Savo to receive Chamber award

MIDDLETOWN — Brian Savo will receive the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce’s Role Model of the Year Award for his work as an advocate and ambassador for patients with ALS and the ALS Center of Excellence at Hospital for Special Care.

The award will be presented at the annual Travelers Championship Breakfast sponsored by The Travelers Companies on Tuesday, featuring guest speaker Pádraig Harrington of the European and PGA Tour.

The award is presented annually to an individual who has shown exceptional leadership qualities, maintains high ethical standards, has given back to their community and serves as an inspiration and role model for the young people of Middlesex County and Connecticut.

Some past recipients of the award include NBA star Ray Allen, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill, WNBA star Sue Bird, former Dallas Cowboy player Roger Staubach, and former Boston Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino.

“We are honored to present the Middlesex Chamber’s Role Model of the Year Award to Brian Savo for his strong advocacy and ambassadorship for patients with ALS. He truly is a role model to all in Middlesex County and Connecticut,” said Chamber President Larry McHugh.

The breakfast will be held at the Red Lion Hotel, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, with networking beginning at 7 a.m. Breakfast buffet opens at 7:15 a.m. and the breakfast meeting program is from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Cost is $22 for chamber members and $32 for nonmembers.

A lifelong resident of East Haven, Savo lives in his family home with his wife Maria and two children. He is the owner of Nantucket Custom Flooring, a full service hardwood flooring company. Brian attended Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, where he majored in business management. He shares his love of hockey with others through his coaching as an assistant at the North Haven High School Hockey team. In 2009, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Savo is an advocate and ambassador for patients with ALS and the ALS Center of Excellence at Hospital for Special Care. He served as honorary chairman of the 2016 Travelers Championship, building a strong relationship with Travelers chairman and chief executive officer Jay Fishman, who passed away from ALS later that year. He remains active with the Travelers Championship and can be found each day of the event welcoming patients to the chalet on Corporate Row provided for Hospital for Special care patients and working with the media to raise awareness of ALS. He received the Hartford Business Journal’s Health Care Hero Award in 2016.

Since 2012 Savo has served on the board of directors of the ALS Association’s Connecticut chapter, advocating locally and nationally for policy change, research funding and working with newly diagnosed patients and their families. In addition to his service on the board of the ALS Association, he led the East Haven Americans with Disabilities Act Commission from 2014 to 2018. He also serves on the Flood and Erosion Board of East Haven, is chairman hair of the CT Disability Act Committee and is a Shriner who serves as the historian of Lodge #38 Masons. Savo, an avid hockey player for most of his life, also serves as a motivational speaker for young athletes, including the Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe 2016 state champions and the 2018 Daniel Hand hockey team.