The ALS Association today announced the election of Stephen Winthrop as Chair of The ALS Association Board of Trustees. Stephen was diagnosed with ALS in 2013 and joined the Board in 2015. He replaces Doug Butcher, who will remain a member of the Board.

“The coming months and years will be transformational for the fight against this dreadful disease, and I am honored to have been chosen to lead our Board of Trustees during such an exciting yet challenging time,” said Winthrop. “After a career in political, corporate, and nonprofit consulting, my current battle with ALS made a commitment to The ALS Association a natural choice.”

Winthrop was born in New York City, but has spent most of his life in Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard College, Cum Laude in Government, he spent a few years working for a political polling firm before attending graduate school. Winthrop received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He spent three years working for a large management consulting firm in Washington, D.C., before starting his own consulting practice, specializing in providing financial management, fundraising, grant writing and information management services to small-to-mid-sized non-profit organizations.

“The Association and the entire community are very lucky to have Stephen in this leadership position,” said Barb Newhouse, President and CEO of The ALS Association. “His extensive background will undoubtedly serve him well in this new role and his experience with ALS will continue to inform and impact how our Association views and fights this disease.”

Since the late 1990s, his work with non-profits has been on a volunteer basis, balanced by a desire to be actively involved in parenting and a growing involvement in managing the finances of a number of family-related endeavors. Stephen and his wife, Jane, live outside of Boston with their two teenage daughters.