D-Backs President & Ceo Derrick Hall Receives Bill Shover Leadership Award

Arizona Diamondbacks President & CEO Derrick Hall has been named the 2012 recipient of the Bill Shover Leadership Award and was honored this afternoon at a luncheon at the Talking Stick Resort. The award recognizes an individual who has voluntarily contributed time and talent to the betterment of the Arizona blood supply. In winning the award, the Community Leadership Council of United Blood Services deemed that Hall and the D-backs have inspired, motivated and served as an advocate for the promotion of the UBS community blood program while demonstrating innovation and making a difference in people’s lives.

“I am honored to have my name associated with Bill Shover and to accept this award on behalf of the D-backs,” said Hall. “We know that there is always a shortage of blood and that donating is a simple way to help others in the community so we have always done all that we can to help UBS and encourage those around us to do their part.”

Bill Shover, a longtime employee of the Arizona Republic, has had an impact on countless areas around the Valley, including professional sports, as he helped launch the Phoenix Suns and helped form the group that created the Fiesta Bowl in 1958. Devoted to cultural and youth organizations, he was a founder of the COMPAS (Combined Metropolitan Phoenix Arts) Auction that for decades was a source of funds for many of the Valley’s cultural organizations.

The United Blood Systems exists to make a difference in people’s lives by bringing together the best people, inspiring individuals to donate blood, producing a safe and ample blood supply, advancing cutting edge research and embracing continuous quality improvement.

Under the direction and leadership of Hall, the D-backs have continued to partner with United Blood Services in a variety of initiatives that aim to support and increase blood drives, specifically encouraging both blood donor and blood drive coordinator participation with a variety of D-backs incentives. The D-backs are proud to sponsor and support the UBS High School Blood Drive Challenge, encouraging high school students to coordinate and participate in high school blood drives and rewarding these students with complimentary D-backs game tickets and a once-in-a-lifetime experience participating in an on-field recognition ceremony prior to the game.

The D-backs support additional UBS blood drives as well with a variety of ticket incentives. Throughout the month of March 2012, the D-backs encouraged blood donations by rewarding individual blood donors, automatically entering these donors into a raffle to win a complimentary pair of D-backs Legends Suites tickets. Blood drive coordinators were also entered into the raffle if they met or exceeded their blood drive goal for the month. In addition, the D-backs once again supported the UBS Summer Blood Drive, rewarding the first 500 blood donors with a complimentary pair of tickets to a D-backs game.

With support from Hall, the D-backs held an internal staff blood drive at Chase Field. With a variety of in-kind support and also a newly committed monetary sponsorship of the UBS Spirit of Giving Scholarship, Hall continues to find ways for the D-backs family to support United Blood Services.

In the community, Hall has positioned the D-backs as one of the largest philanthropic entities in the Valley. In 2012, the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation and the D-backs’ organization surpassed the $33 million mark in charitable giving since their inception in 1998, including more than $19 million in the past seven years under Hall’s direction.