Elevating Dignity, Independence, and Community for Adults with Disabilities (with Adam Saks of ValleyLife)
In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Adam Saks, the first-ever Chief Marketing Officer for ValleyLife, to discuss how the 79-year-old nonprofit is modernizing its brand to expand support for adults with developmental disabilities.
After a distinguished career in entertainment, hospitality, and real estate development—building iconic brands like Planet Hollywood, Ultra Star Multitainment, and Cannon Beach—Adam made a pivotal move into the nonprofit sector. Bringing his extensive marketing experience and an Emmy Award-winning creative vision, he now leads the charge to elevate ValleyLife’s mission, re-engage corporate partners, and raise community awareness across Arizona.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Promoting Choice and Dignity in Residential Living: How ValleyLife operates 27 group homes across Phoenix, empowering members to make daily choices—from their meals to community field trips—with total dignity and respect.
- Empowering Independence Through Workforce Development: The vital role of vocational training and job placement programs, which have successfully placed over 60 members into meaningful employment in 2026 alone.
- Graduated Skill-Building in the Aspire Autism Program: How a tiered autism program helps adults build communication skills and self-confidence, leading to inspiring real-world success stories like a member working towards a job at Dutch Bros.
- Bridging the Gap for Aging-Out Adults: Why ValleyLife provides a critical lifelong safety net for individuals turning 18, serving as a family for members who have lived in their residential care for over 50 years.
- Lessons from Planet Hollywood to Surf Parks: Adam’s fascinating background navigating high-stakes PR at Planet Hollywood on 57th Street in New York, developing major entertainment hubs, and winning an Emmy and a Telly Award.
- Reimagining an 80-Year Legacy Brand: How ValleyLife is gearing up for its 80th anniversary with digital marketing overhauls, a $25,000 hole-in-one prize at their September 18 golf tournament, and a reimagined gala for 2027.
- Leadership Driven by “CPR”: Adam’s core leadership philosophy centered on Courtesy, Professionalism, and Respect, alongside insights drawn from visionaries like Tony Hsieh, Richard Branson, and Shaquille O’Neal.
For anyone passionate about disability advocacy, brand transformation, or building inclusive communities, this conversation delivers an inspiring roadmap for creating lasting impact.
Listen to the full episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour podcast to hear Adam’s inspiring journey of service, brand building, and empowering adults with disabilities.
Full Transcript
Jerry Ferguson 0:02
Welcome to the Knoodle Founder’s Hour, where we go founder to founder and sometimes founder to visionary with host Rosaria Cain. Today, our special guest is Adam Saks, Chief Marketing Officer for ValleyLife, an organization whose mission is to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities.
Rosaria Cain 0:19
Good morning, Adam. Thank you for coming in.
Adam Saks 0:22
Thank you. Good morning. Nice to be here.
Rosaria Cain 0:23
And you are with ValleyLife.
Adam Saks 0:25
I am. ValleyLife Arizona.
Rosaria Cain 0:27
So tell us about ValleyLife Arizona and what it does in the community.
Adam Saks 0:31
ValleyLife Arizona is a large nonprofit here in the valley. We’re in our 79th year. Be 80 years old next year. So we’re gearing up for a big celebration of that, and we’re an agency dedicated to improving the quality of life of those within with disabilities. So we focus on folks that have developmental disabilities that are 18 years plus, and we offer a really full range of various programs that support their daily life. Our our goal is to give people the skills to just live a normal life instead of maybe feeling like they have to they’re excluded in some manner. Our our goal is give them everything they need to just live a happy life.
Rosaria Cain 1:16
Well, what is living a normal life exactly?
Adam Saks 1:18
It’s helping them with the basic skills and maybe activities that we all take for granted that somebody with a disability may not get the opportunity to do, we want them to be able to choose. For an example, and we’ll talk a little bit of one of the things ValleyLife does is we operate 27 homes, and as an important part of that residence program are your meals. We are not there to dictate what our member wants to eat for dinner. We are there to facilitate what they want to eat for dinner. So we get them choices, and we make sure if they decide that tonight’s a night they want to go out and get something, that we’re going to help that too. Again, all of our residences have the opportunity to transport people for various things, from from medical to food to field trips, and that’s a big part of it. You’re not just sitting at home; you get to participate, you get to be involved.
