Board of Directors

Karen currently serves as a Global Client Partner in the Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences Sector and serves as the Chair of the US Firm Board of Partners and Principals and is a member of the Global Board of PwC International Limited. She is also the Sales Leader of the US Firm.

Karen is the former US Health Industries and Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Leader with more than two decades of experience in professional services. In those roles, Karen led a multi-disciplinary team of over 6,000 and drove the overall strategic direction for the life sciences and health care practices, including consulting, audit and tax services. She supports clients across strategy, operations, deals and technology delivering in organizational areas of commercial, R&D, supply chain and finance.

Karen’s passion is mentorship around D&I in the workforce and solving for the world's toughest cancer as a board member of The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). She is also a member of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Board of Directors.

Linda E. Amuso is a highly recognized thought leader and an expert in the field of executive and employee compensation design for the technology and life sciences industries. For 30 years, Amuso has worked directly with senior management and Boards of Directors on developing and implementing executive, incentive and equity strategies while navigating the ever-changing governance landscape. She currently serves as senior partner with Aon. Since joining Aon in 2005, Amuso has held various leadership roles, including leading Radford’s Global Consulting business, before being promoted to Radford’s president. Amuso has also been a member of Aon's Human Capital Solutions executive committee, all while spending time directly advising clients on their most pressing human capital challenges.

Prior to joining Aon, Amuso co-founded iQuantic, Inc., helping lead the growth and expansion of iQuanticinto, a national compensation consulting business. iQuantic was acquired by Buck Consultants in 2001, and Amuso held various leadership positions including Western Region Compensation Practice Leader, National Leader for the Biotechnology Sector and Northern California Market Leader. The company was recognized as a Top 100 Growth company by Inc. Magazine in 2002.

Amuso earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Arts in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. In 2012, she was honored by the California Diversity Counsel as a “Most Powerful and Influential Women” recipient. She has also been inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at Fox Lane High School and Ithaca College. She speaks on compensation and corporate governance issues frequently and has served as an advisor to several private company boards.

Amuso is based in San Francisco. She lost her wife, uncle and a family friend to pancreatic cancer.

Jay T. Backstrom, MD, MPH, is currently President and CEO of Scholar Rock, a position he assumed in October 2022. Dr. Backstrom is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in clinical research and development. Prior to Scholar Rock, he served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Acceleron Pharma, from December 2019 through its acquisition by Merck in 2021.

Previously, Dr. Backstrom served as the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Regulatory Affairs for Celgene Corporation and spent more than a decade at the company during a time of significant pipeline expansion and revenue growth. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Backstrom served as the Vice President, Global Medical Affairs and Safety at Pharmion and held industry roles at Quintiles, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. Previously, he served as staff physician and medical director of the Samuel U. Rodgers Community Health Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Dr. Backstrom graduated from Temple University School of Medicine, received post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Temple University Hospital, and holds an MPH from St. Louis University School of Public Health. Dr Backstrom currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lava Therapeutics N.V. and Be BioPharma.

Sharon Bittman is the President of Vision Creative Group Inc., a full-service advertising and marketing communications agency that specializes in providing strategically powered creative solutions for everything from social media to print marketing. She brings over 30 years of experience in the marketing/advertising world as well as strategic thought leadership to PanCAN. 

Bittman’s husband Andy founded and ran the company with her until his passing in 2018, when she took on the challenge of not only running the company on her own but propelling it forward.

Bittman became passionate about PanCAN’s mission, particularly early detection of the disease, after her husband Andy passed away just a matter of days after he was diagnosed in 2018. Since his passing and her first PanCAN PurpleStride, her team Andy’s Avengers has been one of the top fundraising teams in Parsippany, NJ. 

Outside of Vision Creative Group, Sharon has been awarded the Boy Scouts of America Award for her generosity and philanthropic capabilities. She has also served on educational boards and steering committees for over 20 years. 

Bittman graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and proudly continues her relationship with her alma mater today. She is also an avid traveler, lover of sunshine, and always enjoys spending time with her two children. 

Preston Brice is a Partner with Grant Avenue Capital, a New York-based healthcare-focused private equity firm. He has spent the last 18 years focused on a variety of roles in the healthcare services and healthcare information technology sectors from investment banking to growth equity and private equity.

In April of 2014, his mother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and through online research, learned about PanCAN Patient Services. Brice’s mom lived for another two years, and the entire family got actively involved with PanCAN and PurpleStride. Through this experience, he was inspired to seek other ways to give back to this incredible cause. Brice is looking forward to using his deep knowledge of the healthcare ecosystem to expand engagement with PanCAN’s existing resources, while also leveraging PanCAN’s unique position to drive potential new service offerings.

