Spotlight

John Piano, JD '92

After 5 years in corporate law in L.A. and then as an executive at 20th Century Fox, John Piano, JD '92, made many personal sacrifices to facilitate a major career move and seek a different kind of fulfillment. In 2003, he created Transplant Connect (www.transplantconnect.com ) - a socially-conscious medical software firm dedicated to increasing the number of lives touched through organ, tissue and eye transplantation: quite a far cry from negotiating M&A deals.

Today, Transplant Connect provides the electronic medical record software that supports almost 50% of all U.S. organ transplants (about 13,000 - 15,000 each year). The company interfaces directly into the government organ allocation system (UNOS) and works with many organ, tissue and eye agencies around the country, including the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network (which is responsible for the Ithaca area), as well as the New York Organ Donor Network (covering all of New York City). According to Mr. Piano, "With 100,000+ people waiting for an organ in the U.S., and 18-20 dying every day, this is truly an important cause, and it often does not get the kind of attention of other cause."

For his work, Mr. Piano has recently been recognized by GQ Magazine as one of 5 finalists in their "Better Man, Better World" search - in which they provide fairly extensive media coverage and public speaking opportunities for the winner. The winner is selected by popular vote – and the results are driven primarily by networking and viral marketing, as opposed to general public opinion. Votes can be cast at http://thegentlemensfund.com/final_vote.asp through October 7th, 2009.