As the T.J. Martell Foundation celebrates its 50th year, the cancer research nonprofit supported by the music industry is looking to the future, and how it can continue to grow under new chairman of the board Steve Gawley.
Gawley, who is executive vp of business and legal affairs and business development at REPUBLIC Collective, will work closely with T.J. Martell CEO Lynn-Anne Huck and the executive committee on the organization’s mission, which is “to fund high-risk, high-reward cancer research,” he says. “Our aim is to punch above our weight and help accomplish true breakthroughs in cancer research.”
T.J. Martell Foundation was formed in 1974 by music executive Tony Martell after his young son, T.J., was diagnosed with leukemia and Martell promised him he would raise $1 million for research. Since its inception, the organization has raised more than $280 million in support of medical research grants to leading cancer institutions in the U.S., including City of Hope, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Like Martell, Gawley has a close connection to the cause. “I lost both of my parents to leukemia, the same disease that took T.J. Martell’s life and inspired Tony to establish this incredible foundation,” he says. “Unlike T.J., who lived at a time when effective treatments were not yet developed, my parents’ lives were extended for a significant period, in no small part because of the cancer research supported by organizations like the T.J. Martell Foundation. So, this is personal to me. In the face of this disease, we need to do all we can to extend life, to save life and to keep cherished family members healthy and with us for as long as possible.”
John Esposito, Lynn-Anne Huck, Seth England, and Steve Gawley attend the T.J. Martell Foundation 49th annual New York Honors Gala on Sept. 17, 2024 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for The T.J. Martell Foundation
The organization has an ambitious slate of events for the coming year starting with the 15th Los Angeles Wine Dinner on Thursday night (March 20). That will be followed by April 22’s Nashville’s Best Cellars; May 22’s Napa’s Best Cellars in St. Helena, Calif.; and then Sept. 16’s New York Honors Gala, which will mark the golden anniversary by celebrating music industry leaders and scientists who have championed T.J. Martell’s mission.
The annual events will be joined by new activities, including a fundraiser in Atlanta chaired by trustee members Archie Davis and Disturbin’ The Peace’s Chaka Zulu that will focus on raising awareness and early detection for prostate cancer, which one in eight men will be diagnosed with in their lifetimes. “Even more concerning, Black Americans face an even higher risk, being more than twice as likely to die from the disease,” Gawley says. “These kinds of initiatives are essential, especially for the communities that are most vulnerable.”
T.J. Martell is also adding fundraising teams to endurance events through its new Music’s Team for a Cure initiative, with teams already signed up for the Hamptons Marathon & Half on Sept. 27 in Southampton Village, N.Y., and the Run Nash Half Marathon & 5K on Oct. 25 in Nashville.
Gawley has identified four pillars to ensure the organization’s growth. The first is to enhance financial sustainability and fundraising beyond traditional events by diversifying revenue streams and reducing cost structure through peer-to-peer fundraising efforts like Music’s Team for a Cure, as well as a planned giving program and appropriate brand partnerships to raise funds and T.J. Martell’s profile. Second is to advance research funding by honing the organization’s “focus even further as a leader in supporting early stage, high potential cancer research that traditional institutions might overlook,” Gawley says. “Our goal is to focus on the boldest and most promising ideas to support.”
Third is to “refresh” the brand’s identity within the music culture and enhance social media engagement. And fourth is to engage the next generation of leaders by “expand[ing] our board to include bold, strategic leaders from music, philanthropy and business [and developing] programming to engage young professionals and industry leaders.”
The work of organizations like T.J. Martell is all the more critical given the Trump administration’s recent cuts in funding at organizations like the National Institutes of Health. “This is an issue of the gravest concern to our medical community,” Gawley says. “I attended the T.J. Martell Pioneers in Promise Cancer Summit at Atlanta [recently] with many of our leading cancer doctors and researchers. They are concerned that we could lose an entire generation of researchers depending on the extent of these cuts. Under these circumstances, the role of non-profits like The T.J. Martell Foundation in raising critical funds for cancer research has never been more important.”
T.J. Martell was rocked by an embezzlement scandal in 2022 when its former executive vp/general manager, Melissa Ann Goodwin, was found guilty of stealing more than $3.7 million from the foundation over a two-year period. She was sentenced to four years in federal prison in August 2022.
After regrouping and Huck coming in, the foundation was back on its feet with a full slate of events in 2023, and Gawley says three of its fundraisers in 2024 set all-time records. The New York Honors Gala honoring Big Loud co-founder Seth England and featuring Morgan Wallen, Ernest and Hardy raised the most money for the event in 20 years.
“But let’s not kid ourselves,” Gawley says. “In 2021 and 2022, it took a tremendous amount of work and care by our incredible board, our newly appointed CEO [Huck] and our long-time supporters to re-establish confidence in the foundation and to ensure something like this could never happen again. Our music community was not going to let one rogue employee derail the proud legacy and vital impact of our esteemed foundation. So, we are very much back. We are squarely focused on our mission to help find cures with the help of our vibrant music community and our brilliant doctors and researchers.”
T.J. Martell’s newly elected executive committee, which began their terms in January, includes Scott Borchetta (Big Machine Label Group), Tom Corson (Warner Records), John Esposito (executive chairman), Daniel Glass (Glassnote Entertainment Group), Jeffrey Harleston (Universal Music Group), Michael Huppe (Sound Exchange), Rich Isaacson (R I Entertainment), Michael Kushner (Warner Music Group), Avery Lipman (REPUBLIC Collective), Dennis Lord (attorney), Marc Reiter (Metallica), Darren Stupak (Sony Music Entertainment), Julie Swidler (Sony Music Entertainment), Andy Tavel (Raines Feldman Littrell LLP) and Ron Wilcox (MD Consulting, Treasurer).