Prior to Grant Avenue Capital, Brice served as Managing Director with MBF Healthcare Partners, a middle-market healthcare private equity firm. Before MBF, Brice was with Apple Tree Partners where he served as the interim CEO and a board member at Cure Forward in addition to being actively involved with Clean Slate Addiction Treatment Centers, TripleCare, and QualDerm Partners.

Brice earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he achieved Dean’s Honors and Distinction, and holds a BS in business administration from Boston University’s School of Management, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Peter Cashion is the Managing Investment Director – Sustainable Investments for CalPERS and is based in Sacramento, CA. Previously, he served as a Chief Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in Washington, D.C. Cashion and his two teenage sons lost wife and mother Andra Tamburro to pancreatic cancer in 2013.

Cashion began his career at IFC in 1995. During his tenure, he held a variety of senior positions in the Washington, D.C. office and in the field, including postings in Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Turkey.

Since his wife's passing, Cashion and his boys have been committed, passionate fundraisers for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network through PurpleStride Washington, D.C. and Team Andra has raised more than half a million dollars for PanCAN.

Dennis Cronin is a 10-year pancreatic cancer survivor. He is currently Senior Vice President Treasury Service and Chief Risk Officer at Highmark Health, a Pittsburgh-based national health and wellness organization and the second largest integrated delivery and financing system in America. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of more than $13 billion of investments. In addition, Cronin oversees the Highmark Health capital allocation, risk management and disaster recovery functions.

Prior to his current role, Cronin served as Vice President of Financial Investigations for Highmark Inc., overseeing all aspects of the organization's fraud and financial recovery activities. Additionally, Cronin was Chief Financial Officer of the HM Insurance Group of companies (HMIG), the consistent presenting sponsor for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network's PurpleStride Pittsburgh. Earlier in his career, he worked in various auditing roles, including Highmark internal audit and as an external auditor at KMPG Peat Marwick.

Cronin served on the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Survivor Council for the past four years and is a board member for the Caring Foundation for Grieving Children. He has previously been a board member of the South Fayette Township Library, served on the Duquesne University Accounting Advisory Committee and participated in the Leadership Pittsburgh program.

Cronin is a graduate of Duquesne University. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Kathy, the Affiliate Chair for the Pittsburgh Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. They have two adult children – Tyler, who lives in Chicago, and Nikki, who attends Elon University. Together the family has raised more than $350,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network over the past nine years through their PurpleStride team, Faith Heals, and support generated from Highmark and affiliated companies.

In her 23 years of leadership at PanCAN, Julie Fleshman has been a global catalyst for change in the fight against pancreatic cancer. Her commitment began after she lost her dad to the disease, just four months after his diagnosis. He was 52. Fleshman wanted to know why more wasn’t being done – why her dad and thousands of other patients were offered no treatment options and sent home to die.

The pancreatic cancer landscape back then was quite different from today. Very little was known about the disease, only a handful of researchers were studying it and the five-year survival rate was just 4%.

In 1999, Fleshman was hired as PanCAN’s first employee, became its first Executive Director in 2000 and in 2004, became President and CEO.

Under her leadership, PanCAN has grown from a staff of one with annual revenues of $228,000 to a staff of over 175 with a budget of more than $58 million.

Advocacy and grassroots efforts have expanded to 57 affiliates nationwide and yielded a 970% increase in federal funding for pancreatic cancer research.

Fleshman encourages convening of leading experts and stakeholders in the field – researchers, healthcare professionals, industry and key opinion leaders. This allows her to build a continually expanding community of hundreds of pancreatic cancer thought leaders across the country who work in concert and devote their research efforts to improving patient outcomes.

During Fleshman’s tenure, the organization has awarded 234 pancreatic cancer research grants and has a projected total research investment of approximately $174 million, including the competitive Research Grants Program and leading-edge scientific and clinical initiatives.

Her collaborative leadership style enabled the organization to launch ground-breaking initiatives like PanCAN’s Precision Promise℠ – a clinical trials platform designed to accelerate new treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients. In 2021, PanCAN launched the Early Detection Initiative, the largest prospective clinical trial of its kind, to create an early detection strategy for the disease.

Fleshman is sought after as an expert by the national media including The New York Times, CNN, PBS, Headline News, CBS News and ABC News, as well as local press throughout the country. Fleshman addresses diverse stakeholder groups including industry, patients, scientists, donors and volunteers and she is often on Capitol Hill meeting with members of Congress about the importance of the federal investment in pancreatic cancer research.

