FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Leslie Wright, 802-846-5298 or [email protected]

KELLY BRUSH FOUNDATION NAMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ZEKE DAVISSON TAKES THE HELM OF THE GROWING NONPROFIT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (Oct. 30, 2014) The Kelly Brush Foundation announced Zeke Davisson has been named executive director of the nonprofit devoted to conquering the challenges of paralysis through adaptive sports and improving ski racing safety.

Davisson, a lawyer and former collegiate ski racer, served as the president of the foundation’s board of directors and is husband to founder Kelly Brush Davisson. He succeeds Betsy Cabrera, who held the post for six years, transforming the foundation’s signature event, the Kelly Brush Century Ride, into one of the region’s premier fundraising bicycling and handcycling events.

“All of us at the Kelly Brush Foundation see an opportunity to have a big influence on the adaptive sports and ski racing communities and are thrilled to have Zeke lead us in this exciting stage of growth,” Brush Davisson said. “I’m really excited about this next step for the foundation and I can’t wait to see where we can go.”

Davisson’s hiring comes as the foundation implements a plan of strategic growth in grant programs, development and outreach, building on the successes of a groundbreaking year that saw inaugural fundraising events in Boston and Vermont in addition to the Kelly Brush Century Ride, as well as a new partnership with Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston to expand the foundation’s adaptive sports equipment grant program.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the Kelly Brush Foundation. The foundation is poised to really develop its vision and build on the tremendous momentum of the past eight years. I look forward to being a part of the effort to bring the foundation to the next level, making a positive difference for even more people living with spinal cord injury and continuing to improve ski racing safety,” Davisson said.

Davisson joins the foundation from law firm Pierce Atwood LLP, based in Portland, Maine. He holds a juris doctor degree from Boston University, in Boston and a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where he competed at the highest collegiate level, NCAA Div. 1, on the Alpine ski team and was team captain.

About the foundation: The Kelly Brush Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving ski racing safety and enhancing the quality of life for those with spinal cord injury (SCI) through providing adaptive sports equipment. The foundation has raised more than $1.5 million, purchasing more than 100 pieces of adaptive sports equipment and procuring more than 400 miles of safety netting and other safety equipment for ski racing organizations as well as launching a successful awareness campaign about ski racing safety. Kelly Brush Davisson, together with her family, started the foundation in 2006 after she sustained a severe spinal cord injury while racing in NCAA Div. 1 competition as a member of the Middlebury College Ski Team in Vermont. The Kelly Brush Foundation affirms Kelly’s ongoing commitment to live life on her own terms, bettering the lives of others living with SCI and keeping the sport she loves safe. http://www.kellybrushfoundation.org

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