Rosaria Cain 2:14
I bet this does a lot for their self esteem in the in the community.
Adam Saks 2:18
Yeah, and that’s just the basics that everybody should have. There’s no reason that because someone has a disability that they should feel less or be offered less, treated any less. And that’s really a big part of what we do. Our folks that work with our members every day, right? They’re there to imbue them with dignity and respect and courtesy and help them just live their lives and hopefully get a little stronger. We offer a lot of different programs that will help them little by little gain more independence, more skill set. We do vocational training. One of our large responsibilities is workforce development for those with disabilities, we want to help them both find a job if they if they need to, and certainly help them maintain a job. That’s also a big part of it, making sure that they understand what’s expected and going on, so that they can keep that job. In 2026, year to date, we have placed over 60 members in various jobs, which when that’s a wide range of folks and functions.
Rosaria Cain 3:26
Who does this organization serve specifically? So, is there a range of disabilities, or is there is it cognitive generally speaking?
Adam Saks 3:33
It is developmental disability.
Rosaria Cain 3:35
Okay.
Adam Saks 3:35
Anybody that’s 18 or older, and you know we really have a very wide range. You know, there are folks in our Aspire Autism program that may appear, you know, to anyone else there is no disability. But the reality is, they struggle with autism. What side of the spectrum are they on? We have those members, and then we also have members that are in wheelchair and maybe non-communicative, and that’s an individual that is clearly challenged, right? So we have to be aware of that. We have to be very sensitive to that, and know that we build programs and support mechanisms across that entire spectrum. The Aspire Autism Program is actually built in a tiered level capacity, so that perhaps somebody comes to us and they are not as functioning as they want to be or could be by working through the Aspire Autism Program and graduating level by level. That person’s going to gain skills, gain confidence, gain communication. We hope that’s what we aspire to.
Rosaria Cain 4:43
Is that for people of all ages or 18 plus? Okay, okay, great.
Adam Saks 4:47
Yeah, we would like to…Our outreach should be focused on the organizations that do help children and teens. A lot of those organizations age out at 18. Where are those individuals going to go when that support network can no longer help them? Well, that’s where Valley Life can step in, and again, we’re a very old organization, 79 years old. We currently have individuals in our some individuals in our residences that have lived with ValleyLife for over 50 years.
Rosaria Cain 5:21
Wow.
Adam Saks 5:22
We are their family.
Rosaria Cain 5:23
That’s that’s a history.
Adam Saks 5:24
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 5:25
Well, with 79 years behind you, how are you telling your story?
Adam Saks 5:28
Well, we are going to we’re going to retell that story. I should say. You know, maybe one of the reasons that this role has been created. We were talking earlier. I’m new to the organization by a few months, and the first marketing officer in its history, and that is because we want to, we do want to tell that story. We have amazing things that happen every day for our members, for our team, for the organizations we support. So we are going to first off look at our own brand and our own mechanisms, and we’re going to tighten those up. We’re going to go through an exercise. We’re going to have ValleyLife maybe elevate itself a little bit into 2026. And with that new entity, with that new persona, shall we say, we have a robust plan. We’re already working on the back end right now. We’re doing some work in the SEO world. We’re doing some website work. Right. We’re looking at all of our database information. How are we collecting our database information? What are we going to do in the future? That all sets you up for the big push, and we will have digital marketing, which everybody kind of understands. The Google ad, Facebook ads, right? Geofencing areas where you can be served ads via viayour app. We already have a social media presence. I would encourage everyone to find us on Facebook and Instagram as well as LinkedIn, and those platforms will certainly be carrying that new message and some of the new activities. We have some tremendous corporate partners that we’re looking forward to reactivating and getting energized with, we have the support of some of the large sport organizations in town. We need to really, you know, extend that relationship and get some of the guys and gals out to the campus. We have a beautiful campus in Phoenix. We have a large grass area where we can do activities, and we’ve done many different events. So we’re looking forward to getting more people onto campus and hosting tours, we have some folks coming out this week, so it’ll be a cohesive, large-scale effort.
Rosaria Cain 7:29
Well, I’m excited to see what happens with that. You know, nonprofits are generally a little bit under the radar, even with donor acquisition. It tends to be a timid process. We’ve worked with nonprofits before, but there’s a lot of tools available at their disposal at the moment.