Fleshman holds her JD and MBA degrees from Santa Clara University and a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She also studied abroad at Oxford University and in Tokyo, Japan.

Fleshman has been honored for her leadership and dedication in the fight against pancreatic cancer by many organizations. In 2021, she was named Los Angeles Business Journal’s Nonprofit Executive of the Year. She serves on the boards of several cancer care and research committees and organizations. She recently served as a National Cancer Research Advocate for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), providing advice to the NCI Director with respect to promoting research outcomes that are in the best interest of cancer patients. She is currently a member of Clearity’s Board of Directors, a patient advocacy organization for ovarian cancer patients.

In addition, Fleshman is the Chair of the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition, an international group of pancreatic cancer patient advocacy groups with a mission to drive transformational change for all those affected by the disease. PanCAN is a founding member of the Coalition, which includes more than 100 pancreatic cancer organizations representing 38 countries on six continents.

Rich Hume (retired) is the former Chief Executive Officer of TD SYNNEX and currently serves as a member of their Board. Hume served as CEO of Tech Data from 2018 to 2021. In his role, he was responsible for the strategic direction of the company and oversaw all aspects of its extensive global operations.

Hume joined Tech Data in March 2016 as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. He led the strategic direction and go-to-market execution of the company’s regional operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Hume played a key role in Tech Data’s transformational acquisition of Avnet’s Technology Solutions business, overseeing its completion and integration while developing a new global strategy for the combined company.

Prior to joining Tech Data, Hume was with IBM for more than 30 years, serving most recently as General Manager and COO, Global Technology Services.

Prior to joining TD SYNNEX, Hume served as General Manager and COO, with IBM where he was responsible for the operations of IBM’s $32 billion infrastructure and outsourcing services business. Prior to this role, he served as General Manager, Europe, successfully leading IBM’s $27 billion, multi-brand European organization. Hume also served as General Manager, Global Business Partners for more than three years, directing the growth and channel development initiatives for IBM’s Business Partner Channel. Over the course of his IBM career, Hume also led the company’s System X Servers, Global Inside Sales and North American PC businesses, and served as COO for the Global Consulting business. In total, Hume has spent 35 years within the Technology channel.

Hume serves on the Boards of Directors of the Allstate Corporation, CEOs Against Cancer, Florida Chapter, USF EAC and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Pennsylvania State University.

Hume lost his wife to pancreatic cancer in 2018 and was her caregiver for the year prior to her passing. PanCAN was a resource to him as he was learning about the disease.

Barbara Kenner, PhD, established the Kenner Family Research Fund (KFRF) in 2013 in memory of her husband, Peter, who died in 2010 just two months after he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. The mission of KFRF is to further advance early detection of pancreatic cancer by actively promoting inter-professional strategic collaboration among researchers, government, industry and patient advocacy groups. The Kenner Family Research Fund provides a platform to share the varied expertise and diverse perspectives that challenge current thinking. Published articles resulting from these collaborative forums provide a broader reach of information to the pancreatic cancer community.

Kenner serves as an advocate to the National Cancer Institute's Alliance of Pancreatic Cancer Detection Consortium (PCDC) and the Stand Up To Cancer-Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Interception Dream Team. She is a founding member of the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition and is also on the board of the American Pancreatic Foundation and the Board of Associate Editors for Pancreas Journal.

Kenner is a founding partner of Neuropsychological Assessment and Consultation Services LLP, which provides neuropsychological assessment services for children, adolescents and adults.

She earned her PhD from New York University Steinhardt School and completed pre- and postdoctoral fellowships at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

A past member of the NYU Steinhardt Dean's Council, she has received the school's Distinguished Alumna Achievement Award.

Kenner lives in New York City, where she serves on various boards, including the Weizmann Institute's Women in Philanthropy and Bard College Music Festival. Kenner's family, including Nick and Ashley Kenner, Kate and Sam Archibald, and her four grandchildren, also live in New York City.

Lisa Kulok joined the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) board of directors in September 2019. Kulok brings more than 30 years of organizational and operational knowledge to the role.

Kulok joined Columbia Sportswear in February 2008 and has served as Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations since May 2015. Prior to Columbia, Kulok held various leadership positions at NIKE, Inc. for more than 20 years. During this time, she led numerous teams that developed and implemented planning and supply chain processes, systems and organizations that supported growth of the company's annual revenues from $1 billion to $18 billion.

