AAC gains political power player

Mark Walsh, named one of Out magazine's Top 100 Influential LGBTs, is AIDS Action's new Vice President of Development.

The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC) announced Oct. 13 that Mark Walsh will become the organization's next Vice President of Development.

"I feel like, in some ways, I'm coming back home," Walsh told Bay Windows. He began his involvement in HIV/AIDS advocacy in 1988 when he volunteered for the AIDS Walk. "I've done a lot of things since then, but this opportunity came up to work for AIDS Action and it just seemed like it was a natural."

Walsh -- who served in 2007 and 2008 as the National Director of LGBT Outreach for Hilary Clinton for President, served in 2009 on the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and directed several fundraising events and campaigns for LGBT, Democrat, and women's causes -- was named one of Out magazine's Top 100 Influential LGBTs in 2008.

"Mark is a talented professional with an extensive background in special event planning and fundraising," said Rebecca Haag, President and CEO of AIDS Action. "Like many of us who lived through the worst of the AIDS epidemic, he is passionate about ending the transmission of HIV and can convey that urgency to others. He knows that we can't do our work without a strong base of financial support."

Walsh talked with Bay Windows about how HIV/AIDS continues to affect the gay community. "We're thirty years now into this epidemic. The same groups that were hard hit by HIV and AIDS thirty years ago are the most likely to be affected by HIV," he said. "To me, the most shocking thing -- I really learned this on the Hilary for President campaign -- is that AIDS is still the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 25 to 34. ...This is a struggle that we've got to keep fighting."

Walsh believes that the best place for him to put real change into motion is AIDS Action. He spoke about his admiration for AAC Executive Director Rebecca Haag, and how devoted he already is to the organization.

"My heart is with this agency," Walsh said.

As Vice President of Development, Walsh will help run the entire department. "Being committed to working hard and focusing on the issues is really the number one thing. I have the experience, certainly, the political experience and the fundraising experience," he said. "That's what development is all about: letting people understand what your organization is all about, making the case, and reaching out and asking them to be part of the solutions."

Walsh's professional history, he said, makes him a good fit for AIDS Action. "I'm a lawyer by profession, but I got out of that as soon as I could," he joked. "It's been a nice marriage of political activity and involvement and event planning, and I had gone back and forth between the two in many ways."

Walsh co-founded Rafanelli Events with his partner Bryan Rafanelli, whom he first met at the 1988 AIDS Walk. The Boston-based event firm handled the July wedding of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. Walsh is leaving Rafanelli Events, however, to join AIDS Action -- and bringing with him valuable resources and contacts.

"We've got to bring the money in the door. If you don't bring the money in the door, then we can't do all the good services that we're trying to do," Walsh said. "I'm going to use whatever kind of resources and contacts I have to make that happen."

For more information about AIDS Action, please visit www.aac.org.