by Rod D. Martin
November 21, 2005

I am extremely pleased to announce that I have just been named to the international Board of Governors of Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY), the truly extraordinary organization founded in 1958 by TV’s “Wyatt Earp” after his two-week stay with Dr. Albert Schweitzer at his African hospital.

HOBY trains outstanding high school sophomores to be leaders, to be responsible, to be compassionate, and to understand “America’s Incentive System” of free markets and free minds. The very best students from almost 80 countries and all 50 states are selected to participate in state-level seminars, and the cream of that crop in a ten-day World Leadership Congress in Washington, D.C. Among many other things, they gain an opportunity for a uniquely hands-on experience with the world’s top leaders and innovators, from Presidents and Prime Ministers to dot-com billionaires and Oscar-winning actors. And the relationships they build at HOBY last a lifetime, not least because the kids who go to HOBY truly tend to become “tomorrow’s leaders”.

The Board of Governors is a small group of leaders who love Hugh and love his kids, including Tommy Lasorda, Barron Hilton, Dr. Michael DeBakey and now me. It is a great honor to work with these men, and to give back to Hugh and Hugh’s kids something of what has been given to me and to the hundreds of thousands of others who’ve gone through his program and been forever changed by it.

Oh, and we expect another announcement regarding Hugh very shortly. Stay tuned.