Press Releases
ATLANTA – (February 10, 2014) – The American Cancer Society, the nation’s largest voluntary health organization, has announced the addition of five new officers to its 2014 national volunteer board of directors during a recent meeting in Atlanta. Pamela Meyerhoffer of Litchfield Park, AZ, a 40-year volunteer with the Society, will chair the new board.
The officers are the first to join the newly streamlined board after a reorganization of the 100-year-old American Cancer Society. The Society made the decision to reduce the board from 43 members to 21 members after a volunteer task force analyzed the previous board structure and made recommendations to bring it more in line with industry best practices. The board is responsible for setting policy for the American Cancer Society as well as establishing long-term goals, monitoring general operations and approving organizational outcomes and allocation of resources.
“I look forward to chairing this prestigious board of directors and to serving with the group of dedicated, highly experienced volunteers,” said Meyerhoffer. “As the American Cancer Society’s structure has been transformed over the past three years, the volunteer structure has changed as well, and that includes our volunteer board. As new members are elected to the board over time, we will see unique skill sets and expertise added to this governing group as our mission demands it. It is an exciting time to be a part of the American Cancer Society and its work to save more lives and ultimately, eradicate cancer.”
Other new officers include Robert E. Youle, vice chair, of Denver, Colo.; Douglas K. Kelsey, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP, board scientific officer, of Zionsville, Ind.; Daniel P. Heist, CPA, secretary/treasurer, of State College, Pa.; and Gary M. Reedy, immediate past chair, of Dresher, Pa.
Meyerhoffer, FAHP, is the executive director for Wickenburg Community Hospital Foundation in Arizona and serves on the Society’s Great West Division Board of Directors. She was awarded the American Cancer Society’s prestigious St. George National Award in 1985, the highest award given to a Society volunteer, and has served on the board of directors since 2004.
Youle is a 26-year volunteer with the Society and has served on the board of directors for the past six years. He is an attorney in the Denver office of Sherman & Howard, LLC, specializing in complex commercial litigation. He served on the American Cancer Society’s Great West Division Board of Directors and was awarded the St. George National Award in 1998.
Kelsey will serve in the new position of board scientific officer. He is a medical fellow at Lilly Research Laboratories and is currently the lead physician for clinical ADHD studies in U.S Medical Operations – Neuroscience Division in Indianapolis, Ind. Kelsey has volunteered with the American Cancer Society for 20 years and has been a member of the board of directors since 2005. He received the St. George National Award in 2003.
Heist, who will handle treasury and secretary duties, has been an American Cancer Society volunteer for more than 20 years and has served on the board of directors since 2008. He is the director of internal audit at the Pennsylvania State University with more than 25 years of accounting, auditing, and management experience. He served on the American Cancer Society’s East Central Division Board of Directors and was awarded the St. George National Award in 2013.
Reedy is the worldwide vice president of government affairs and policy at Johnson & Johnson. He received the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation’s Trailblazer Award for cancer research excellence in 2000 and served as a charter member of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. Reedy served as the American Cancer Society Foundation liaison from 2004 until 2007 and has been on the board of directors since 2007.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with more than a century of experience to save lives and end cancer for good. As a global grassroots force of three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping you stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early, helping you get well by being there for you during and after a diagnosis, by finding cures through groundbreaking discovery, and fighting back through public policy. As the nation’s largest nongovernmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.5 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, nearly 14 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Elissa McCrary
American Cancer Society
404.417.5823