Sarah Ford | June 30, 2015

LIVESTRONG Announces New Leadership Team Hires

Donna Palmer Named Chief Development Officer; Katie Merrell Joins as VP of People

LIVESTRONG Foundation President and CEO Chandini Portteus announced today the addition of two seasoned professionals to her leadership team with Donna Palmer joining as Chief Development Officer and Katie Merrell as Vice President of People. Both will report directly to Portteus. Palmer comes to LIVESTRONG with impressive nonprofit industry experience, most recently with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and will lead the Foundation’s overall revenue-generation efforts. Merrell has more than 25 years of experience in organizational management, including more than ten years at Susan G. Komen, most recently as vice president for human resources, and will be in charge of people management at LIVESTRONG.

“Donna brings the perfect combination of experience and innovation that the LIVESTRONG Foundation needs today. She will help us find new ways to engage constituents and donors and her enthusiasm is infectious,” Portteus said. “Also, I have worked with Katie for many years and value her intuitive and professional approach to understanding and shaping cultures. She brings to the LIVESTRONG family an innate ability to build seamless, mission-driven teams and identify key talent.”

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