Speaker

David Girgenti
One of David Girgenti’s biggest dreams is making a lot of other people’s dreams come true.

Girgenti is the founder of the internationally recognized Wish Upon A Hero, an online community he created after being inspired by the heroic efforts after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

At Wish Upon a Hero, visitors post wishes—things like Lasik eye surgery for a veteran of the Iraq war, a return trip to Hawaii for a Pearl Harbor war hero’s 90th birthday and even bagpipes for a loved one. Some wishes are funny. Some are poignant. Some are heartbreaking. The response to the wishes has been overwhelming.  As of March, the site had 50,000 registered members and had facilitated close to 30,000 fulfilled wishes.

Girgenti, a 1993 graduate of Rowan University with a B.F.A. in graphic design, also established the Wish Upon A Hero Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to grant larger wishes and help more people. Through the foundation, Girgenti created nine different programs to help specific causes, such as Hungry for Heroes, which offers Thanksgiving dinner for the needy; Operation Return the Favor, which provides American soldiers with Christmas stockings; and the Clothes Angels, which delivers clothes to low-income families. Additionally, he created the Hero Scholarship to financially assist students looking to establish a career in social services and several other philanthropic programs.

The Cherry Hill husband and father of two daughters also is creative director and partner of Mt. Laurel-based advertising firm CramerSweeney, where he oversees the creative process for all the company’s marketing services, from advertising and branding to printed collateral material and Web site design. He has worked with such giants as Coca-Cola, Intel, Disney, JCPenney and Comcast. A branding expert, he also has created logos for some of the area’s most recognized businesses, such as South Jersey Industries, Pennsylvania Ballet and Gift of Life.

Girgenti has won more than 65 industry awards for his creative work and has been published in multiple design books. NJBIZ magazine named him a 2007 “Forty Under 40” recipient. In 2008, he was the first man ever honored with the Hero of the Year Award by the National Association of Women Business Owners. In 2009, ABC World News with Charles Gibson recognized Wish Upon A Hero as a “Person of the Week.”