Adam Saks 7:46
Yeah, we need to reintroduce ourselves to that nonprofit giving community because we can grow our database for sure. Just looking at the numbers, right? And we have the programs. We do the work that people do care about, and unfortunately, developmental disabilities can touch just about anyone in any family. If it’s not you directly, it’s someone you may know. It may be someone else in your family. So, incredibly important work, and we have to find the right partners and develop that.
Rosaria Cain 8:18
That makes sense. So, is this your first nonprofit position? Your first stepping your toe in the nonprofit water?
Adam Saks 8:27
It is from a career standpoint. I have always been involved, shall we say? I have tried to give back in many different ways. Locally here in the valley, I was a board member for Playworks Arizona. I was on the board of Arizona First Things First for Pinal County, and over the years worked my way to the chairman of early childhood education, founding member of the Maricopa Community Foundation, president of the Chamber of Commerce in the City of Maricopa. I was always involved. I felt that’s important. I think the greatest thing that you can teach your children is to be a leader, and you have to show that by example. And that’s more than just going to work and doing your job. It’s being a leader in your community. It’s being a leader at home, a leader for your family. So I was always involved, and then you know when I decided it was time to maybe look at some new opportunities, I really– there weren’t many that I thought was something I wanted to sort of look into. But I’ve always loved the marketing side of what we do. I’ve built brands my entire career, and this when I saw this, it offered the opportunity to not only be creative and create a new brand in a different arena than I was used to, but now you’re taking the sum of your experience and activity and you’re giving back. You’re doing that for a career move, and that that was exciting to me. And then of course it all had to. Work itself out. It had to be right for the agency and the board of directors and the various people that I met. But I was certainly impressed with the commitment, passion, and energy that these folks share. Whether they work for the organization or they’re the board of the organization, they believe in the mission, and I felt that was a good move.
Rosaria Cain 10:20
Share with us your background and what you did, because you’ve done some pretty incredible things in the entertainment and and other industries, tourism.
Adam Saks 10:28
I do. I come from the the entertainment hospitality world, real estate and economic development, sort of anything but traditional nonprofit marketing. But I spent a career building brands. the The first one of the first larger brands I could say I was a part of was Planet Hollywood. I joined Planet Hollywood when we opened Las Vegas as store number 14, and I left shortly after 66 stores.
Rosaria Cain 10:58
It had a run.
Adam Saks 11:00
Yeah, there was a lot of history there. Planet probably could have done some different things, but the heyday of it and the media frenzy for for one portion of my career with Planet Hollywood, I was in Planet Hollywood, New York, on 57th Street. I’m a native New Yorker, so they thought to ship me home for a little while, and I mean it was a PR bonanza every day. Like you came in not knowing what was going to happen. You walk into work and someone’s grabbing you, going, “Hey, I need you on camera. Come here. And you know you’re talking to Entertainment Tonight, or you know people coming and going. So anyway, I did that. I was with a lot of casino hotel properties. I created an entertainment brand with a partner, which is Ultra Star Multitainment, and that’s actually how I got to Phoenix in 2012. In conjunction with the Ochon Indian community, we built one of the largest entertainment developments in the country at the time, and still stands today. Very proud of that development and what we were able to do there, and just from there was led over to the Cannon Beach development. That’s really where I lived my last four to six years, helping develop both the Revel Surf Park, which is sort of the anchor tenancy of Cannon Beach. Some of the ancillary brands are still working on an entertainment project that we had brought to life. So it’s always been about the destination, and it’s always been about the brand. And to do that, you can’t help but be entrenched in marketing. So when we opened the center in Maricopa, and we had the Ultra Star Multitainment Center, this was a big piece. We had to produce all of your traditional mediums, including some television commercials, and in the world of marketing, you know, we won the Emmy. So I was very gratified. It was a piece that I really was my vision, and I was excited about. And our partner was Cox Media, and they just did a phenomenal job on that. And actually, I didn’t even know the spot got nominated until it won, and then they came in with a little box.
Rosaria Cain 13:06
That’s awesome.
Adam Saks 13:07
And then three months later, the spot same spot won the bronze telly for commercial events.
Rosaria Cain 13:12
Very nice.
