Last year, former NBA player and retired Congressman Tom McMillen approached us with a great idea. The President's Council is our nation's primary voice for fitness and sports, especially among America's young people. However, the Council has only a small budget and, as a result, is extremely limited in what it can achieve.

When Tom left the Council he set out to find a way to get more resources into the Council—and, in turn, to youth activity, sports, fitness and nutrition efforts. He found that a series of Federal entities (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control) receive private sector resources through associated Congressionally-chartered foundations. Tom set out to have Congress create such a Foundation for the President's Council. He came close on two occasions before running into legislative roadblocks.

In 2010, with public awareness about the nation's obesity crisis growing, and with the First Lady launching the Let's Move Campaign, Tom approached us to help him make another run at the Foundation.

Working with Congressman Sarbanes and Senator Warner we had legislation introduced in the House and Senate.

We built an ad hoc coalition that includes the U.S. Olympic Committee, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, Major League Lacrosse, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers, Pepisico, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the American Heart Association, the National Youth Sports Council, U.S. Soccer, the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Athletic Trainers Association, among numerous others. We developed a web platform for the coalition to help communicate and drive action. We reached out to like-minded organizations—coaches, pediatricians, nurses and others—and sought their help to obtain the support of rifle-shot targeted Members of Congress.

Along the way we met with hundreds of Senators and House members asking them to co-sponsor the legislation and help us create the Foundation.

We also worked closely with the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama's Office and the President's Council staff to get their support for the legislation.

On December 14th, 2010, the Congress passed the bill. Eight days later, President Obama signed the Act into law.

With the Foundation now chartered it needs seed money—the Foundation will be entirely supported by the private sector. We have now begun reaching out to the corporate sector to obtain commitments to fund the Foundation and work in partnership with it.