User:NationalSanta/sandbox

Timothy Patrick Connaghan (born June 3, 1948) recognized as both the National Santa and Santa Hollywood, has been a Santa Claus since December 23, 1969 and was elected to the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame in 2011. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Southern California he attended California State University in Long Beach and later the University of Southern California where he received special certifications in Fundraising and Corporate Communications.

''Hand-picked by Hollywood’s Original Honorary Mayor, Johnny Grant, Connaghan is now celebrating 50 years of wearing the Red Suit, & his 15th year as the official Santa for the Hollywood Christmas Parade. He has appeared and worked as Santa Claus and as the founder of the International University of Santa Claus (IUSC) where he is credited with training almost 4,000 Santas and Mrs. Claus. The school is recognized as the largest annual Professional Santa School in the world & is based on his book: “Behind the Red Suit – The Business of Santa Claus.” Alumni of the School are recognized as members of the “Red Suit Society.” Connaghan is an accomplished performer, comedian, public speaker, producer & consultant, and authority on Santa Claus.''

Santa Career
''Connaghan began his career as a Santa Claus in 1969, while serving in the United States Army during the Viet Nam War, by donning a beard of Shaving Cream and posing for photos with his fellow soldiers His first experience as Santa occurred on December 23, 1969. Wearing a beard of Barbasol shaving cream he handed out holiday packages to his fellow soldiers serving in Viet Nam.''

''A year later, while attending college, he reluctantly wore the Red Suit as an emergency replacement Santa, for three days at a Bullock’s Department Store, which later became part of Macy’s. It was just a year after his Santa role in Viet Nam! His appearance was such that the store asked him to work the entire Holiday Season and invited him back to work in 1971 and 1972, while still attending college and where he expanded his work as Santa Claus, volunteering for a variety of community projects with the Jaycees. And during all those years, he continued wearing the red suit every Christmas for family, fellow employees, friends & special group.s He says his many years in a variety of jobs & positions were God’s way of preparing him for the greatest job of all …. becoming Santa Claus!''

As a volunteer, he continued his community work with the Jaycees and in the late 70’s he was elected President of the Lakewood Jaycees, which led to various state chairmanships, culminating with his being elected, in 1985, as the California State Vice President for Community Programs.

''In 1995, after watching a television program where a ‘real’ bearded Santas were featured, his wife suggested that being Santa might be a good retirement. So, he threw his razor away & within a few years was working a variety of parties & events each Christmas. ''

''He learned of a local Santa association & in 1998 he attended a luncheon with the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas(AORBS). The organization met once a year in January. It was during his third year of attending that a fellow Santa, Richard Christie, asked some of the Santas in attendance, if they could write a chapter for a book he was producing, “Becoming Santa.” Tim wrote two chapters for the book. This led to him to more writing on the work of Santa Claus and the creation of the book, “Behind the Red Suit – The business of Santa.”  The book was well received in the Santa community and he was encouraged to teach a workshop based on the book.''

''As his Santa work evolved, in 2003, he assumed the role of Executive Director of the 250-member association. By January of 2007 the organization had grown to over 1,300 members he had produced the “Discover Santa” Convention & he was elected the associations first President. For three years, he led the world’s largest Santa association, AORBS, the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, & in 2006 created and hosted Discover Santa, the first modern day Santa Claus convention with over 500 Santas and Mrs. Claus.  In July of 2016 he directed “Discover Santa 2016,” the tenth anniversary convention with over 1,000 Santas, Mrs. Claus and Holiday professionals in attendance.''

A major figure at spectacular events,millions of children and their families have been delighted with his appearances at nationally televised tree lightings and parades, & celebrity parties.

These include The Kodak Theater, The Grove in Los Angeles, Hollywood & Highland, Toys for Tots @ NYSE, Capitol Records, Hallmark, Los Angeles Country Club, The Salvation Army, The St. Regis Resort & Spa, K-Mart, The USO, Dr. Phil & Robin McGraw, Reese Witherspoon, Candy Spelling, Joel Silver, Marvin & Barbara Davis & Steven Spielberg.

''He is in high demand for corporations, organizations & media promotions, advertising & commercials having worked for Coca-Cola, Sears, Microsoft, Toys for Tots, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, Hershey’s, I-Hop, In-N-Out Burgers, KIIS-FM, Kraft, Nabisco, Target, Planter's, Ritz, Macy’s, McDonalds, Southwest Airlines, Vons Corporation, The Regent Beverly Wilshire, Old Navy, The Kodak Theater, Disney, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Clubs, Honey Baked Ham, & Cool Whip. He has also appeared on five catalogue covers for J.C. Penney, and international commercials for Dannon, Swiss-Com and Oreo’s.A “24/7/365” Santa, he also directs RealSantas.com, one of the world’s busiest Holiday suppliers of Santas for malls, photo studios & special events all over the world, & supplying ‘real beard’ Santas for as many as 1,400 events & promotions each year. He is known to own the nation’s largest directory of Real Bearded and Professional Santas. And Mrs. Clauses, too!''

Clients for Real Santas include Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Amazon, Southwest Airlines, Radio City Music Hall, Macy’s, Hershey’s, Caruso Affiliated, Sears, Walmart, Curacao Stores, Toys R Us, Sam’s Clubs, K-Mart, Hallmark, Dave & Busters, Hertz, Federal Realty, Disney, David Letterman, the Mentalist, Castle, and many more.

Santa School
''In July of 2003, following the success of his book and requests that he teach, he created the International University of Santa Claus, aka: “School4Santas,” and in a rented auditorium at USC, presented his first one-day school. A week later he was invited to Atlanta, to teach another school. Word soon spread in in 2004 he presented schools in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix. In 2005 the school was expanded to two days.''