Adam Saks 13:13
Those were yeah, those were those were sort of crowning achievements and in the marketing side of things. Everything we achieved with creating the Cannon Beach brand and the Rebel Surf brands. So yes, same thing. Then this opportunity comes along. I meet with the CEO and the board, and everybody had the same question: Why? You know, but there are things that are more important than others, and when you see an opportunity that both offers you career growth and excitement, but really the opportunity to make an impact and make a difference. One of my first job, my very first job out of college, was with Hyatt Hotels in Hawaii, and one of the things I still very much remember was their corporate charter is make a difference. That’s what was on everything we did and I’m going to talk about. And I still, I still always thought that was important, especially in the world of hospitality, but in what we’re doing now as well.
Rosaria Cain 14:07
That makes perfect sense. So I know it’s early, but what challenges are you seeing in the nonprofit world? Board of directors, whole different thing, different mission, much more mission driven than your average business. What do you see?
Adam Saks 14:20
Yeah, well, it’s kind of funny because the main thing that I would say I see is really no different than a hospitality destination awareness. The greatest thing that ValleyLife needs right now is to grow our awareness, our mission, our work, our first rate. I believe that when the right people who care and want to be behind a social cause learn about the work that ValleyLife does, they’re going to say this is something I want to support. But it’s getting that awareness out. It’s collaborating with other agencies that will help us grow the audience. Our audience–when you say what challenge do you see, I see that our audience is mostly those that are working with us, and maybe have already been exposed to us, are existing donors. That’s that’s why we need to introduce the agency. That’s why we need to make a splash. There’s many more that I believe will support us, but they have to. I appreciate the opportunity this morning to speak with you. Is in this because maybe somebody will go to ValleyLifeAZ.org and say, you know what, I want to donate. I want to support this when they see the work that we do.
Rosaria Cain 15:32
You’re building a brand. You’re working with your brand. You’re working with a new positioning in the market. What kind of strategies do you see will propel the name into something bigger.
Adam Saks 15:43
Well, I believe in a cohesive, reinforced strategy. Our core message of who we are and what we do. If you apply that in the appropriate manner across different mediums, I believe… right people see or hear something once, they don’t always take note of it. But if they see it here, and then they hear about something here, and then maybe they’re driving by and they see the same name on a billboard, they’re like, “What is this this ValleyLife? I need to I need to know more about it because I’m intrigued. The images that surround the name, right, giving people a reason to care and want to be involved. So we will take some core messages that are around awareness, because awareness– ValleyLife Services work hand in hand with the Arizona Department of Disabilities. So we need to create awareness that will allow potential members to be aware of us, if they’re going to be working with the Department of Disability and making choices of a provider, we would hope to be that provider. But you can’t even have somebody consider you if they have not heard of you, if they haven’t seen a story about an amazing success you had with somebody, and we can do that for you, right? That I guess is a big part of our message. We have had great success. Let us help others, and so awareness, along with direct fundraising requests, right? There’s they don’t go out there very much saying, please, if this cause means something to you, if you have a social mission to try to help those in the valley, look at what ValleyLife does and donate. That’s a central message for any nonprofit. You have. I mean, that’s how we survive, right? So, awareness, donation, creating, reimagining our events. We have a golf event coming up on September 18. That sign-up is available on the website. We’re looking at what we’ve done. A lot of it was in the planning session stages already, so maybe we’re we were following a certain pattern. But I was very excited, and I think I can say here I will give the disclaimer that we haven’t signed it yet. But we are looking at adding a $25,000 prize for a hole in one on our golf tournament, which would be amazing. It’ll be on the first par three. It’ll be hole number five, and that’s just something a little different. They’ve never done that before, and who wouldn’t want to, you know, contribute to a charitable cause and have the chance to win $25,000? Wouldn’t be a bad day of golf. And then in 2027, we are going to reimagine the ValleyLife Gala event, our big event for the year. It’ll be our 80th year, so I can guarantee you it’s going to be a lot of fun and a rocking party. And we will promote that event differently than the gala events have ever been promoted for ValleyLife. We are really hoping this year to see 500 folks come on out and really pack a room and do something different. They’ve been maybe a little bit smaller event in the past, and really not that publicly, you know, promoted. And and you need to you need to go out there and you know, shout from the rooftops, come to our party. It’s going to be fun.