Kulok became a passionate supporter of PanCAN after losing her mother, Carol, to pancreatic cancer in September 2016 following a two-and-a-half-year battle with the disease. Kulok is an active participant in PurpleStride Orange County, serving as Team Captain for Carol's Purple Crusaders. The team has raised more than $50,000 for PanCAN since 2014.

She lives in Portland, Ore., with her wife Diana and their dog Gracie.

Eric Park, CPA is a Managing Director on Accordion’s NetSuite Team within the CFO Technology Practice. He has more than a decade of financial accounting, system implementation, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transformation experience, and he specializes in cloud-based technology architecture, business process optimization, and ERP system evaluations.

Before joining Accordion, Park was the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of ABACI (acquired by Accordion in 2022), an ERP/EPM consultancy specializing in NetSuite and Adaptive Planning. In his role, Park was focused on increasing demand for ABACI’s technology solutions and building a world-class implementation and advisory practice.

With experience in both financial accounting and cloud-based systems, Park provides an accounting-centric perspective to technology enablement and design. He has spent much of his career working closely with large software companies and building strategic relationships with private equity sponsors.

Before ABACI, Park held leadership roles at various boutique consultancies that focused on ERP system implementations and technology transformations. He started his career at EY in Austin, TX.

Park graduated from the Professional Program in Accounting at Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and MS in Finance. He is an active Certified Public Accountant in Texas.

Park lost his mom to pancreatic cancer in 2021. Park found PanCAN as he and his wife looked for a way to honor his mom’s legacy and life.

Craig Rogerson is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at Hexion Inc. He retired in 2023. A father to three, Rogerson lost his first wife Carina to pancreatic cancer in 2009.

Rogerson joined Hexion in July 2017. Prior to joining Hexion, Rogerson served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chemtura Corporation, a position he held from December 2008 until April 21, 2017. Rogerson also served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Hercules Incorporated from December 2003 until November 2008. Rogerson joined Hercules in 1979 and served in a number of management positions before leaving the company to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Wacker Silicones Corporation in 1997. In May 2000, Rogerson rejoined Hercules and was named President of its BetzDearborn Division in August 2000. Prior to being named CEO of Hercules in December 2003, Rogerson held a variety of senior management positions with the company, including president of the FiberVisions and Pinova Divisions, vice president of Global Procurement, and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Rogerson serves on the boards of directors of PPL, the Society of Chemical Industry, and the American Chemistry Council.

He holds a chemical engineering degree from Michigan State University, and serves on the advisory board of the Michigan State University Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science (MSU CHEMS).

Mace Rothenberg, MD, is a physician-executive with more than 30 years of experience in government, academia, and industry. Dr. Rothenberg served as Chief Medical Officer of Pfizer from 2019 to 2021, during which time the company initiated, completed, and obtained emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty®. Prior to that role, Dr. Rothenberg led Clinical Development for Oncology at Pfizer from 2008 to 2018. Over that 10 year period, his organization developed and obtained regulatory approval for 11 new cancer medicines. These included first-in-class medicines Ibrance® (palbociclib), a CDK 4/6 inhibitor, for patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer and Xalkori® (crizotinib) for patients with ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer. Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Rothenberg was Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center from 1998 to 2008. From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Rothenberg was Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Executive Officer of the Southwest Oncology Group. Prior to this, Dr. Rothenberg served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda.

Dr. Rothenberg is the recipient of the first Craig Saxton Lifetime Achievement Award from Pfizer, the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award from the American Cancer Society and the Statesman Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Rothenberg currently serves on the Boards of Directors for Aulos Bioscience, Tango Therapeutics, and Surrozen. He also serves on the Board of Advisers of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, the Board of Visitors for Basic Sciences at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and is Vanderbilt University’s representative on the board of Nashville Biosciences. He is the President and Executive Director of the non-profit Museum of Medicine and Biomedical Discovery.

Dr. Rothenberg is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Rothenberg received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978 and his MD from the New York University School of Medicine in 1982. He received his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University and in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute.

Nicole Rubin has dedicated her career to impacting the health and well-being of humankind as a leader in the nonprofit and health care sectors. For the last fifteen years, she has worked as a consultant for Ronald McDonald House Charities Global, leading their global research initiative on family-centered care and previously serving as a program officer for their maternal and child health global grants program.  

Rubin is excited to be a part of helping advance early detection initiatives for pancreatic cancer and developing creative strategies for improving survival and support for a disease that has such poor prognosis in many clinical cases.   

