Founder Spotlight: Ken Avery
by Deborah Kirk
The year was 1991 and Ken Avery was busy. As a young CPA focused on his career and family, volunteering was not on his radar. Until one day, when he was exiting the Orinda BART station, and a woman handed him a brochure about Make-A-Wish.
“I read it and thought, this looks like an interesting organization,” he says. “So, I reached out to the executive director, and next thing I knew I was their treasurer.”
Avery recalls how his experience as a CPA was useful to the young Bay Area chapter, primarily as a way “to keep the financial train on the tracks,” as he puts it. It also helped him as the board transitioned from being all-volunteers to a governing board.
“My role was all about governance, leadership, and helping with finances,” says Avery. “I felt strongly about Make-A-Wish’s mission to help children with serious illnesses get through a hard time, put a smile on their faces, and help their families. That really spoke to me. But I always thought the way I could give back most effectively was behind the scenes.”
Ken Avery and CEO Betsy Biern at Evening of Wishes: Wishes by Design in 2023.
During his accomplished career, Avery spent some 35 years as a CPA‚ first at Coopers & Lybrand (which became PricewaterhouseCoopers), and then at Deloitte. Currently he is the proprietor of Lula Cellars, a boutique winery in Mendocino County. Along with being a volunteer Little League umpire, supporting Make-A-Wish has been his chief pro bono passion.
“I have always cared about helping others, especially youth,” says Avery, who is a father of three. “And I always felt I was more successful when I helped others be successful. That’s exactly how I feel about Make-A-Wish. I stay involved to help them keep growing to the next level.”
He remembers being deeply moved by the generosity of a certain baseball player, then with the Oakland As, who, Avery says, “was a big wish granter, but never publicized it.” One day, that player was scheduled to meet a wish kid, but had to go out of town to Arizona. So, he quietly chartered a plane to bring the wish kid there instead.
“That was inspirational for me,” Avery says. “He made the effort because it was important; he was not looking for recognition. That’s how I feel, too.”
Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area CEO Betsy Biern recalls the first time she met Avery at the beginning of her tenure, when she was consulting with many current and former board members. “I went to meet him in his office at Deloitte,” she says, “and it was filled with all these cases of wine. That’s when I found out about his love of wine and his second career at Lula.”
Soon after that meeting, Avery retired from his career in finance—although he’s quick to point out that he’s “not at all retired.” But he never retired from supporting Make-A-Wish, although his help come in a different way these days.
“From doing the books to pouring the wine, Ken has continued to serve our chapter,” says Biern. “His door is always open and he’s generous with his help. If we ask, he says ‘Let’s figure out how we can make it happen.’ And then he does.”
He donates and pours Lula’s wine at chapter events, large and small, and runs promotions in which a percentage of the wines’ purchase price is donated to the organization. He’s served on the North Bay Regional Advisory Council and helps get the community involved with wish granting.
“Make-A-Wish will always be dear to my heart,” says Avery. “I will always be incredibly proud of the work we have done.”