John and Mark X. Cronin, the co-founders of John’s Crazy Socks, will deliver the keynote address at “Catch the Wave,” the 2021 SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) Long Island Chapter Conference. This will be the largest conference of its kind on Long Island.
Catch the Wave will take place on May 21 and is the 30th annual conference for the Long Island Chapter of SHRM. The conference will feature presentations from leaders in the field sharing best practices and insights in how to adapt to the changing dynamics in the workplace.
Elizabeth M. Saitta, the Executive Director of SHRM-LI, said, “Human resource management has never been more important or more challenging and we want to be there for our members with fresh insights and the latest information. Enlisting nationally prominent speakers like John and Mark Cronin to give our keynote is just one indication of our commitment to make this our best conference ever.”
The Cronins will share their inspiring father-son business story while discussing their entrepreneurial journey, how they built a social enterprise that promotes employee engagement and how to create a unified workplace where people with differing abilities work side-by-side with neruro-typicals. At John’s Crazy Socks, more than half of the employees have differing abilities and work side-by-side with neuro-typicals. The Cronins will offer evidence how the unified workplace leads to better morale, better productivity, and better retention. They have personally seen a mutual benefit from employing differently-abled people and will share their experiences.
John’s Crazy Socks is a member of the Long Island Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management. With over 300,000 members, SHRM is the world’s largest professional society dedicated to serving human resource professionals. Registration to attend the online conference is available at www.shrmli.org. The conference has a pricing schedule of $75 for SHRM members and $150 for nonmembers. To become a SHRM member, visit www.shrm.org to enroll. The price for SHRM membership is $219 annually and grants member access to the national resources of SHRM as well as the local resources of SHRM-LI.
“Our business is about our people and relationships. We are committed to making John’s Crazy Socks a great place to work, where all people are respected and their work is valued. We put our employees in a position to succeed and to be able to do their best work ever,” said Mark X. Cronin. “We are part of the CEO Commission for Disability Employment and Johnny Taylor, the CEO of SHRM, is one of the founding members. We work with the national organization to advocate for the rights of people with differing abilities and we are impressed by SHRM’s leadership and commitment to these issues.”
John and Mark have provided keynote addresses at Fortune 500 companies and have appeared multiple times on major news network and programs. John and Mark have testified twice before the U.S. Congress and spoken at the United Nations. The Cronins have informed and inspired audiences around the world with their story about the origin and success of John’s Crazy Socks. Upon graduating high school, John found limited options for him in the workplace. Being a natural entrepreneur, John turned that problem into an opportunity and suggested to his father that they create a business selling socks. From that idea, the Cronins have grown a business that employs 31 people and has shipped over 325,000 packages to 85 different counties. Built on a commitment to being a social enterprise, the company is also dedicated to offering a unified workplace for employees of differing abilities and in spreading this message on how to create this for other businesses.
Elizabeth M. Saitta, the newly appointed executive Director of the Long Island Chapter of SHRM, said: “We are always pleased to see an innovative and forward-thinking company like John’s Crazy Socks join SHRM. We can offer John and Mark information and training on how best to develop their culture and staff as well as give them access to not only our members on Long Island, but our membership across the country and around the world.”
For more information about John’s Crazy Socks, visit www.johnscrazysocks.com.
For more information about the Society of Human Resource Management – Long Island Chapter, visit http://shrmli.org.
About the Society of Human Resource Management – Long Island Chapter
The Society for Human Resource Management - Long Island Chapter, Inc. is a mega-chapter of the national organization for human resource professionals which represents a global membership of more than 200,000. SHRM has members in 120 countries including Canada, China, United Kingdom, Australia, Bermuda, Japan, Singapore, Trinidad, Bahamas, and Germany. SHRM-Long Island has more than 1,400 active members and is comprised of all levels of HR practitioners, representing the complete spectrum and breadth of every type of industry on Long Island who have an interest in acquiring knowledge of the most recent and innovative developments in the HR arena. SHRM-LI is a non-profit organization. The Society for Human Resource Management provides its membership with a forum for Human Resource professionals to exchange ideas, increase their knowledge, and work together for the betterment of the profession. For more information, please visit http://shrmli.org.
About John’s Crazy Socks
John’s Crazy Socks was inspired by John Lee Cronin, a young man with Down syndrome, and his love of colorful and fun socks—what he calls his “crazy socks.” He and his father, Mark X. Cronin, started the company as a social enterprise built on four pillars:
- Inspiration and Hope: We hire people with differing abilities, share videos to show what people can do, host school tours and school groups that come for work experience. We want the world to see what people with differing abilities can do. Over half our employees have a differing ability.
- Giving Back: We donate 5 percent of our earnings to the Special Olympics and raise money through our Sock of the Month Club and charity and awareness socks for our charity partners like Autism Speaks, the Autism Society of America, the National Down Syndrome Society, and United Cerebral Palsy. We have raised more than $425,000 for our charity partners.
- Fun Products You Can Love: We have over 2,000 different socks and face masks plus a Sock of the Month Club, gift boxes and gift bags. And our selection is matched by our customer service: Most customers receive their socks within three days of ordering.
- Making It Personal: Every package gets a thank-you note from John and some candy.
For more information, visit our webpage, Facebook page, Instagram account or YouTube channel. You can also contact us at 631-760-5625 or via email at service@johnscrazysocks.com.
