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 Dec. 7, 2005 - CEO Brian Halla, with the help of his trusty executive elves Eddie Sweeney, Lewis Chew, and Ulrich Seif, filled the wishes of 383 needy kids and adults through the Family Giving Tree CEO Shopping Challenge on Dec. 2.
The challenge, spearheaded by Brian Halla, was taken on by six CEOs located in Silicon Valley. The goal was to shop for as many gifts as possible in 30 minutes at the nearby Target department store in Sunnyvale.
The executives weren't shopping for just any gift. They had to match as closely as possible the requests submitted through the Giving Tree organization, which National helps sponsor. National Santa Clara has involved most of the top executives and their charges in shopping sprees, and employees can select individual wish cards on trees located around the campus.
The "winner," was the team that collected the most gifts. National finished second, behind NVIDIA, a maker of graphics processing chips. During his speech to introduce the competition, Brian said, "Every kid deserves to have a bright Christmas holiday and that's why we volunteered to help."
"The real winners, of course, were the 2,140 kids who will receive the gifts raised today," said Joan Scott, National Director of Community Relations. Joan and her staff, along with National volunteers and other company representatives, arranged for the event. Brian personally contacted the executives and asked them to accept the challenge.
Jennifer Cullenbine, the "queen elf" and founder of the Family Giving Tree, concluded, "We never imagined it would be so exciting and that there would be so much competition among the companies." CEOs and executives frantically ran through the store looking for gifts. National's execs seemed the most organized, sporting "quarterback coach" armbands complete with the store layout.
A local radio DJ provided a running commentary, to the sounds of holiday music, as curious shoppers looked on. The final minute turned chaotic as the adrenalin-charged shoppers rushed to find gifts for their final wish cards. When it was all over, most of the wish cards on the Christmas trees had been picked clean.
But the fun wasn't over. At the checkout stands, the CEOs were wondering if their charge cards could handle totals running $8,000 or more. Intel CEO Paul Otellini's charge card required a call to the credit card company before it would go through. Quipped Brian, "Paul, need to borrow some cash?"
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