Meet the Executive Leadership Team

President & CEO
Julie Fleshman

Director of Government Affairs
Megan Gordon Don

Director of Patient and Liaison Services (PALS) & Medical Affairs
Michelle Duff

Director of Community Outreach and Affiliate Relations
Angela Johnson

Director of Marketing
Lisa Gilmour

Founder & Director of Donor and Corporate Relations
Pamela Acosta Marquardt

Controller
Rena Hayami

Manager, Information Technology
George Hsing

Julie M. Fleshman, JD, MBA, Los Angeles, California
President & CEO
Julie Fleshman currently serves as PanCAN's President & CEO. She served as the organization's Executive Director from May 2000 -June 2004.During her tenure at the organization, PanCAN has grown from a start-up organization with one full-time employee to a growing organization with a full staff, volunteers all over the country, and well-developed programs that are serving the pancreatic cancer community. Julie loves her job and finds the work both challenging and rewarding.

Julie graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law and Leavey School of Business in December 2000 with a JD/MBA degree. Julie graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1997 with a B.A. in Law & Society and was awarded most outstanding graduating senior in the Law & Society program. She has also studied for a term at Oxford University and in Tokyo, Japan.

Julie's work experience, prior to coming to PanCAN, includes positions as the In-House Counsel Law Clerk at 3Com Corporation, a Legal Department Law Clerk at Nippon Steel Corporation in Japan, an Intern in the Political Unit at CBS News in Washington D.C., and an Intellectual Property Intern at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. She was a finalist in the Santa Clara University School of Law 1999 Honors Moot Court Competition and served as a Chair on the 2000 Honors Moot Court Board. Julie chaired and served as a representative on a wealth of committees throughout her schooling career. She lost her father to pancreatic cancer in June 1999.

Julie received the Los Angeles Business Journal's Women Making a Difference Rising Star Award for 2004. This award honors PanCAN's growth and services to the pancreatic cancer community, as well as Julie's fantastic leadership abilities.

Megan Gordon Don, Washington, DC
Director of Government Affairs
Megan Gordon Don has extensive experience in developing advocacy programs for non-profit patient associations and is well established in the cancer and broader patient public policy communities. She comes to PanCAN after operating as an independent consultant focused on helping clients such as the Parkinson’s Action Network and the National Health Council with government relations activities. Prior to her consulting practice, Megan was a senior lobbyist at the American Cancer Society (ACS) for almost six years. Her experience also includes working for the American Diabetes Association as their first National Director of Federal Government Affairs, serving as a healthcare legislative aide to U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), working as the Director of Socioeconomics and Quality Management for the Dallas County Medical Society and as a healthcare industry analyst for Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture).

Megan has a great deal of interest in patient advocacy and in cancer-related issues. Both of her parents, her grandmother, and several other family members and friends are cancer survivors. In addition, from 2003-2004, Megan chaired the National Health Council’s Government Relations Affinity Group, a coalition of almost 50 patient organizations.

Megan received her B.A. in Modern European Studies/Economics from Smith College, and her Master's in Health Policy & Management from Johns Hopkins University.

Michelle Duff, DPT, Los Angeles, California
Director of Patient and Liaison Services (PALS) & Medical Affairs

Michelle Duff earned her Bachelors degree in psychology and biology from Georgetown University.   She went on to work in a physical therapy clinic in Washington, DC, and ultimately pursued a Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of Southern California. 

Michelle's practice as a licensed physical therapist in a variety of medical settings translates well into her role at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. She draws on her experience of educating patients in the clinic to lead a comprehensive education program for people facing pancreatic cancer.  During her time as Director of PALS & Medical Affairs, Michelle has seen the PALS program serve more that 25,000 patients and families with information and resources to face this disease.  Michelle continues her clinical practice as a physical therapist, working weekends in the acute care setting.  

Angela Johnson, Los Angeles, California
Director of Community Outreach and Affiliate Relations
Angela Johnson brings over ten years of community outreach program leadership to her role as Director of Community Outreach & Affiliate Relations. Prior to joining PanCAN in July of 2004, Angela served as Director of Recruitment and Placement in a consulting team for the Los Angeles Unified School District and as Regional Director for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean with Amigos de las Américas, an international organization that promotes community health and youth leadership development. Angela currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Chapter of the organization. She has also served in volunteer and field staff roles on public health education programs in Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico.

Angela has a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she was an S. Sterling Munro Public Service Scholar.

Lisa Gilmour, Los Angeles, California
Director of Marketing
As our Director of Marketing and Communications, Lisa brings more than 20 years of experience in the area of strategic marketing and planning, marketing programs and marketing communications from the high tech industry. Having worked for two of the largest and most successful high tech companies, Symantec Corporation and Microsoft, Lisa brings a wealth of marketing and management expertise to the position. Her marketing and management skills have brought her many awards throughout her career. Lisa completed her education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. New to the non-profit world, yet not to pancreatic cancer. Lisa’s passion to create effective marketing and communication programs to help raise national awareness about this disease, stems from the death of her brother from pancreatic cancer in 2002.

Pamela Acosta Marquardt, Los Angeles, California
Founder & Director of Donor and Corporate Relations
Pamela Acosta Marquardt, who lost her mother to pancreatic cancer in 1996, is the primary founder of PanCAN and the original creator of the An Evening with the Stars gala.

Marquardt comes to us from her position as Executive Director of the American Heart Association in the Inland Empire area of Southern California. She was responsible for overseeing the generation of more than $10 million dollars of local revenue raised during her tenure, to assist the organization in achieving their mission of reducing death and disability due to heart disease and stroke.

Formerly Vice President of Ontario Metal Recycling, in Ontario, California for 12 years. Her responsibilities included developing the company’s marketing strategies, operational systems for efficiency, and media and advertising efforts. Prior to that, she was the Vice President of Property Development for a chain of West coast clothing stores for 12 years, handling site development, lease negotiation, and the design and construction of more than 30 retail clothing operations.

Rena Hayami, CPA, Los Angeles, CA
Controller
Rena Hayami is a CPA and brings over twenty-five years of public and private accounting experience to PanCAN. Rena earned her BS Accounting and MBA degrees, magna cum laude from the University of Southern California where she actively participated in the Trojan Marching Band and it’s management. In addition to eight years of public accounting practice with Deloitte and Touche, CPAs, Rena’s career has provided her with an understanding of the challenges and requirements of expanding organizations. Her move to not-for-profit is prompted by a desire to use her experience and work ethic to benefit an organization that exists solely because it’s founders, management and staff believe wholeheartedly in it’s mission.

Rena has lost her father and all but one of his relations to various cancers. When not helping PanCAN achieve it’s goals, Rena participates as a Board member for the PTA and high school band boosters and enjoys the company of her husband and three children.

George Hsing, MBA, Los Angeles, CA
Manager, Information Technology
George has over 15 years of experience in the technology sector. He received his B.S. in Computer Science from Cal. State University Northridge, and MBA from Cal. Lutheran University. Prior to joining at PanCAN, George took on positions at Prudential Insurance and Metlife Investors as programmer, network administrator, and technology manager.

George enjoys hiking, traveling, and photography.

Not listed are the rest of our fantastic staff and all of the wonderful volunteers who make our efforts possible. We thank everyone for being a part of this team effort!

If you would like to contact any of the PanCAN Staff, please email them at communication@pancan.org