Rosaria Cain 19:00
So a lot of what you’re doing is really aimed at new donors, bringing in a new set of donors to the party.
Adam Saks 19:06
It’s both. I mean, yes, we absolutely need to grow our donor base, but we have very committed, very loyal donors. You know, so part of our mission is also taking all of the same information and the same successes. We have two different lines of communication: internal and external, right? And some of that internal communication is already what are we? How are we reporting to our donors? They need the why. The people who are donating to us now need to get that stat sheet on 60 jobs placed, you know, this year, these many graduates through the Aspire Academy, this growth in home residents, right? They want to see that because we can’t do it without their generous support. So I believe that we have just as important a commitment to keep our current donors informed as to go out there and share our cause with a new group of people to try to grow that base.
Rosaria Cain 20:02
What misconceptions are there with nonprofits? You may have had a few of them before you stepped into this.
Adam Saks 20:08
Yeah, I mean, maybe the misconceptions are they’re all the same, or you know, is my donation going to matter? It’s every donation matters, right? And they’re not all the same. They operate by different policies and different charters. They serve different communities and different segments. Like I said, developmental disabilities is a very universal cause that touches a lot of families. There’s also those who say, however, my dollars are going to go to kids. Right? I mean, like that. There’s different things out there. So I would encourage people to say if you don’t if you haven’t done your research, that’s probably the most important thing about the misconceptions is they haven’t really kind of read the material. They see something quick. Maybe they’ve had some handouts or something. But if you’re going to contribute dollars to a cause, it’s probably worth taking the time to examine the various causes you might be considering or the agencies you’re considering, and give them a good look. Make sure you know what you’re doing and how to do it. And you know, sometimes I think people just think nonprofits are there to you know collect money, but it’s that the whole point is we’re nonprofit, right? You know, go and look at our financials, and you’ll see that yes, we do go out there and get money, and every dollar gets spent, you know, to take care of things.
Rosaria Cain 21:34
Well, how many families are you helping on a on an annual basis?
Adam Saks 21:38
Oh,
Rosaria Cain 21:39
And that’ll probably change as you.
Adam Saks 21:41
I mean, lifetime. It’s funny because I knew we were going to probably talk about the the history. We have served 1000s upon 1000s of families. We’re 79 years old. I would say at any one time we’re probably hosting four or 500 families, something along those lines. Always looking to grow what we do. We’re looking at some new initiatives that will create some new programs because you’ve got to look at you know the lay of the land so to speak and what do you need and right now where there is added need is for home healthcare so we’re trying to move into that segment as well while that will open up a whole new set of members and families and everybody that we work with.
Rosaria Cain 22:21
Well, tell me more about the history. How did ValleyLife find its way in the world? 79 years is a long time, so the longevity is looking really good.
Adam Saks 22:30
It was. It was. It was 1947 when Bernice Kussell, who was a local Phoenician, saw that state hospitals were a scary place for somebody with developmental disabilities, and she felt it could be done better. And she chose to open her home as a residence for those with disabilities. And she grew that within, I want to say, 1947. She opened her home, and in 1949, the Valley of the Sun School was founded, and the Valley of the Sun School eventually became School and Habilitation, and then in 2009, the entire reorganization was renamed ValleyLife, but it has been consistently that org we trace right back to Bernice. Her picture is in our boardroom, and our charter remains very much, you know, a piece of her first culture. You know, the culture of inclusion, the culture of respect and dignity for folks with developmental disabilities, she saw them getting put in state institutions and marginalized, and nobody should be marginalized.
Adam Saks 23:48
No. I agree.
Rosaria Cain 23:52
So, as you get into the the seat of chief marketing officer, what are your goals for the next six months? I know you’re you’re working hard on the brand. You’re working hard on the visibility that yeah.
Adam Saks 24:06
The next six months really are about the branding exercise. They are about being ready for January of 27, where we’re going to want to launch that brand, getting that launch organized. You know which of our partners will be doing what. You know in what manner. Again, if we launch it, we need that cohesive piece that it will be reinforced in a couple of different ways, and hopefully people will take note of it. A big push in the next six months is also the public relations effort that we need to tell some of the stories now, and we need people to have the opportunity to know the work that we’re doing, and then maybe when the big splash happens, it’s already a little bit there, and there it’s the one
Rosaria Cain 24:51
that
Adam Saks 24:51
we saw that that piece about.
