Candy Lightner

Candy (Candace) Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and We Save Lives is recognized nationally and internationally as the moving force behind reshaping the nation's attitude toward drunk driving (as well as drugged and distracted driving).

She founded MADD after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a multiple repeat offending drunk driver. Lightner has been credited with saving more than 400,000 lives. Armed with her anger and passion, she set out to change the system and the prevailing attitude of societal acceptance about the most often committed crime in the country. The mother turned activist not only led the movement that made drunk driving socially unacceptable, but she also became a leading victim’s advocate, teaching victims and survivors how to fight for justice in the courtroom.

As MADD's Founder, and Former Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board, Lightner masterminded MADD from a small California grass roots organization into an international corporation with 400+ chapters worldwide and an annual budget of more than 12 million dollars. Under her leadership, MADD’s membership base grew to more than two million.

Equally important, Lightner provided the solutions-- vision, legislative strategy and consensus-building skills---necessary to move lawmakers into proactively changing the laws and saving lives. Her advocacy led to the successful passage of more than 700 bills at the state and national levels, including legislation raising the drinking age to 21 -- a move credited with saving thousands of lives. She has testified before Congress, statehouses and committee hearings and has formed coalitions, such as SOS (Save Our Students) as powerful political tools.

Lightner successfully called for the California Governor and The President to form Commissions to solve the drunk driving problem and served on both. She also conceived, organized and or implemented visionary national programs including Project Graduation, Victim Services, Alcohol Server Training, leadership conferences, volunteer recruitment and training, courtroom monitoring and speakers' bureaus. In 2014, Lightner founded We Save Lives, an organization that offers a representative voice on highway safety issues, focusing on the “3 D’s” --drugged, drunk and distracted driving.

We Save Lives currently works with more than 60 partners at the local, state, national and international levels, to reduce deaths and injuries on the highways. She co-founded the Drop the “A” word movement, encouraging media and other to substitute crash, collision, wreck or crime for the word accident. She initiated a petition drive asking Apple and other mobile device makers to add Drive Mode. They did. The change-maker launched the #BUTNOTWHILEDRIVING Campaign, a collaborative effort of advocates and others asking mobile device users to add that phrase to their signatures. Ms. Lightner is also the executive producer of several videos including the international award winning and widely acclaimed video, Reflections from Inside, that has been seen by more than 400 million people around the world and is still going strong.

Lightner’s ability to empower people to move beyond their grief and make a difference in their community and state earned her national acclaim as a victims' right advocate.

Her leadership style and capabilities have been recognized by and valued in seminars and conferences for the Franklin Covey Leadership Center, the Center for Creative Leadership and the Columbia Business School’s Institute for Personal Leadership.

The story of Lightner’s illustrious life has been featured in several documentaries, including The Twentieth Century Project, by the famous Oscar winning director Bob Zemeckis and Seeds of Resiliency featured on NPR. She has written numerous articles for major publications and co-authored “Giving Sorrow Words: How to Cope with Grief and Get on with Your Life” (Warner Books). She was also the subject of an Emmy nominated T.V. movie, entitled “Mothers Against Drunk Drivers: The Candy Lightner Story.”