Alex Sheen

Regardless of your age, gender ethnicity or profession, we all understand the importance of a promise. A promise is elemental to humanity.

Alex Sheen would come to realize this after a tragedy in his life. On September 4, 2012, Alex would hold his father’s hand as he passed away from small-cell lung cancer. Alex was asked to deliver his father’s eulogy. His father’s best quality was being a man of his word. When his dad promised, he delivered. At his father’s funeral, Alex spoke about the importance of a promise and delivered a eulogy titled “because I said I would” that sparked an international social movement.

He encourages people to make commitments on “promise cards” that the organization sends to anyone anywhere in the world at no cost. Since the day Alex’s father died, the organization has distributed over 1.3 million because I said I would promise cards to over 105 different countries. As the youngest manager of an international enterprise software company, Alex submitted his resignation in order to advance because I said I would’s philanthropic mission.

Alex believes in leading by example and makes his own promises to help others. He raised money to send 100 kids with cancer to Disneyland. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, he drove through the night to New York City with disaster relief supplies to help those in need. In the summer of 2013, Alex walked over 240 miles across the entire state of Ohio in 10 days. This was part of a promise he made to raise funds for Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, the three Cleveland women who were kidnapped and held captive for 10 years.

Through the stories of his promises, Alex has inspired individuals to make life-changing commitments to self-improvement and the betterment of humanity. Alex delivers passionate and thought-provoking speeches about the importance of keeping promises to audiences across the country, with 100% of the proceeds going to fund the work of this nonprofit organization, like volunteer projects, awareness campaigns, character education programs in schools, and teacher resources provided at no cost.

He is a two-time TEDx speaker and his work has national headlines on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, CNN, TODAY, The Los Angeles Times, Steve Harvey, NPR, and many other programs.