APRIL 2018 8 | Frontdoors Media is proud to announce that it has reached an agreement to bring back the Society of Chairs Gala, and we’ll be hosting the newly relaunched event on May 16 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa. We’ll be celebrating those who chaired charity events in the community this past fall and spring season, as well as select civic and business leaders. We’re incredibly excited to make this announcement and grateful to Deborah Bateman, vice chairman of the National Bank of Arizona board of directors, and the bank itself for making this possible, as well as the Westin Kierland for agreeing to host the event. Bateman will be the chairwoman of this year’s event, and Linda Herold will be the honorary chairwoman. Proceeds from the Society of Chairs Gala will benefit a new charitable foundation we’re establishing, which I’ll tell you about shortly. Now, the backstory. When Andrea and I acquired Frontdoors early in 2017, we started kicking around the general concept of having a signature event that would benefit a foundation we would establish as the charitable arm of Frontdoors. We had no idea what that might look like, and what the foundation might benefit. Then, tragedy struck. Our beloved friend Mike Saucier, the first editor of Frontdoors under our ownership, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Mike fought a brief battle against the disease, but we lost him on November 1, 2017. I don’t need to restate how heartbroken we were — still are — and how much we miss him every day. When Mike died, we offered to help out his wife Fernanda by setting up a memorial fund. We weren’t sure what it would go toward, we just knew people wanted to give. Fernanda said Mike would have wanted to help young people become writers — especially young first-generation college students — so we filed that in the back of our minds and went on with our grieving. At around the same time Mike got sick, Deborah Bateman reached out to Andrea with an intriguing question — would Frontdoors be interested in producing the next Society of Chairs Gala, the rights to which National Bank of Arizona has had for the past few years after taking the event over from founder Linda Herold. {ahead of the curve} NEXT DOORS Tom Evans | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR WITH A FRONTDOORS TWIST Society of Chairs Gala WE’RE BRINGING BACK THE

APRIL 2018 | 9 Left: Deborah Bateman, Chairwoman, Society of Chairs 2018 Gala Right: Linda Herald, Honorary Chairwoman, Society of Chairs 2018 Gala The Society of Chairs Gala will take place May 16 at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa. For more information or to register for the Society of Chairs Gala, visit SOCIETYOFCHAIRS.ORG For more information on The Sauce Foundation, visit THESAUCEFOUNDATION.ORG