Chris Broullire – Chapter President and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association

Our Town with host Andy Ockershausen - Homegrown History

Chris Broullire on what he and his wife should have done when they saw changes in his mother-in-law - "What we should have done at that time and we didn't know, we didn't know enough is we have a terrific website, ALZ.org. Anything you want to know about Alzheimer's or dementia is available on ALZ.org" Andy Ockershausen and Chris Broullire A Ockershausen: This is Our Town. It's Andy Ockershausen. I am delighted with our ... I don't call him a guest. He's too much of a friend and so close to him over the years, a local guy, a prominent fundraiser, extraordinary salesman. I guess you have to be to raise the kind of money that he's used to raising. Chris Broullire: Is it fundraiser or fund raiser? A Ockershausen: Well, it's both. Why not have fun when you’re raising funds? Chris Broullire: Okay, that sounds good. A Ockershausen: He is currently the chapter president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association. I met him at least three decades ago. He's going to say longer, but I’ve known him in the radio business and the broadcast television business and the cable business and Chris Broullire, welcome to Our Town. Chris Broullire: Well, thanks Andy, it's great to be here. It's great. A Ockershausen: Our Town covers Annapolis. It covers Vienna, Virginia. We go as far as the Blue Ridge Mountains. We consider everybody in this big, huge bowl of what may be 8 million people as Our Town. Chris Broullire: You are humongous. A Ockershausen: Half of them live here, which is great and the other half are going on their way out of town. Chris, I go back with you so far but I did not know your background as a local yokel. Chris Broullire: Can I tell you the first time I ever met ... Yeah, but can I tell you the first time I ever met you? It was in the lobby right here at WMAL and I was referred to you by Tom Curro, Tom Curro Lincoln Mercury, and he said ... A Ockershausen: Oh, I know the name ... Chris Broullire: He says, "Chris, go see my buddy, Andy Ockershausen," and I was just desperate for a job, right out of college, trying to get a job anywhere, especially in radio. "Go see my buddy, Andy Ockershausen," and you spent about 20 seconds in the lobby with me telling me, "You got no shot, kid, good luck, call Dick Eurie." That was my first meeting with Andy and I thought, "Thank you so much for ..." A Ockershausen: I probably did you a favor and you don't realize it. I spent a lot of time wasting your time. You didn't have that time to waste because you were looking for a job. Chris Broullire: Yes, I was. A Ockershausen: But believe me, I have done that so many times to tell kids or beginners, "You got to start at the bottom. You come to WMAL looking for a job is not the bottom.” I hate to say that but it's true. Chris Broullire: Well and at the time it was at the very top, the top of the top. A Ockershausen: Well, I did this to Howard Bomstein. I made him so furious. He didn't speak to me for years because he wanted to handle our business and I said, "No, we are doing business with people we love. I'm never going to change. Why do I waste time to watch a presentation?" Anyway, we got by it. He's now one of my best friends and so are you Chris. Chris Broullire: I had to get that in there, okay. A Ockershausen: You were out of college, but you went to school at the University of Maryland, but before that you grew up in the Greater Washington area. Chris Broullire: Yeah, born and raised in DC. I was born at Doctors Hospital, which was at 19th and I, which is no longer there. It's an office building now. A Ockershausen: We just went by it the other day and Janice said to me it's a Children's Hospital. Chris Broullire: Yeah. A Ockershausen: Can you imagine what's happened to our town? Chris Broullire: Yeah, it's changed a bunch and went to Campus School, which is a little eight room grade school near Providence Hospital. A Ockershausen: I know it well. Chris Broullire: I went to Gonzaga, met my ...