1in8 President and CEO, Ken Vrana, began his career as an event planner in the middle 1970’s, while working as a writer and producer in Los Angeles. In part, because of his relationships in the entertainment community, he created a series of successful fundraisers for organizations like The March of Dimes, The National Democratic Party, the US Olympic Committee and the California Handicapped Skiers Association. For seven years he also helped coordinate an annual celebrity ski classic, for actor Steve Kanaly, star of the popular TV series “Dallas.”

In 2001, Ken produced a feature-length documentary film called “Snow Angels,” which followed the lives of three North Carolina women, through a year of their lives, all of whom had breast cancer. When the film was completed, Sarah McLachlan and Sir Paul McCartney offered their music for the film’s sound track which, then led to Ken’s meeting Heather Mills McCartney, former wife of Sir Paul.

Ken was invited to work with McCartney’s breast cancer charity; created to honor the life of his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, who died of breast cancer. From 2002 to 2004, Ken created 13 events for the charity.

In 2004 alone, he traveled over 30,000 miles and worked more than 60 hours a week, to help spread the word about the critical need for early detection. In 2004 he also raised money for 12 additional organizations including the University of Virginia Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, St. Francis Hospital in Topeka, Kansas and Casting for Recovery. He also won many awards for his charity work, including the prestigious Garland Award, The Pavona Award and commendations from cities around the country.

During this period he also created the 1in8 Motorsports Foundation, raising even more money for breast cancer and when Paul McCartney’s charity closed it’s doors, Vrana decided to fold his 1in8 Motorsports Series under an even larger umbrella, The 1in8 Foundation. As part of that effort, he raised money for the catastrophic Indian earthquake in 2004, and 9/11, through his highly successful Phoenix Project. Meanwhile the 1in8 Motorsports Series has grown to the point, where in October of 2007, it was named the fastest growing motorsports charity in the world. Ken now makes himself available, as an event consultant, to organizations all over the world and has created a one-day seminar to help them create successful events. His templates are designed to work for nearly any sized organization, and if after attending his seminar, the host organization decides it would actually like Ken to create their entire event; prototypes are already in place to do that. These prototypes include but are not limited to, anything from a small auction or cocktail party to musical concerts and very large events.

If you would like Ken to present his seminar to your organization, he can be contracted directly at kvrana@1in8foundation.org.