American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Names New President

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- April 22, 2010 -- The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, today announced the appointment of Christopher W. Hansen as president. Hansen previously served as Chief Executive Officer and is currently CEO Emeritus of TechAmerica, the tech industry’s leading trade association, and is also President of TechAmerica Foundation. He has held executive leadership positions at the American Electronics Association, AARP and Boeing.

As ACS CAN president, Hansen will lead the organization’s more than 100 staff in Washington, D.C. and across the country in support of laws and policies at all levels of government that help people fight cancer and advance the American Cancer Society’s mission to save lives from cancer and create more birthdays.

Hansen served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Electronics Association, leading its successful merger in 2009 with several technology groups to form TechAmerica, where he served as Chief Executive Officer before becoming CEO Emeritus and President of the association’s 501c3 affiliate, TechAmerica Foundation. Hansen served in executive leadership positions at AARP from 2002 to 2007, most recently as Group Executive Officer, State and National Initiatives. In that role he directed all federal, state and grassroots advocacy initiatives nationwide and managed more than 50 AARP offices and 750 staff in Washington, D.C. and across the nation. He began his career at AARP as Senior Managing Director, Government Relations and Advocacy.

Hansen also spent 15 years at Boeing, where he led federal, state, and international government relations and served as a corporate officer. His earlier experience includes roles in the congressional affairs group at General Dynamics and as assistant director of government affairs for IBGC, a consulting firm working with approximately 20 multinational clients. He holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Denver and a master’s degree from the American Graduate School of International Management.

“Chris brings a seasoned blend of nonprofit and corporate leadership experience and will help lead ACS CAN’s critical advocacy efforts in support of legislative and policy priorities that help families touched by cancer,” said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN.

Hansen succeeds Daniel E. Smith, who left ACS CAN in January after 10 years to become staff director of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Molly A. Daniels, who served as interim president of ACS CAN during the search for a permanent replacement, will continue to provide senior strategic leadership to the organization after June 1, when Hansen officially assumes his new role.

Founded in 2001, ACS CAN is building a nationwide movement of advocates who are working to pass legislation and policies that help fight cancer, which kills an estimated 560,000 people in America each year. ACS CAN’s top advocacy priorities include:

• Improved access to health care nationwide – ACS CAN has worked for years to improve access to quality health care across the country, and was the leading voice of patients in the health care reform debate. ACS CAN is working to ensure that the new law is implemented as strongly as possible for cancer patients, survivors and their families. ACS CAN also supported passage of Michelle’s Law, which enabled college students who must take leave for medical reasons to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan, and the federal patient navigator program.

• Increased government funding for cancer research – ACS CAN helped to secure a $10 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in last year’s stimulus bill, and is urging Congress to sustain that investment in the coming fiscal year to spur the discovery of new treatments and screening tests.

• Support for cancer prevention and control programs – ACS CAN supports sustained investment in programs that expand access to proven cancer screenings to low-income and uninsured populations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.

• Strong tobacco control policies at the federal, state and local levels – ACS CAN was a strong advocate for the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which grants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products. ACS CAN also has worked to enact comprehensive smoke-free policies and to increase tobacco excise taxes nationwide.

• Insurance guarantees for proven cancer screenings and clinical trials – ACS CAN has worked in all 50 states to pass laws that guarantee insurance coverage of lifesaving screenings including mammograms, colonoscopies and Pap tests, and that mandate coverage of routine care costs for patients enrolled in clinical trials.

“Chris is a strategic and results-oriented leader whose experience leading advocacy campaigns at all levels of government will be an enormous asset to ACS CAN and its efforts to build a nationwide grassroots army of people who are passionate about defeating cancer,” said Robert E. Youle, a cancer survivor and volunteer chair of ACS CAN’s Board of Directors.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.

For More Information, Contact:
Steven Weiss or Alissa Havens
Phone: 202-661-5711 or 202-661-5772
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]