''Today he annual presents ten to twelve schools in select cities across the United States. Through the years, he has also presented schools in Canada and Denmark.''

''In 2008, he began presenting one school each year aboard a Princess Cruise. Santas and Mrs. Claus have attended these floating schools in the Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii & a European Cruise to Norway, Germany, and Russia. Due to its uniqueness, the school has been featured on various television shows including The Travel Channel which featured the School on Princess Cruise as part of a Holiday special''

''Through his School4Santas he has awarded diplomas to almost 4,000 Santas & Mrs. Claus. The school is recognized as the largest annual Professional Santa School in the world & is based on his book: “Behind the Red Suit – The Business of Santa Claus.”  Alumni of the School are recognized as members of the “Red Suit Society.”''

National Santa and Santa Hollywood.
As an Entrepreneur & entertainer he has established himself in the Santa world, through his personal contributions, & as President of, The Kringle Group, LLC, which includes a variety of businesses.He also owns RealSantas.com and SantasWardrobe.com

''”His second Book, “Surviving the Holidays,” is a self-help guide to planning and preparing for the Holiday Season and reducing stress and the problems that come with the Holidays. The book includes check lists, calendars and hundreds of handy hints to help in preparing for Christmas, Hanukkah or any of the Winter holidays.''

Volunteer Career
''Santa Tim, like all other Santas, donates some of his time to various charities. In addition to his volunteer visits to various Children’s Hospitals & Ronald McDonald House, one of his proudest accomplishments has been the establishment of a special web site he hosts: www.SantaCares.US   The web site, using his personal data base of over 2,500 Santas, is designed to assist non-profit schools, organizations & most importantly, Military Units & Hospitals in finding Santas for holiday visits.''

He also coordinates Santas for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve “Toys for Tots” community campaigns, and the Spirit of Liberty Foundation that supports programs aiding our military personnel, and veterans, with visits from “America’s Santa.”

''Many honors have been presented to Santa Tim, but the most prestigious is his induction by the Santa Claus Oath Foundation, into the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame at Santa Claus, Indiana in December of 2011. ''

''Past inductees include Edmund Gwenn from Miracle on 34th Street, Mickey Rooney & Haddon Sundbloom who created the famous image of the Coca-Cola Santa. ''

''In 2013, he was also presented the prestigious Charles W. Howard Award. Chosen by the Howard Family, the award is presented to an individual who continues the traditions started by Charles W. Howard of teaching & sharing the work of Santa.''

In 2012 he offered his services to the Toys for Tots Foundation(T4T). Since that time he has helped network the thousands of Santas in his data base, with the regional T4T campaigns; volunteered for special marketing photos sessions; attended many National T4T Coordinators meetings, Flown with the Blue Angels support crew on humanitarian toy deliveries for childrren who were vicitms of Hurricanes Sandy and other national disasters; and joined with the Marines and T4T President, General H.P. "Pete" Osman (ret) annually to ring the opening bell at the NYSE. For his volunteer services witn T4T, he has the title of "National Santa."

Media
Seen by millions on Dr. Phil, The Today Show, Tonight Show, The Doctors, Mad-TV, Deal or No Deal, & Ryan Seacrest Show, he has acted in movies & television shows, including: “Castle,” “It’s Complicated,” “Southland,” “Suburgatory,” “Cinema Vérité” and “the Mentalist.”

As an actor he has appeared in many commercials over the years, including, Oreos, Ritz Crackers, Old Navy, Planter's Deluxe Mixed Nuts, Sears, Target, Cool Whip, Honey Baked Ham, Dannon Water, and a special series of commercials for Swisscom, the communications giant in Switzerland.

He has also been featured in many documentary & news shows for the History Channel, National Geographic, Travel Channel & the USA Network, plus special segments for Sunday Today on NBC and CBS Sunday Morning.

Santa Tim’s annual release of Santa Statistics & his position in the Santa community are well known & have led to appearances on the Neil Cavuto Show, CNN, NBC, ABC’s Nightline, Bloomberg News, Fox News & PBS,

His interviews have been featured in Time, the Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, Los Angeles Times, & via hundreds of stories in many local, regional, national & international media.

Professional Career
''Following college and his studies in communication and broadcast journalism, He spent almost a decade as a News Director & radio personality at small California radio stations. ''

While in radio, he found his talent for project management combined with fundraising, which began a 30-year career raising millions of dollars working for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the March of Dimes, the City of Hope National Medical Center, & The American Cancer Society.

For over twenty years he was a professional fund raiser coordinating and producing charitable events from simple walk-a-thons to celebrity dinners, concerts, telethons & special events including shows at the Hollywood Bowl and Universal Amphitheater, with artists such as the Beach Boys, Rick Springfield, Lucille Ball, George Burns, Rick Dees, Florence Henderson, Donnie Osmond & Marie Osmond, John Schneider, Bob Hope & many other celebrities.

Personal life
''A native Californian & the oldest of eleven children, he was raised in Southern California by his parents Patricia and Robert Connaghan, living in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Lakewood. Other than some special courses at USC, all his schooling, from elementary school to College, was in Long Beach, CA''. While in College he majored in Broadcasting and later Communications .

''He served in the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division & is a recipient of the Bronze Star & other awards. In February 2008, he was awarded the Military Legion of Honor’s Humanitarian Award. It was while in Viet Nam that he first served as Santa.''

''Upon his return home, he attended Long Beach City College & California State University at Long Beach where he majored in Communications. In addition, he holds a certificate in Corporate Communications & one in Fundraising from USC (University of Southern California).''

''It was in just before Christmas in 1970, & while still in college, that he donned his first Red Suit, working at a Southern California Bullock’s Department Store, which later became part of Macys. ''