Telos CEO Builds Momentum For 9/11 Nonprofit

He recalls the day he learned the planes hit the World Trade Center. His legs shook as he thought of his mother, who had just recently accepted a new job there.

A year later, he looks weathered. Never very religious prior to this point, he can't find another way to explain the small sparrow that landed on his head as he said Mother during his speech on the first anniversary of Sept. 11. He reached out his hands and the bird landed, then looked back at him with a look of recognition.

In 2003, he sees her again in a dream and hugs her.

"My mom would have been the most unbelievable grandmother," he says in 2004.

The Yale graduate now appears stronger now. "I can't believe it's been four years," he says in 2005. "I've learned to live without her."

Told in a linear direction from start to finish, Project Rebirth illustrates in a narrative nonfiction film how 10 people have healed since Sept. 11. The trailer version of the film succeeds in that it makes the viewer feel lost inside the characters.

It's what Project Rebirth, a nonprofit organization for which CEO Telos John Wood acts as treasurer and helps raise funds, has sought to achieve.

Ultimately the film shows how people move on from trauma.

"I'm not doing this for financial reasons," Wood said. "It's about America's ability to cope and strengthen its resolve from disaster."

Funds from the film-slated for theaters next year-will go into the design and construction of a trauma center, of which the location has not yet been determined.

Wood has helped secure $9 million out of the $14 million needed for the film. At Project Rebirth he's on a board of directors unlike that of Telos-almost as diverse as those impacted by 9/11. From Hollywood, Wall Street, New York's government and business communities, and academic and medical organizations, Project Rebirth has succeeded in building a strong foundation for its long-term success, Wood said.

So, how did he get involved? One month after 9/11, his brother got married at the Union Lee Club in Manhattan. Shocked to be in New York after the tragedy, so was his brother's college roommate. Jim Whitaker, the director and founder of Project Rebirth has also produced American Gangster, 8 Mile and Cinderella Man, to name a few.

"Jim got in his head, 'why don't I go take photos'?" he said, and not too much later the idea for Project Rebirth took off.

"Project Rebirth began as the [photos of the] physical infrastructure," Wood said. "He realized it was more about the human spirit."

Whitaker knew Wood as the "crazy brother," who would bet crazy bets at Georgetown-like to swim in a fountain in February.

"He also knew I had a lot of drive," Wood said.

It became an easy decision for Wood to put up the funds personally then as CEO of Telos.

"What I saw with Project Rebirth was hope. Telos does it because it's a noble cause," he said. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Project Rebirth needs financial support to ensure its backers can continue to fulfill its commitment and responsibility to capture history on film.

"This is not about looking back, it's about looking forward," Wood said.

The level of near term financial support Project Rebirth receives will determine how much of the living history of the rebuilding of the site and stories they can capture.

For more information, visit http://www.projectrebirth.org.