Rosaria Cain 24:53
No, that’s exactly how it works.
Adam Saks 24:55
Yeah, there’s just every day we could sit here telling stories. A a young lady from our. Fire Autism Academy that you know gained the confidence through our training and inclusion to go into a Dutch Bros and ask for a job, and she got hired. So that’s why we do it, right? To have that kind of impact on somebody who’s young, young lady, early 20s. She attained that now. Where will she go from there? What will that push her up to do next? And it was and she always as a young girl said, I you know yeah it’s just a dream. I wouldn’t be able to do that.
Rosaria Cain 25:34
Confidence is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
Adam Saks 25:36
It is. It is. Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 25:38
Speaking of confidence and being a visionary, what do you think makes a good leader?
Adam Saks 25:43
Yeah, I walked my kids to school every morning when they were young, and before they walked away, I this you asked the question. I didn’t make it up. I’d say be a leader. That was my line to them. My daughter, you know, a little year ago, gave me a picture that says be a leader on the bottom of it. I think the word leadership is incredibly important. I think it is. It’s not a thing. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a culture. How? What kind of leader are you going to be? There’s a lot of crappy leaders.
Rosaria Cain 26:19
We have some bad role models.
Adam Saks 26:20
Yeah. The word leader just means you’re in charge.
Rosaria Cain 26:23
Right?
Adam Saks 26:24
I always tried in my career to look at leaders and not just take and emulate the pieces that I thought were great. I also tried to be very aware of those that I did not like and say, “I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to make somebody feel that way. There’s a great old quote: “People don’t remember what you did; they remember how you made them feel,” and that is very true. So, I believe leadership is a lifestyle. I believe it’s being empathetic and caring, but responsible. I think leadership means standards and expectations. I have a little personal core value that I like to call CPR, which is courtesy, professionalism, and respect. And if you can utilize those attributes in what you do every day, you can hold somebody to any standard. Holding someone to a standard doesn’t mean you have to be, you know, crappy about it, so yeah, be fair, and you know, humor I think is a big part of being a leader. I think humor is very helpful in many situations. So you don’t have to be a comic, but I think it helps if…
Rosaria Cain 27:35
You have a sense of humor. It’s not a bad thing.
Adam Saks 27:37
Decent sense of humor, at least, or you know when to, you know, when does it just break that mood and make everybody smile a minute? And when are you just being funny? I mean, it’s important. I think it just again, it you know a leader. One of the most important things about being leader is being approachable. Way too many leader… I can’t say something to the boss. Can’t tell that to the boss. Then I don’t think the boss is doing the best job of the word approachable is underrated. So yeah, being a leader is being there for your team and caring about other people’s priorities. You’re hitting on some of my hot points here.
Rosaria Cain 28:18
They’re important, yeah.
Adam Saks 28:19
For a leader, for a leader, should take on other people’s priorities, even if it’s not for them. That personally, that may not be the thing you want to do right now. But if you know it’s important to that other person, and doing it will, like that’s that street cred. I don’t know. It’s important.
Rosaria Cain 28:37
So as you think of good leaders, who are some of the positive role models you would call out,
Adam Saks 28:44
you know, the leadership lifestyle. One of the first, the the visionary who started it was Tony Hsieh, who created Zappos and is no longer with us. God rest his soul. I chased him down in the Forum shops of Caesar. No, it wasn’t the Forum. It was the back hallways of the hotel towers at Caesars years ago.
Rosaria Cain 29:04
How did you know what he looked like? You just did.
Adam Saks 29:07
I knew. Yeah, I knew what he looked like, and he’s also he was a Vegas guy. He was doing, you know, his his headquarters was there, and we did one of these. He walked by him. I’m like, that was Tony Hsieh, and I was with my wife. I’m like, I’m sorry, I took off and I ran after him, and I chased him down. I’m running just and he stopped. I’m like, I just want to shake your hand, man. I just I love what you’ve done and what you thing and the books and the stories and everything. And he was like, that’s so cool. Thank you. And stood there for a minute and shook his hand. So there you go. He would be one. I think Richard Branson has created–
Rosaria Cain 29:41
Oh he’s one of my favorites.
