Turning the Page

Dr. Eric Shaw, Boca Helping Hands’ longest serving board member and our 2017 Men with Caring Hearts nominee, will be stepping down in November after 18 years of faithful service, 14 in the role of vice president.

Described by several staff and board members as “congenial” and "the perfect gentleman," Shaw has been a champion of BHH in every sense of the word, from winning our very first MONOPOLY tournament at our annual gala to being the first person to make a legacy gift to our endowment. You may have noticed his name on the back page of our newsletter, which he has sponsored for years, or heard of his sterling reputation at nearby Florida Atlantic University, where he is Emeritus Professor of Marketing and has leveraged his relationships there to further support BHH. 

However, much of his long-lasting impact on our organization has taken place behind the scenes. He has served as the BHH Board's parliamentarian and helped to write BHH's bylaws and mission statements, which he updated as we grew to include more services. "Eric has always had great input at meetings and keeps us straight in terms of how we conduct our business, tactfully correcting people on Robert's Rules of Order," said Jack Jaiven, Board Treasurer. "He's been on a number of committees and is always extremely perceptive and professional. We also think of him as our wordsmith. When we were trying to come up with the mission or something else concise, you could put him up with the best of anyone."

Shaw’s professional expertise in marketing and strategy has been an asset when launching capital campaigns and developing organizational strategic plans, now conducted every five years. And he has helped to guide the direction of our organization from its early years as a humble soup kitchen at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, feeding just 36 people a day, to the present, now serving 27,000 people a year throughout Palm Beach County via feeding programs, Job Training, and more. 

Shaw’s own BHH story began when the original Board was looking for help with a capital campaign and then-Board Member Andy Visisitude reached out to the marketing department at FAU. “He called and said, 'Who’s your top guy?’ And the secretary just figured, 'Well, that must be the chairman,'” said Shaw, who was department chair for 15 years. "So we chatted, and he invited me to lunch at the church." 

During that first lunch meeting, Shaw talked to Visisitude and Mel Lazerick, a charter board member and one of BHH's first volunteers. Both spoke enthusiastically about the work they were doing to help the community, and Shaw could see that BHH "was a wonderful organization helping people who really needed help, and that it had tremendous potential and room for expansion." After volunteering for several months to learn more about the different aspects of the organization and the people involved, he officially joined the BHH Board in 2002.

For a significant portion of his nearly 40-year academic career at FAU, Shaw – also a proud FAU alumnus (BBA 1972, MBA 1973) - has helped BHH to deepen relationships with the school, connecting staff with the marketing department to conduct analyses and measure impacts; encouraging the student organizations that he advised to participate in food drives; and even getting former-football Head Coach - and South Florida Legend - Howard Schnellenberger to bring the football team over to volunteer. When social media began to grow, Shaw sent over an FAU marketing intern to help create BHH’s first accounts.

Scrolling through Shaw’s CV, it seems impossible that he would have had any time to dedicate to BHH. It’s filled with dozens upon dozens of teaching appointments, leadership roles, and advisory positions, such as Chair of a Department, Acting Director of a School, Associate Dean of a College, and President of the FAU Faculty. He has published almost 100 papers, engaged in consulting jobs, served as an expert witness, and more. His extensive list of accolades and involvement isn’t just the culmination of his self-professed weakness – “I have a hard time saying ‘no’” - but a record of someone who has worked to master efficiency for years. As an undergraduate FAU student, he still holds the all-time top spot on the President’s List for quality points, having completed 24 credit hours with a 4.0 GPA in the spring term of 1972. His PhD dissertation involved efficiency, and he has continued to publish academic papers on the topic. 

While he’s clearly skilled at balancing multiple responsibilities and making the best use of his time, he also sees serving in leadership positions as a moral calling and responsibility. “One of the cardinal principles of Delta Sigma Pi [co-ed business fraternity that he’s advised] is that when you’re asked to serve, you serve,” he said. “So when people asked me, I did it. If I didn’t like it, I may have tried to get out of it after a while, but I hardly ever said no.” 

The final months of Shaw’s BHH board tenure have been a bit odd, given the changes that COVID-19 have brought to our everyday lives. As someone who loves to interact with others in person, he’s having to make do with Zoom board meetings, emails and phone calls to stay connected. He missed seeing everyone at our annual Monopoly event when it was canceled in April. Still, this felt like the right time to move on and make room for new voices and ideas. 

“I stayed so long because it has been a phenomenal trip,” Shaw said. “We went from being a small mom-and-pop operation into this super-streamlined organization with 14 consecutive Charity Navigator 4-star ratings. It has been my personal pleasure and a professional privilege to be a small part of this great organization doing so much good for so many in our caring and compassionate community.”

Shaw continues to keep busy, writing academic articles, advising PhD students remotely, and recently joining the board of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo. However, his friends at BHH know that his involvement won’t end with him officially departing. “Eric has been a steadfast, pro-active supporter of BHH from the very beginning, and I am confident that our close relationship will continue,” said Gary Peters, Board President. “We are greatly indebted to his service and wish him all the very best.”