Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., was named president and chief executive officer of the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in September 2014. LLS is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

DeGennaro leads the operations of this $300 million cancer patient advocacy agency with headquarters in Rye Brook, New York.

DeGennaro has been a critical member of the LLS executive leadership team since he joined LLS in 2005. He is recognized as the key architect of LLS's cures and access agenda to help save the lives of blood cancer patients and the LLS Therapy Acceleration Program® -- a venture philanthropy endeavor that defined the role of nonprofit organizations in supporting drug discovery and development with the biotechnology industry. He was named LLS chief mission officer in 2009, with responsibility for leadership of LLS's mission functions of research, patient access, education, public policy and advocacy.

DeGennaro has more than 25 years of research, drug development and executive management experience in academic and private sector settings. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California at San Francisco and did his post-doctoral research at the Yale University School of Medicine.  His previous academic appointments include research group leader, Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, where his laboratory was among the first to clone genes expressed exclusively in the nervous system; and associate professor of neurology and cell biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

DeGennaro's private-sector positions include senior director of molecular genetics at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Princeton, N.J., where his department contributed to the development of pantoprazole (Protonix®) to treat acid reflux disease, venlafaxine (Effexor®) for anxiety and depression, and gentuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg®) for leukemia; executive vice president for research and development, SynX Pharma, Inc., in Toronto, Canada, where he was responsible for the development of a point-of-care diagnostic test for congestive heart failure; and research manager at Streck, Inc., Omaha, Neb., where he helped develop an FDA-cleared diagnostic test for AIDS/HIV.

DeGennaro was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2012 to serve as a member of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Advisory Council, and the Cures Acceleration Network Review Board at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also serves on the boards of BioTheryX, Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company, and the Health Research Alliance, an alliance of non-profit funders of research.

As executive vice president/chief product officer, Andrew Coccari is responsible for leading all campaign and marketing activities and implementing an overall product strategy aligned with LLS’s strategic business plan.  He works closely with management and staff to increase involvement in the various fundraising campaigns that support the LLS mission, including Team In Training (the largest endurance sports training platform), Light The Night, Student Series and Man & Woman of the Year.

Coccari came to LLS with more than 20 years of leadership experience in marketing, sales and product development for well-known brands such as Cannondale, L’Oreal, Honeywell and Shell.  He has built a reputation as an innovator who knows how to establish a clear vision and develop a strategy for successful growth and brand awareness.

He has a M.B.A. in marketing from New York University and a B.S. in environmental science from the State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry.

As chief operating officer, Ingo Gefeke is responsible for information technology, strategic initiatives and strategic planning, new growth opportunities under the LLS enterprise ventures umbrella, procurement, project management and overall organizational alignment.

Gefeke brings to LLS extensive global and domestic experience in business management and development, finance and operations in the financial services sector across US and global companies and brands, including non-profits. Ingo spent much of his career at Deutsche Bank in a variety of leadership roles in the Global Banking Division and Deutsche Asset Management.

He has a master’s degree in business from University of Hannover, Germany and a finance degree from the University of Konstanz.

As chief of staff, Danielle Gee is the program manager of the executive team responsible for guiding operational planning, strategic planning, priority initiatives and various enterprise projects. While she provides critical support to LLS President and CEO Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., she also works closely with the cross-functional senior leadership team, primarily to assess progress on LLS’s operating plan. As part of this periodic evaluation, Gee has helped to develop key metrics and analytics, as well as a staff and Board of Directors dashboard and communication plan.

Prior to joining LLS, Gee was associate director of equities sales with UBS Investment Bank in New York City, where she managed relationships with current and prospective clients and provided analysis and research on stock valuations to drive incremental revenue. She previously was a consultant in public financial management, providing strategic consulting services and debt transaction analytical support for municipal clients.

