Donor Network West Announces Janice F. Whaley As New CEO

(San Ramon, CA) November 13, 2018 – The Board of Directors of Donor Network West, the organ and tissue recovery organization for Northern California and Nevada, announced the selection of Janice F. Whaley, MPH, CPTC, CTBS as the new Chief Executive Officer effective January 2019. Interim CEO, Sean Van Slyck has successfully led the organization’s team and will continue to bridge the CEO transition until Ms. Whaley’s arrival.

Janice Whaley serves as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of LifeShare Transplant Donor Services of Oklahoma, having joined the organization in 2014. Subsequently, LifeShare achieved four years of consecutive increases in the number of organ donors, landing it among the top organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the nation in recovery metrics. Her leadership, advocacy, and operational efforts in both the state of Oklahoma as well as the nation overall serve as evidence of her passion.

“I am very pleased that Janice Whaley has accepted the Chief Executive Officer position at Donor Network West. She is an accomplished national leader with 26 years of experience in organ donation and transplantation. I am impressed with her deep personal commitment to the mission of saving lives and with her ability to expand donations. She has achieved a strong positive presence in the communities she serves, as well as nationally,” said Michael Peterson, member of Donor Network West’s Board of Directors and Chair of the CEO Search Committee. Mr. Peterson is a former COO and Interim CEO of Stanford Hospital and member of the Board of Directors of Renown Healthcare Systems.

Prior to her executive leadership role in Oklahoma, Ms. Whaley held leadership and clinical roles in two other OPOs, achieving similar results. From 2003-2013, Ms. Whaley served at LifeGift as Managing Director of its largest region in Houston, the nation’s 3rd largest city. She led Houston to record setting numbers of donors recovered and managed the complex processes involved in working with five transplant centers with 24 transplant programs. Prior to LifeGift, Ms. Whaley honed her skills in organ and tissue recovery at the University of Alabama, gaining expertise in numerous arenas, including organ preservation. Ms. Whaley is dually certified in organ and tissue recovery through the American Board of Transplant Certification (ABTC) and the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), respectively.

A committed advocate, Ms. Whaley has served in multiple capacities on several national boards and committees related to organ and tissue donation and recovery. Most recently, she was appointed to serve a four-year term as a member of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Council on Transplantation (ACOT). Ms. Whaley currently serves as an elected officer on the Board of Directors for the Association for Multicultural Affairs in Transplantation (AMAT) and previously served as the president of the Association. Ms. Whaley completed a two-year term as the Representative for OPTN/UNOS Region 4 OPO Committee in 2017. She is also an active member of North American Association of Transplant Coordinators (NATCO), the American Society of Transplantation (AST), the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) and the American Association of Tissue Banking (AATB). Ms. Whaley was appointed by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to serve as a faculty member for the National Learning Congress (NLC) in 2012.

Ms. Whaley received a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a post graduate certificate from Harvard Business School, Executive Management Program. She graduated from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.

Donor Network West serves 175 hospitals and more than 13 million people within 100,000 square miles in Northern California and Nevada. The organization works in close partnership with families, doctors, nurses, more than 500 funeral homes and 44 coroners and medical examiners to connect donors to recipients. Anyone can register as a donor at the DMV or at DonorNetworkWest.org.