Joey Cheek, Olympic champion, philanthropist, and entrepreneur will be the keynote speaker at UEP’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Conference next month in Maui.

Cheek, in an amazing speed skating performance, won both gold and silver medals at the Olympic games in Torino, Italy, and became World Sprint Champion joining Americans Eric Heiden and Dan Jansen as the only men to have done so at that time.

After becoming an Olympic champion, Cheek turned his talents to worthy charitable causes. He donated his Olympic winnings, totaling $40,000 to Right to Play to help refugees driven from their homes in the Darfur crisis in western Sudan.  He also co-founded Team Darfur, an international coalition of more than 500 athletes, to continue to advocate and fundraise for the people from that region.

Cheek was selected as the inaugural Heisman Humanitarian Award winner, was named to TIME's 100 most influential people, the US Speedskating Hall of Fame, and the International Sports Humanitarians Hall of Fame.  Cheek was selected by his teammates to be the flag bearer during the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Olympic Games and yes, he even got to be on the Wheaties cereal box.

Since ending his athletic career, Cheek has worked as a corporate speaker with dozens of Fortune 500 companies, started a digital sports content company, and currently serves on the board of the US Olympic Museum and Hall of Fame. Most recently, Cheek completed his first stint as a broadcaster.  In February, he covered speedskating for NBC at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.