Genetic Alliance Unveils Senior Management Positions
Lisa Wise and James O’Leary Transition to New Roles

WASHINGTON – April 8, 2009 – Genetic Alliance a nonprofit health advocacy organization, announced today that Lisa Wise has been named chief operating officer, and James C. O’Leary has been appointed chief innovation officer. Through novel partnerships in advocacy, engaging individuals, families and communities, and revolutionizing access to information, Genetic Alliance transforms health through genetics. To support this effort, Genetic Alliance expanded the chief operating officer role and created the new position of chief innovation officer.

Lisa Wise, newly appointed chief operating officer, has worked at Genetic Alliance for more than five years, focusing on cause-driven, entrepreneurial and community-focused projects. Her new duties as chief operating officer will extend beyond the traditional oversight and coordination of operations. Wise has the experience to integrate operations with the new strategic demands of the organization. As Genetic Alliance architects novel partnerships and crafts new funding models to help the transformation of the community, the operations must be aligned to keep pace.

“Lisa is a gifted entrepreneur,” said Kemp Battle, Genetic Alliance Council member and treasurer. “She understands that the primary purpose of our operations is to serve our mission. She is also visioning new approaches to development that will enable us to push our work further, faster.”

Previously, Wise served as executive director of the Center for a New American Dream, a national environmental nonprofit. She is co-founder of Pan Left Productions, a nonprofit media company designed to offer community access to media-making technology. She also works as a financial planner with her company, wise & associates: financial planning for the rest of us. She is a University of Arizona graduate, with bachelor’s degrees in political science and media arts, and a master’s degree in communications.

As the first chief innovation officer at Genetic Alliance, James C. O’Leary will direct strategic innovation as Genetic Alliance broadens its service to the genetics community. Collaborating with leaders and organizations, he will seek new ways to unleash the potential of Genetic Alliance and its widening array of partners. O’Leary is no stranger to innovation; he supervised ground-breaking projects related to family health history, community-based public health, and advocacy for responsible legislation surrounding genetic nondiscrimination.

“For more than four years, James built partnerships and identified novel collaboration in the genetics community,” said Sharon Terry, president and chief executive officer of Genetic Alliance. “Our mission requires innovation that extends beyond the creation of new partnerships, processes and technologies to the analysis, disruption and realignment of systems. James is poised to inspire systems revolution in his new role.”

Wise and O’Leary will continue to build on the openness and transparency that marks all Genetic Alliance initiatives.

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About Genetic Alliance
Genetic Alliance transforms health through genetics, promoting an environment of openness centered on the health of individuals, families, and communities. Genetic Alliance brings together diverse stakeholders that create novel partnerships in advocacy; integrates individual, family, and community perspectives to improve health systems; and revolutionizes access to information to enable translation of research into services and individualized decision making. For more information about Genetic Alliance, visit http://www.geneticalliance.org.