Contributor

Adam Garone

CEO and co-founder of the Movember Foundation

A health and fitness buff from an early age, Adam Garone grew up in Melbourne, Australia water skiing, surfing, jogging and keeping fit. Keeping such an active lifestyle and interest in men's health, Garone has always felt that there's been an unfortunate lack of attention and public knowledge around the subject. On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 2003, Garone and his buddies decided the moustache needed to make a comeback and there was no better month than "Movember" (the month formerly known as November) to do it . So the challenge began, to bring the mo (Australian slang for moustache) back to its former glory and do so for a cause –prostate cancer awareness. With the support of their bravest mates, Movember was started, culminating in a small meeting of about 30 Mo Bros (guys growing mos) and their Mo Sistas in a local bar, to celebrate and crown the first Man of Movember. Excited, seeing that this could catch on, Garone approached the Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation with this creative way to "change the face of men's health" and bring awareness and funds to prostate cancer through the month of Movember. From that first year the movement has grown. Movember 2004 became an official male health initiative and grew to more than 450 Mo Bros, raising $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. In 2005, the campaign grew to over 9,000 Mo Bros raising $1.2 million and for the first time a significant amount of awareness for men's health and prostate cancer. In 2006, the plans took on a grander and international flavor with a formal launch in New Zealand in partnership with the local prostate cancer foundation; 56,000 plus Mo Bros raised $6.7 million for the Australia foundation and $950,000 for the New Zealand foundation. Garone is now focused on making Movember a truly global movement planning a launch in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom and Spain in 2007. Prior to Movember, Garone worked for seven years in the e-commerce industry managing product development and online marketing for Vodafone and several other local companies. His e-commerce and online marketing skills have been well utilized with Movember. Garone enlisted in officer training in the Australian Army at age 18 and graduated from the Royal Military College with a Bachelors Degree in Science. Once Garone completed his Army duty, he moved forward into the corporate world and completed a Masters in Marketing at Melbourne Business School.

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