2011 Visionary Awards Honorees
WALMART »
STEVE TISCH »
PAM GRIER »
Walmart is the new 800-pound gorilla of the home entertainment industry. One of the first big discount chains to aggressively sell home video product, Walmart’s sellthrough star began rising, fast, with the advent of DVD. Today, Walmart is Hollywood’s biggest customer for home video product, accounting for nearly 50% of consumer DVD and Blu-ray Disc purchases. Walmart has similar clout in video game circles and hosts special promotional events such as a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 tournament earlier this month to celebrate the hot new game’s release. Consumer electronics also is one of Walmart’s biggest categories; the chain this year made the top 5 in Dealerscope magazine’s annual ranking of the top CE retailers, ranking ahead of Target, Amazon and Apple.
The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 with a single store in Rogers, Ark. Walton expanded, and in 1969 the company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., going public in 1972. Walmart grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the end of the 1970s. In 1983, the company opened its first Sam’s Club membership warehouse, and in 1988 opened its first supercenter, with groceries as well as general merchandise. Walmart went international in 1991 when it opened its first Sam’s Club near Mexico City. By 1989, there were 1,402 Walmart stores and 123 Sam’s Club locations. Employment had increased tenfold. Sales had grown from $1 billion in 1980 to $26 billion in 1989. Today Walmart — now based in Bentonville, Ark. — has 9,759 stores in 28 countries with 2.1 million employees serving more than 176 million customers a year.
Walmart has always been a big champion of philanthropy. According to the company, “We believe in a philosophy of operating globally and giving back locally. We know we can make the greatest impact on our communities by supporting causes that are important to our customers right in their own neighborhoods. We’re proud to be a ‘store of the community’ for all of the communities we serve by helping to provide financial and volunteer support to more than 100,000 charitable and community-focused organizations, and by using our locations to provide opportunities for our customers and associates to give back.”
Recent charitable work includes a $25 million campaign to expand summer services for kids; a $20 million grant to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, slated to open in this month in downtown Bentonville; and a $2 billion commitment to help end hunger through the holidays. Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Together initiative includes four components: donating more than 1.1 billion pounds of food from Walmart stores, distribution centers and Sam’s Club locations, valued at $1.75 billion; issuing grants totaling $250 million to support hunger relief organizations; mobilizing Walmart associates and customers to help food banks and other charities; and collaborating with government, food manufacturers and other corporations that are fighting hunger.
 Steve Tisch has the unique distinction of being the only person on the planet with both an Academy Award and a Super Bowl ring. He won the former when Forrest Gump won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1994, and the latter as Chairman of the New York Giants, who defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
One of the most successful producers in the motion picture industry, Steve is a partner in Escape Artists, an independently financed film production company based at Sony Pictures Entertainment whose credits include The Pursuit of
Happyness, The Weather Man, Seven Pounds, Knowing, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Back-Up Plan and the upcoming Great Hope Springs starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell.
Among the greatest of Tisch’s most noteworthy professional achievements was the production of Forrest Gump, which was named Best Picture at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. Forrest Gump, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won nine, remains one of the 25 highest domestic box office grossing films in history.
Tisch began his career in entertainment while a student at Tufts University. His summer jobs included booking films in the family’s movie theater chain, working for director John Avildsen and serving an apprenticeship under Otto Preminger. Upon graduation, Tisch worked as Peter Guber’s assistant at Columbia Pictures. At age 22, he became an executive at the studio, and during his four-year tenure he worked on such films as The Lords of Flatbush, Tommy and The Last Detail.
In 1976, Tisch left Columbia to produce his first motion picture, Outlaw Blues. He met Jon Avnet during the shoot and the pair soon formed Tisch/Avnet Productions. The company’s successes included the 1983 runaway hit, Risky Business and the award winning television film, The Burning Bed.
In 1986, Tisch formed the Steve Tisch Company, which produced many films, including The Long Kiss Goodbye, Corrina, Corrina, Big Business and Bad Influence. Tisch also served as executive producer on American History X, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
Away from the gridiron and film locations, Tisch has long been a leader in philanthropic ventures. In April 1991, he was elected to AIDS Project Los Angeles’ board of directors. And during his tenure, he served as both board chair and chair of the development committee. In addition, Tisch has generously contributed his time and resources to such organizations as The H.E.L.P. Group and the ERAS Center. He is a member of the board of advisors at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and is on the Board of Trustees of The Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles, The Sundance Institute, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
 Pam Grier is a distinctly unique icon in the world of cinema. Director Quentin Tarantino called her “Hollywood’s first female action star.” Film fan site Rotten Tomatoes ranked her as the second-greatest female action heroine in movie history. And Ebony Magazine named her one of the 100 Most Fascinating Women of the 20th Century. As the star of a series of classic blaxploitation films in the early 1970s, she not only helped define that genre, she opened the door to starring roles in action films for both women and minorities alike.
Among Grier’s most celebrated films is the mid-1970s troika: Foxy Brown, Coffy and Sheba, Baby, which established her as the first bona fide female action star. Grier’s most acclaimed film, however, may be her 1997 big-screen comeback vehicle, Jackie Brown, Tarantino’s homage to the aforementioned films and their alluring star. For her work in that film, Grier received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress and won Screen Actors Guild and Satellite awards.
Other memorable roles in film and television include Fort Apache: The Bronx, Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Roots: The Next Generation, Miami Vice, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Cosby Show.
In 2000, she earned an Emmy Award nomination for her work in the animated Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and went on to land featured roles in such top-rated TV series as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Smallville and The L Word for which her role as Kit Porter has earned her both critical and popular acclaim. In 2010, Grier added best-selling author to her resume when her memoir, Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, topped The New York Times’ non-fiction list. An unswerving supporter of LGBT issues, including Marriage Equality and suicide prevention, Grier’s support of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is renowned.
Grier is a dedicated advocate in the rescue and care of neglected horses and, in a unique program in Colorado, trains them for a therapeutic riding program for handicapped and disabled children. She also was a driving force in the effort to rescue abandoned animals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, securing temporary housing for animals until new homes could be found. Another personal passion of Grier’s is the community garden she sponsors on the grounds of Fort Worth’s National Multicultural Heritage Museum.
In 2011, Grier was the recipient of two Honorary Doctorates from the University of Maryland and Langston University. |
