On Sunday, October 24th, Stephen will receive the Susquehanna University Alumni Leadership Award. This award is given to alumni who have shown outstanding leadership in their careers or communities. Nominees will have had a significant role in bringing about important change or contributing to outstanding results in their professional, civic, or volunteer activities. He will also be speaking to students and faculty members while on campus.
Stephen Wallace ‘81
Leadership
“Leaders lead. Period.”
That is what Stephen Wallace ’81 tells clients. But those are not just words; he also leads by example. Over the three decades since graduating from Susquehanna, Wallace has done so in the corporate world and in the public policy and service arenas.
After he graduated in 1981, Wallace went to work for Bloomingdale’s with his eyes on Madison Avenue. He then shifted his path, taking a job as a counselor for a locked adolescent psychiatric ward at Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, N.J. This inspired him to enter a master’s program in psychology at Bucknell, during which he lived at Susquehanna as an assistant to the director of residence life in charge of the Project House System.
Master’s degree in hand, Wallace then became a school counselor. It was during this time that he became involved with SADD, then known as Students Against Driving Drunk. He spent 18 months traveling the country and speaking to middle school and high school students as a national representative, and then the director of communications and public relations.
After a nine-year hiatus, Wallace returned to SADD as a board member and then its chairman and CEO. In that role, he oversaw its evolution to a broader mission as Students Against Destructive Decisions. The organization now has more than 10,000 chapters and an estimated 350,000 active student members.
Wallace has appeared on NBC’s Today, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, E! Entertainment, XM radio and national and regional newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He serves as a spokesperson for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the American Camp Association (through his affiliation with the Cape Cod Sea Camps). His experiences formed the basis for his first book, Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex—What Parents Don’t Know and Teens Aren’t Telling, published recently by Union Square Press/Sterling Publishing.
And that isn’t even his day job. He is principal of the consulting firm Summit Communications Management Corp., with regional and national clients in telecommunications, energy and consumer products. That alone is more than enough to fill one’s days, but Wallace draws energy from his work with youth.
“I am most proud of the enduring relationships I have established with the young people and families with whom I have worked in a variety of educational and therapeutic settings,” he says. “They inspire me, motivate me and keep me sane in our hectic, fast-paced world.”
Succession offers “user’s guide” to small and family owned businesses through the stages of planning, employment. and ownership policies, shareholder meetings, family health emergencies, business planning, and alignment/engagement of employees. Covering both the positives and potential pitfalls inherent in the planning and implementation process, Succession represents a realistic roadmap to one of the more difficult periods of business ownership.
Stephen’s new book, IMPACT – An Introduction to Counseling, Mentoring, and Youth Development, offers insightful commentary on the important role of mentors in the lives of children and teens. While it specifically addresses camp counselors, it is equally relevant for all key youth influencers, including parents, teachers, and coaches. …
This is an important time in teenagers’ lives — when they will develop driving habits that can be good and bad. Parents need to take an active role in helping teens develop safe driving behaviors because teenagers are involved in more car accidents than any other age group. …
The Parents League Review is an annual literary journal with articles on parenting and education.
Child and Youth Development features eighteen articles that have been carefully selected from past editions of Camping Magazine, including Rites of Passage: Camp Pays Off in Youth Development, Happiness, Health, and Safety,” written by SADD Chairman and CEO Stephen Wallace. The contributing writers are recognized as authoritative voices in the field of child and youth development. Produced in cooperation with the American Camp Association. …
This new book gives high school students the inside scoop on figuring out who they are and where they want to go by offering teens the kind of comprehensive, down-to-earth advice they need and want. …
LOVE THAT BOY is a uniquely personal story about the causes and costs of outsized parental expectations. What we want for our children—popularity, normalcy, achievement, genius—and what they truly need—grit, empathy, character—are explored by National Journal’s Ron Fournier, who weaves his extraordinary journey to acceptance around the latest research on childhood development and stories of other loving-but-struggling parents. 
Reality Gap paints an alarming portrait of a modern-day adolescence filled with potentially deadly behaviors carefully hidden from the view of parents and other adults. But it is also a book about hope and inspiration, pointing to the incredibly powerful role that parents and other mentors can play in the lives of young people and highlighting the tremendous contributions that many teens are making to their families, schools, and communities. …