Ed Dandridge Elected Chairman of the Board; Jerri Johnson Elected Vice Chair
Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, welcomed eight accomplished leaders from the world’s health care, marketing, technology and business operations to serve on the organization’s Board of Directors. In addition, Ed Dandridge, Senior Vice President of Communications at The Boeing Company, was elected to serve as Chair of the Board, and Jerri Johnson, Executive Director of Business Technology at The Walt Disney Company – who is living with metastatic breast cancer – was elected Vice Chair.
“We are truly delighted by the diverse talent and experience that these new members bring to Komen’s Board, and look forward to working with each to expand Komen’s reach and ability to save lives from breast cancer,” said Dandridge. “Each of these respected leaders brings a powerful combination of business expertise and a deep commitment to philanthropy that will be invaluable to us in our fight to save lives and create a world without breast cancer.”
The new members are:
Renée Baker – Head of Advisor Inclusion Networks at Raymond James, where she provides corporate leadership and support for the firm’s financial advisors networks within the Private Client Group. In her role, Baker focuses on increasing representation and retaining diverse advisors. Previously, she served as chief marketing officer for Carillon Tower Advisers, a subsidiary of Raymond James. She has extensive financial services and marketing experience across a variety of channels and geographies. She earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from Rutgers University, a Master of Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University, and a doctorate in Business Administration from Wilmington University.
Traci Otey Blunt – Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications for the National Football League. A nationally recognized and award-winning communications and public affairs strategist, Blunt leads communications strategies across priority areas including rapid response/current affairs, business operations, NFL Media, public affairs, health and safety, and social responsibility. Prior to joining the NFL, Traci served in a dual role as EVP, Corporate Affairs at RLJ Entertainment and as President of Urban Movie Channel (UMC), the first subscription streaming channel showcasing Black film and television, founded by Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson. She also serves on the board of ColorComm and previously on the International Black Film Festival of Nashville. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Page UP, part of the Arthur W. Page Society. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a proud graduate of Tennessee State University where she graduated with honors.
Michelle Bottomley – Chief Executive Officer of the Modern Growth Exchange, a tech-enabled growth acceleration business. Immediately prior, Michelle served as Chief Marketing Officer for New York Life, Staples, Mercer and Barclaycard. She started her career in leadership roles at Bronner Slosberg Humphrey (currently Digitas), Epsilon and Ogilvy. A fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors, she has served on the boards of Bose Corp and currently also serves on the board of directors for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Prophet, a business transformation consultancy. Bottomley has taken courses toward a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University (ABD), after completing a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Economics from Northeastern University.
Julia Harris – President of Ronin Holdings, where she focuses on investments, operations, and philanthropy. She was previously a Brand Manager at Lion Capital, a consumer-focused investor. She has also served in an investor relations role for Beach Point Capital, as well as operations, marketing and investor communications at Reservoir Capital. Julia received her BA in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Gail Heimann – President and CEO of Weber Shandwick, a leading global communications network that delivers next-generation solutions. She has helped to build brands and burnish reputations for organizations across the industries – from technology and finance to food & beverage and healthcare. Under her leadership, Weber Shandwick has won nearly 100 Cannes Lions in partnership with leading brands. In 2020, Gail won PR Agency Head in Campaign’s inaugural U.S. Agency-of-the-Year awards. In 2019, she was honored twice by PRWeek as US Agency Professional of the Year and Global Agency Professional-of-the-Year. Gail and her husband have two daughters and live in New York.
Andi Owen – Chief Executive Officer of Herman Miller, Inc., a globally recognized design and innovation company that provides furnishings, technologies, and services that solve problems for people wherever they live, work, learn, heal and play. Andi received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary. She also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and Harvard’s intensive, first-of-its-kind course, Women on Boards: Succeeding as a Corporate Director. Andi is passionate about using design thinking to solve complex problems and using business as a force for good. She is the daughter of a breast cancer survivor.
Luke Sauter – Divisional Vice President of Specialty Pharmacy Strategy at Walgreens, where he is responsible for leading the development of Walgreens’ enterprise specialty pharmacy strategy and overseeing the patient care, advocacy and product functions for oncology, HIV, organ transplant, chronic inflammatory disease, multiple sclerosis, hepatitis and fertility. Previously, he was chief administrative lead for Walgreens’ digital pharmacy transformation, where he was accountable for the oversight of professional support functions including finance, project management, legal, human resources, communications, board of director reporting and technology vendor negotiations. He received a B.S. in accounting from the University of Illinois and is a Certified Public Accountant and an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Nansemond Indian Tribal Association.
Sean Slovenski – A recognized healthcare industry innovator. Whether as the CEO of a joint venture between Intel and GE, leading innovation at Humana, founding and selling his own company in behavioral health or more recently serving as the President of Health & Wellness for Walmart, Slovenski has impacted almost every sector of healthcare. He has the honor of being named Healthcare Leader of The Year by the US Chamber of Commerce in 2015, and in 2019, as the 7th most influential person in health care out of the top 100 by Modern Healthcare Magazine. He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, a breast cancer survivor and his daughter.
In addition to the new Board Members, Komen’s Board elected Ed Dandridge to service as Chair, and Jerri Johnson to serve as Vice Chair. Dandridge succeeds Peter Brundage, who will continue to serve as a member of Komen’s Board.
Ed Dandridge is the Senior Vice President of Communications at The Boeing Company. Dandridge oversees all aspects of Boeing’s communications, including business unit communications, corporate communications, media relations, public affairs, leadership communications, employee engagement and corporate branding, as well as channel and content marketing. Prior to joining Boeing in September 2020, Dandridge was global chief marketing and communications officer for AIG General Insurance. He also serves on The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Presidential Advisory Committee. A member of The Executive Leadership Council, Ed serves on its Board of Directors. Ed received his B.A. from Tufts University, with honors, and J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Jerri Johnson is the Executive Director, Business Technology for The Walt Disney Company. Johnson is a long-time volunteer for Susan G. Komen, having supported the organization since 2003. Most recently, she served as Board President of Komen’s former Los Angeles County Affiliate. She has been living with metastatic inflammatory breast cancer for 18 years. Jerri is an operations executive with over 25 years of experience in the start-up, turnaround and improvement of organizations in national and international settings. She has demonstrated success in building and leading top-performing teams, focused on exceeding organizational goals. Prior to Disney she was a Partner at Ernst & Young, leading the ecommerce practice and strategic global accounts.
Board terms for Kaye Ceille, Doug Knutson, Stephanie Stahl and Kim Nimsger have ended, but each remains committed to Komen’s mission and will continue to partner with the organization to support breast cancer programs worldwide.
“The commitment each of our Board members makes not only to guiding and strengthening this organization, but to helping us save lives and achieve our mission, cannot be overstated,” said Paula Schneider, Komen’s CEO. “We are grateful to each person who has served on our Board and look forward to continuing to work together to end breast cancer.”
