Garrett MacLean

Big Head Corps committee members, front row: Nikki Ruddy, Valerie Richards, Steve Abood, Elizabeth Porter. Back row: Steve Booher, Jim Dailey, Sean Moran, Brian Urso. View larger photo

Givers & Shakers by Julie Yolles

Julie Yolles is the charity columnist for Crain's Detroit Business. You can sign up for her column at crainsdetroit.com/givers.

The title “Grand Poobah” was already taken. And “Head Honcho” actually makes more sense if you’re gonna start Big Head Corps, a charitable endeavor targeted at young professionals.

But four heads are always better than one, says Head Honcho Sean Moran of his Big Head Corps compatriots, Jim Dailey, Steve Booher and Brian Urso.

“We’re always coming up with harebrained ideas,” said Moran, senior vice president of wealth management for Smith Barney. “So we talked Jim’s fiancée (Elizabeth Porter, sponsorship coordinator for The Parade Co.) into letting us wear papier-mâché heads and walk in the Thanksgiving Parade last year.”

After a late night at the Pistons game with Dailey, the 5:30 a.m. pickup on Thanksgiving morn came awfully early for Moran.

“It was pouring sleet and snow,” Moran said. “We were ripping on Jim for talking us into this.”

But as honorable businessmen, they kept their promise, picked up their costumes and headed to the parade — literally.

Moran wore Gerald Ford and Urso wore Charles Lindbergh. Booher was Henry Ford, and Dailey went as the late Father Cunningham.

“It was two-and-a-half hours of the most fun I had giving back to the city since I grew up,” Moran said.

Later, after their weekly basketball game at the Detroit Athletic Club, Dailey and Moran formulated their plan.

“We were talking about how we were actually offended that we walked in the parade for free,” said Moran, who is on the board at the DAC. “If 32 heads walked in the parade last year, imagine how much more fun it would be if there were 100 big heads wobbling down Woodward together. Eventually, it would be great if we could raise enough money to fix and maintain the nearly 400 heads in The Parade Co.’s collection.”

So, on July 17 at Pulse Detroit, the Big Head Corps officially launched with its first recruitment event. Fifteen people signed up, including Nikki Ruddy, the volunteer manager for the Michigan Opera Theatre and the project manager of BravoBravo, an event organized by the young professionals group of MOT’s Volunteer Association.

“It’s going to take young people like us to keep the traditions going and help keep The Parade Co. and Detroit Opera House alive,” said Ruddy, 32, who will be wearing a monkey head in the parade. “These groups provide an opportunity to get involved in a level that is affordable, yet has an impact on the organization.”

Membership in the Big Head Corps is $200; it’s inaugural goal is $40,000. In addition to individual memberships, the team is selling corporate sponsorships. Hog Brothers Recycling L.L.C. has signed on as the Big Head Corps premiere sponsor. Executive Travel & Incentives, Smith Barney and Farbman Group have also joined as corporate sponsors.

The program models the Distinguished Clown Corps, where people pay $1,000 to march as clowns in the parade.

The Big Heads Corp will hold another recruitment event Oct. 16, 7-10 p.m., at the Atwater Block Brewery in Detroit. The deadline to join is Oct. 31. For more information, contact Steve Abood at (313) 923-7402 or sabood@ theparade.org.