Adam Saks 29:42
an unbelievable culture and legacy. He’s not even really involved with the company anymore. His family, you know, and his closest of associates have taken what he, you know, wanted and envisioned and created an unbelievable culture. And I think Shaq’s a great example of a leader businessman. Like he was a leader on the court, then he became a businessman, then he became a sheriff’s officer, which is a strange thing. Well, but the man rolls into Walmart and pays for everybody’s groceries, right? Like Shaq is an amazing human. What is a leader? A leader is a good human. What is ValleyLife about? Hopefully, helping good humans, being good humans. If there were more good humans in the world, a lot less problems.
Rosaria Cain 30:34
Well, that is absolutely true. When you think of leaders that don’t make the grade, are there any you’d mention?
Adam Saks 30:41
You know, it’s hard to say that because I may not like. There are people who are the leaders that we all know that maybe you want to say a name. The reason we know them is because they’re all so successful, richest man in the world. I don’t really agree with Elon and some of his business road. They announced all the rules that he made, right? In the way certain, you know, memos went out. Who knows how much of it was true? But you can’t knock the fact he’s the richest man in the world.
Rosaria Cain 31:10
There’s something to that.
Adam Saks 31:11
And he had nothing but success. So, you know, I’d rather be successful where the leader cared, or people feel the leader care. There, like I said, there’s a lot of crappy leaders, but if they’re in the right space in the right time, they’re successful. The company is successful. People will be motivated by fear instead of respect. It’s not really the way I’d love to see a company operate, but they absolutely will. I mean, people who need their jobs are scared of losing their jobs. So I just think we’ve seen a lot of you know really big money leader types. Whoever is telling all the streaming platforms to start running commercials now, why did we pay for streaming platforms that now we have to have commercials and the things that we’re watching. That to me, Netflix is pretty much this is me the only one that isn’t going there. And I respect
Rosaria Cain 32:08
Amazon.
Adam Saks 32:09
Yeah. So oh, Amazon.
Rosaria Cain 32:11
That was sneaky.
Adam Saks 32:12
Paramount are are both. Those are probably the ones I like your content, guys. But it makes me crazy that somebody made the decision that we can make more money by charging for the very thing we subscribe to not have, right? When it all started, it wasn’t because the content per se. It’s become that they have all of these channels have become major powerhouses with the same talent and the same studios. But I think that’s kind of thing. So yeah, I don’t know if I want to you know…
Rosaria Cain 32:43
Call out any leaders?
Adam Saks 32:44
Yeah, I mean because if you’re a leader in an organization, you know time will tell. Yeah, your reputation. When you’re gone, it doesn’t matter what you left to your children. It’s what you leave in your children. Right. And the same thing for us. When I’m gone, doesn’t matter what I had. It’s going to be what will people say or think or do.
Rosaria Cain 33:07
Does does working for a nonprofit or with a nonprofit change your perspective on life in general?
Adam Saks 33:13
I think it has to by nature. When I am in spaces of our campus and we’re doing things with the members, you can’t help but have your heart tugged at a bit, right? I mean, we care, we see, we’re gratified that the folks are learning and growing and doing, and at the same time, you can’t help but have your heartache a little for them because they are struggling with a particular piece, and I would hope your heart aches a little bit, or you know there’s there’s an issue there. So it has to change your perspective because you see the work, you see the results of the work, the impact of the work. Maybe impact is probably the best when you’re on the inside of a nonprofit. You can’t help but see the impact. You hear about the impact when you’re on the outside, but you feel it and you experience it when you’re on the inside. So, I think that naturally will do that.
Rosaria Cain 34:11
How will you measure success? So, ’27 is the big launch year.
Adam Saks 34:14
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 34:15
So that’s really that’s really the testing ground, it sounds like. How will you measure it?
Adam Saks 34:20
Oh, metrics. Sad to say, right? You know.
Rosaria Cain 34:23
Sure marketing guy.
Adam Saks 34:23
How will you measure it? Well, with with you know, I mean, we want to see our audience grow.
Rosaria Cain 34:28
Yeah.