Gee holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Marcie Klein is responsible for overseeing the strategy and execution of the organization’s narrative, including public relations, internal communications and crisis and issues management, in order to create awareness for LLS and burnish its reputation. Her team provides support for LLS’s mission pillars of research, patient services and advocacy, as well as its fundraising campaigns and development initiatives, and generates owned content and earned media coverage to create awareness and engagement for LLS across a wide range of external and internal audiences and stakeholders. Klein collaborates with her colleagues on the executive leadership team to develop the enterprise strategic and operating plans, with an emphasis on reaching more patients and supporting revenue growth. Klein’s leadership and guidance of the communications function has led to significant growth in earned media awareness in her five-year tenure at LLS.

Klein brings more than 25 years of communications and public relations experience to her current role. Prior to joining LLS, she was senior vice president at Pollock Communications and senior vice president at Ogilvy Public Relations, with a focus on healthcare and consumer products and food sciences; prior, she was vice president of public relations and corporate communications at Combe Incorporated, a consumer products company.

Klein has a bachelor’s degree in English and Communications from Tulane University.

In her role as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer, Rosemarie Loffredo ensures that LLS achieves the ambitious goals of its long-range strategic plan. Loffredo leads all administrative and staff functions, including finance, information technology and human resources, and she is responsible for enhancing LLS's organizational efficiency and effectiveness in partnership with the organization's executive team.
 
Earlier in her career, Loffredo served as interim chief financial officer for Pro Mujer International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering disenfranchised women in Latin America through microfinance, healthcare and educational services. She previously served as vice president, financial operations and treasurer of New York University, the largest private research university in the U.S. She also served as senior vice president of finance for CA Technologies, Inc., (formerly Computer Associates), one of the world's largest enterprise management software providers, and prior to that position was vice president of treasury for the International Paper Company. She previously held leadership positions with global banks in international treasury as well as industry segment management including securities and commodities, capital-intensive industry and public finance. Loffredo currently serves on the board of directors of CenterLight Healthcare System.

Loffredo holds a bachelor's degree in international economics, commerce and finance from Georgetown University, a master's degree in economics from Boston College, and an M.B.A in finance and international business from Columbia University.

As LLS’s chief medical officer (CMO), Gwen Nichols, M.D., plays a critical role in advancing cures through a unique combination of clinical, academic and pharmaceutical experience. She oversees LLS’s scientific research portfolio, patient services and policy and advocacy initiatives. A physician and scientific researcher, she has dedicated her career to advancing cures for cancers.

Most recently, Nichols was oncology site head of the Roche Translational Clinical Research Center, where she worked to develop new cancer therapies, translating them from the laboratory to clinical trials. Prior to joining Roche in 2007, Nichols was at Columbia University for more than ten years, where she served as the director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program.

While at Columbia University, Nichols maintained an active clinical practice and received the prestigious honors of “Physician of the Year” from Columbia University and the “Humanism in Medicine Award” from the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Nichols trained in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and completed post-doctoral research and a hematology-oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where she was an attending physician. She received her medical degree with honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

As chief human resources officer, Tom Osgood is responsible for the direction and management of all human resources functions across LLS. He leads multiple strategic initiatives, including organization development, change management, and enterprise-wide talent management and leadership development programs and processes. In addition, Osgood is responsible for driving the transformation of LLS’s culture, specifically in the areas of performance management and employee engagement.

Prior to joining LLS, Osgood was managing partner, K. Russo Consulting, Inc., where he provided strategic search and HR consulting services, with a focus on being a trusted adviser and business partner. His experience also includes chief human resources officer for Cannondale Sports Unlimited, a $1B bicycle and apparel company, with 2,100 worldwide employees, and prior to that was vice president of global human resources for Avon products, Inc.

Osgood earned his master’s degree in organizational development from Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree in management from Binghamton University.

Alice Rodd O’Rourke, executive vice president/chief development officer, provides strategic direction and leadership for LLS’s donor development activities, including major gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations. She evaluates the effectiveness of current programs and develops new initiatives to maximize community/corporate/foundation support.

She came to LLS from the American Red Cross, where she served as national vice president of development and helped launch a $500 million annual target. Her previous senior leadership positions include chief marketing officer for Day Pitney LLP, global director development at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and president of the New York New Media Association, where she helped lead the East Coast’s new media industry to international prominence.

Alice holds a law degree from the Fordham University School of Law and a B.A. in biology and psychology from Manhattanville College