Previously, Rubin served as chief executive officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Southern California and executive director of the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.  

Rubin earned a Master of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She enjoys running, yoga, reading, travel, art and spending time with her two children, Naomi and Ben, and her husband, Amir Dan Rubin.

Nancy Stagliano, Ph.D., is an accomplished serial biotechnology entrepreneur. Currently, Dr. Stagliano is Chief Executive Officer of Neuron23, a venture-backed company discovering and developing therapeutics for genetically driven neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. In addition, Dr. Stagliano serves on numerous private company biotechnology boards, including Pandion Therapeutics.

Previously, as CEO, she successfully launched and/or exited three consecutive biotech companies: CytomX Therapeutics (CTMX), iPierian and, most recently, True North Therapeutics. As Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of True North Therapeutics, Dr. Stagliano led the company to its recent acquisition by Bioverativ Inc., for a total deal value of up to $825 million. Under her leadership, True North discovered and developed a first-in-class monoclonal antibody in the classical complement pathway TNT009, which received breakthrough therapy designation from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the orphan indication, Cold Agglutinin Disease.

Previously, Dr. Stagliano was Chief Executive Officer of iPierian, Inc., which applied human iPSCs to model neurodegenerative diseases. The company and its lead antibody program against Tau for the treatment of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and Alzheimer's disease were acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in April of 2014 for a total deal value of $725 million; the antibody is currently in a Phase 2 trial in AD led by Biogen. From 2008–2010, Dr. Stagliano was the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of CytomX Therapeutics and a lead inventor on the CytomX Probody platform. Before moving to California, Dr. Stagliano worked in Cambridge, Mass., where she had an eight-year tenure at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Stagliano received her Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree in neuroscience from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, in Miami.

Karyn A. Temple is Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel for the Motion Picture Association. One of the world's leading authorities on copyright, Temple oversees all of the Association's legal affairs and content protection efforts around the world.

Prior to joining the Motion Picture Association, Temple served more than eight years in the U.S. Copyright Office, most recently as the Register of Copyrights, where she led the 400-person agency and its eight divisions. Prior to leading the U.S. Copyright Office, Temple headed its Office of Policy and International Affairs, as well as served in policy and litigation roles at the U.S. Department of Justice; she most recently served in the Obama Administration as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.

Temple has served in several prominent volunteer positions in the copyright community, including as an elected Trustee for the Copyright Society of the USA, co-chair of the International Chapter of the Copyright Society of the USA, steering committee member of the D.C. Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section, and Chair of the Copyright Committee of the D.C. Bar's IP Law Section.

Temple is committed to making access to healthcare resources available to everyone, particularly Black Americans who are affected by pancreatic cancer at a higher rate than other races. She lost her father to the disease in 2020. Temple received her JD from Columbia University School of Law and her BA in English from the University of Michigan.

With more than 20+ years of medical technology and related healthcare experience, Rod serves on multiple company boards and is well-versed in board governance, corporate operations, demonstrating success in leading both large-and-small cap companies through growth cycles, strengthening product portfolios, and accelerating commercial planning competencies.

He recently served as President and CEO of Neuro Event Labs (NEL), a AI based Neuro Dx platform for diagnosing epileptic seizures, based out of Finland. Prior to joining NEL, Williams served as President and CEO of PaceMate, a digital healthcare company for remote cardiac monitoring, Williams also served as the Corporate Vice President of Portfolio and Services with Align Technology Inc., which designs and manufactures products for dental professionals, including the Invisalign^® system. His earlier career experience included leadership as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with private equity firm PTV Healthcare Capital, and as President and CEO of Heart Rhythm Society Consulting Services.

Williams has held senior executive positions with St. Jude Medical, GE Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson and Bausch & Lomb, and he currently serves on the board of Wendal/ Connetic Capital, which is a private equity investment fund and Zomedica Corporation, which creates products for companion animals.

Williams earned both his bachelor's degree and MBA from the University of Southern California (USC) and attended the General Management Executive Leadership Program at the Wharton School of Business. While at USC on a football scholarship, he gained NCAA Academic All-American honors and many academic awards as the top student-athlete. Williams is also a former NFL player.

Williams is married to Trina and they have three children, Rodney Jr., Jordan and Dani. In 2017, Williams' brother-in-law died of pancreatic cancer, just three months after being diagnosed. Since then, Rod has been pursuing investments in companies with novel immune-oncology bio therapeutics to address the disease.

Williams also lost his mother to cancer in 2019, and in 2020, his mother-in-law lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer, so he's very passionate about helping find treatments and cures.