Adam Saks 34:30
As I am out and about, the more I run into folks who go, “Oh, ValleyLife, didn’t I just whatever about that?” That will be very gratifying. That will be a harder metric to track, but very important. Awareness is really, you know, what we’re after. But does membership grow? Do we recruit more members because they’re more aware of us? Do we raise more money? I mean, we have a lot of goals and vision and expectations. The only way we can elevate services. And experiences is by elevating all of our financials at the same time. So we certainly want to activate our fundraising, and I would like to see our corporate partners really be involved and be doing things. I think more events, more exciting happenings are going to be a good way to measure it. So we have to move in a lot of different directions at one time. We definitely multitasking is front and center.
Rosaria Cain 35:30
So you obviously spend a lot of time thinking and working, thinking about work and working.
Adam Saks 35:36
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 35:36
What do you do for fun? What do you do when you’re not working?
Adam Saks 35:39
Ah. Yes.
Rosaria Cain 35:40
Is that a trick question?
Adam Saks 35:42
Motorcycles and dogs.
Rosaria Cain 35:44
Okay, that’s good.
Adam Saks 35:45
That would that would be my main answer. This is our sad time of year for the motorcycle community, right? Living in Phoenix, it’s…
Rosaria Cain 35:51
It’s like a broiler.
Adam Saks 35:52
I I actually got one of the bikes out yesterday just to get it started up and and get outside. It was blazing hot.
Rosaria Cain 35:59
It was blazing. The worst week of the year.
Adam Saks 36:01
Yeah, it’s like riding in a convection oven, but sometimes you have to do that. Bikes don’t like to sit.
Rosaria Cain 36:07
Right.
Adam Saks 36:07
My dogs. Got a pack at home, a couple of huskies and a red dog, and you know, family. We I have grown sons. I have a just-about-to-be 16-year-old daughter, so good luck to me, and every Sunday night my sons come over. He brings his girlfriend, one of them, and you know we do. My mother comes, and we have a family dinner every Sunday. So that’s something we certainly want to keep. But yeah, you know, quality time.
Rosaria Cain 36:37
What do you want to be known for?
Adam Saks 36:38
I hope that people remember how I made them feel. I would like to be known. I took this role, and we have every opportunity to make a significant impact for this agency-an almost 80-year-old agency, right-and serving so many people. So, if I can be known that I was a part of the team that really turned the tide for them in 2027, you know, or the late 20s when ValleyLife made some big turn, you know, that that will be great. We hope to do that. We’re going to make every effort to do that, and I think we can. We have every–there’s no reason you know we shouldn’t. So the mission is clear. The work is strong.
Rosaria Cain 37:26
So reflecting on your life, what one thing would surprise people about you?
Adam Saks 37:32
Ah, well, you looked a little surprised with the motorcycle comment. So you know.
Rosaria Cain 37:36
That’s good. Yeah, yeah.
Adam Saks 37:37
You know I I love the fact that I won an Emmy and a Telly. I mean, those are those are kind of kind of cool things. What would surprise them about me? I don’t, you know. I have an interesting background, right? I mean, I’ve done a lot of from casino hotel to economic development.
Rosaria Cain 37:59
To nonprofit.
Adam Saks 38:01
To nonprofit. Built a an ocean in the desert with with Rebel Surf. So you know, I just…
Rosaria Cain 38:10
There’s not a lot left, is there?
Adam Saks 38:12
Oh, I certainly hope there is. I think I think we can make a big impact with this agency. I think we can help a lot of people. I’d love to win another Emmy. Why not? You know, let’s go out and make some great content for ValleyLife. Yeah, I mean, it’s it sounds a little silly, I guess, but you know, the whole part of the leadership thing is also be humble. That’s a that’s another big part of being a leader. I came up in restaurants, and the number one thing in restaurants is respect the dishwasher, because if he or she walks, you’re washing dishes, which I had done many, many, many times. So that just take that same philosophy and apply it to whatever business and whatever you know. The person coming by to clean your trash can, say hi, ask them how their weekend was. Don’t just hand a trash can and look back at your computer. You know. So, I seem to, I’m trying to focus more on those types of pieces of the puzzle than you know maybe the physical of it. You know. We will see.
Rosaria Cain 39:20
Sounds like excellent advice to me. Thank you for coming in. I look forward to seeing and hearing about ValleyLife.
Adam Saks 39:27
Thank you. My pleasure.