realized they were committed to spreading positive music to the younger generations. Lisa soon realized the power of David’s lyrics and melodies that he had devised. The two of them went on to create a CD called “Mello-D’s Youth Under Construction.” The CD received 4 national awards and much recognition as a watershed item in the movement for positive influences on youth and families in Metro Detroit. Their music and live performances have reached thousands of children throughout Michigan. The purpose of their music programs is to find a way to transfer wisdom, life skills, character and common sense values to the young developing minds that receive it.
Because their programs have worked so successfully, it was a natural next step to create Pages to Stages, a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit. The mission of Pages to Stages is to promote and implement products and programs relating to literacy, academic achievement and positive behavior for youth and families. The work that Lisa has done with youth has been an extremely meaningful part of her life. She realizes the generations that came after her live in a very different world than the one that she grew up in. With all of the challenges and harsh realities these young people are forced to endure on a daily basis, Lisa and David feel a strong responsibility and purpose to give the younger generations a chance to be successful. It takes a village to raise a child, and Lisa and David are so happy to be part of the many villages.
The experience that Lisa had at Cranbrook Kingswood left a permanent mark on her and shaped her into the woman that she is today. It was there that she discovered all different levels of creativity, intelligence and passion. The multi-dimensional female student body as teachers gave her such fond, lasting memories. Her time at Cranbrook Kingswood gave her a foundation that allowed her to live out her dreams and realize that it is possible to accomplish anything you set your mind to.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Bill Prady began his work in entertainment in 1992 at Jim Henson Productions (then Henson Associates, Inc.). This followed a brief career as a computer programmer and partner in a computer software company.
Working with Jim Henson, Bill wrote a wide variety of projects from episodes of the animated version of “Fraggle Rock” to MuppetVision 3-D, a theme park attraction directed by Henson and exhibited at several Disney theme parks. His final work with the Muppets was as one of the writers of The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, a posthumous tribute to the late puppeteer for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Following his work with Henson, Bill wrote for a number of television comedy and drama series. His first produced episode of series television was an episode of “Married... With Children” in 1991; his first staff writing job was on the HBO series “Dream On” in 1995. In 1997 he joined the writing staff of “Dharma & Greg,” rising to Executive Producer and taking over as “show runner” (industry slang for the job that combines head writer and Executive Producer) in 2001.
In 2007, Bill co-created the CBS series “The Big Bang Theory” with television veteran Chuck Lorre. He currently serves, along with Mr. Lorre, as Executive Producer and show runner of that series.
In addition to the Emmy nomination for the Jim Henson special, Bill has received two Writers’ Guild awards, a CableAce award and two People’s Choice awards for his work as both a writer and producer. He has also been nominated for two additional Writers’ Guild awards and two Golden Globes.
In 2003, Bill was a candidate for the office of Governor of the state of California, an act of nonsense that he insists everyone take seriously.
Bill graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood in 1977 and attended Wayne State University in Detroit. He is married to Kirith Prady (née Bernstein). The Pradys have two children: Stella, born in 1999 and Asher, born in 2006.
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