Don Listwin, Founder, Chairman

A 25-year veteran of the technology industry - he was CEO of Openwave and had been the #2 executive at Cisco Systems - Listwin walked away from his high profile technology career and launched Canary Foundation in 2004 in order to dramatically accelerate early detection research activities.

Listwin's motivation is his family, which has been deeply affected by cancer. Listwin's father is a colon cancer survivor, and his mother died of ovarian cancer. He has thus far pledged over $22 million for early cancer detection research.

Listwin is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sana Security and serves on the Board of Directors of Genologics Life Sciences Software, PLoS, Calix, Stratos Biosciences and the Listwin Family Foundation. He is on the External Advisory Board for the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE) at Stanford, the Stanford Advisory Board for Early Neoplasia Detection (END) Center and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

A native of Canada, Listwin holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Saskatchewan.

Scientific Program Management

Dale Jantzen, Scientific Program Director - Collaborations

Dale has over 20 years of product management and marketing experience in the telecommunications industry. He most recently served as the President of the San Jose Grand Prix for three years. Dale earned his BSEE at the University of Saskatchewan, 1982. For the next 8 years, he served as Marketing Director for Develcon Electronics. Dale then moved on to hold similar positions at Alberta Microelectronics Centre and then at Sci-Tec Instruments Ltd.

During Dale's eight year tenure at Cisco Systems, he held the positions of Product Line Manager, Director of Marketing and Director of Business Development. More recently, Dale has served as Director, Product Management for Luminous Networks, Inc.; Vice President of Tiara Networks; and Director, Product Management for Procket Networks, Inc.

Throughout his career, Dale has managed large teams of technical product management and marketing professionals, while overseeing multi-million dollar project accounts. Dale possesses a wealth of technical skills and depth of leadership experience.

Chana Palmer, Ph.D., Scientific Program Director

Dr. Chana Palmer is a native of British Columbia, Canada, where she received her Bachelor's of Science from the University of British Columbia in 1999, with a specialization in genetics. She pursued graduate studies in genetics at Stanford University, in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Brown. During her graduate work, Dr. Palmer developed a microarray-based technique for characterization of microbial populations, and applied this approach to study the microbial colonization of the human gastrointestinal tract. Following completion of her PhD, Dr. Palmer joined the Canary Foundation as Scientific Program Director.

Heidi Auman, Ph.D., Scientific Program Manager

Prior to joining the Canary Foundation, Heidi was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York University School of Medicine's Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine in New York City. In the lab of Dr. Deborah Yelon, her research focused on studying the genetics and cell biology of cardiovascular development and disease. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellowship at the National Academies in Washington, DC. There she worked on issues at the intersection of policymakers, scientists, and the public with the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. She earned her Ph.D., M.S., and M.Phil. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University.

Sarah Hawley, Data Analyst

Sarah joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2002, as a Statistical Research Associate, where she provided data analytic support for prostate cancer research. Her areas of expertise include the analysis of gene expression microarrays and tissue microarrays as well as custom statistical programming in the R language. She became a Canary Foundation team member in April, 2007, where she now serves as a Data Analyst and Coordinator. Sarah holds a BA in Mathematics from Carleton College and an MS in Statistics from Colorado State University.

Development

Pat McCowan, Director, Seattle Office

Pat has more than twenty years of nonprofit management and fund raising experience. Most recently she served as Director of Key Initiatives for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where she raised $25 million in private contributions and managed a $100 million fund raising campaign. Her extensive experience includes management positions in both small and large nonprofit organizations.

Pat has led strategic planning, board development, fundraising and grantmaking programs, and she also has been a consultant for a variety of notable organizations.

Therese Quinlan, CFRE, Director of Leadership Giving

Therese has been involved in philanthropy on and off most of her life, joining professional ranks in 1990. She has held positions such as one at San Francisco's prestigious Grace Cathedral in fund development and for the Labyrinth Project. She created several effective fundraising systems during her ten years at the Alzheimer's Association. This included the chapter's first-ever major gifts program that raised 4.5 million dollars in the first 19 months matching donors to research and National Institutes of Health related projects. Providing information to donors about how to help bring about innovations, advancements and breakthroughs in science is the message she emphasizes in leadership giving. She has presented at development conferences, written articles and organized successful staff, board and community fundraising teams.

Therese has been a certified fundraising executive (CFRE) since 2002 and serves on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She practices donor-centered philanthropy, helping donors to achieve their goals of changing lives by making extraordinary, high-impact gifts.

Patricia Adams, Office Manager

Native to California, Patricia received her Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design and began her career in publishing. After ten successful years in production management, publishing and advertising, Patricia entered the nonprofit field to find a more rewarding outlet for her skills. Being an active volunteer herself, she began her second career as Coordinator of Volunteer Services at The Tech Museum in San Jose, Wildlife Rescue, and most recently at KTEH - Silicon Valley Public Television.

Patricia is an active member of the South Bay community, with long term commitments to Hospice of the Valley, San Jose Public Libraries, and seasonal events such as Christmas in the Park and the San Jose Jazz Festival.