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Meet the Board
Sandra joined the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois Board in 2005 and was elected Vice President in 2006. She is an active member of the Breast Cancer Network of Strength IlliNOISY Advocacy Committee and in 2006 accompanied Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s Illinois delegation to Washington, DC to attend the National Breast Cancer Coalition Foundation’s Annual Advocacy Conference and Lobby Day.
Sandra is a breast cancer survivor whose mother is also a breast cancer survivor. She and her family are passionate about supporting breast cancer research and patient services. Sandra and her younger sister are participants in the national “Sister Study” that is examining environmental and genetic risk factors for breast cancer. Sandra is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD educational program for breast cancer activists. She is committed to early screening and quality treatment for all, and has as her top priority the expansion of Breast Cancer Network of Strength services throughout Illinois. Sandra regularly volunteers at Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois events and this year has joined the Pink Streak marathon team.
Sandra holds a Ph.D. in psychology and is Vice President for Custom Research at Partners In Loyalty Marketing. She resides in Chicago with her husband, Glenn, and their teenage son, Nathaniel. Sandra is an avid runner who enjoys foreign travel and exploring Chicago’s lakefront and many ethnic neighborhoods.
Brian Murphy
Immediate Past President
Brian joined the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois Board in 2002, serving as Treasurer from 2002 to 2006. In 2006 Brian was elected Board President and he continues to serve in that capacity.
For more than a decade Brian has been committed to the breast cancer fight. After the death of his mother-in-law from breast cancer 18 years ago, Brian and his wife sought to pay tribute to her through their volunteer work. This commitment led Brian to serve on Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois’s Finance and Fashion Show planning committees. He and his wife have attended the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois Annual Fashion Show and Luncheon since its inception in 2000.
As the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois’s first Treasurer, Brian established standards for fiscally sound and professional financial reporting. As Board President, Brian’s primary goal is statewide expansion so that Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois truly provides services to all of Illinois. A significant expansion milestone was achieved this year with the opening of the Springfield Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois office. Brian looks forward to leading the Board’s efforts to develop fundraising events in Springfield and recommend future Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois sites.
Brian and his wife have been married for 24 years and live in Oswego, Illinois. They have two children in college. Brian is a licensed CPA and manages his own accounting business with offices in Aurora and Sandwich, Illinois. In his free time, Brian enjoys fishing, golfing, and bowling.
Debra joined the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois Board in April of 2006 and is currently the Board’s Treasurer. Her goal is to use her professional expertise in finance to support Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois’ statewide expansion efforts. In addition to treasurer functions for Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois, Debra is on the task force for the voucher program which is helping to develop funding sources for free mammograms and critical follow-up medical care.
Debra knows first-hand the benefits of early detection and Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s Hotline patient support. She was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer at 30 years old. At the urging of a coworker, Debra called the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Hotline and was so impressed that she decided to give back by becoming a Hotline peer counselor herself. She knows from her Hotline conversations that breast cancer support services are very limited outside of major metropolitan areas like Chicago and has made expansion outside of Chicago her top priority for Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois.
In spite of suffering two recurrences, Debra remains upbeat about her personal prospects and the broader fight against breast cancer. She attributes her own optimism to lessons learned from her father and grandmother whose “fighting spirit” helped stabilize the family after her mother’s early death from ovarian cancer.
Debra is a CPA and currently holds the position of Controller for Walgreen’s Health Services division. She and her husband, who also works for Walgreen’s, live in Evanston, Illinois and enjoy cycling on the weekends.
Kelly is one of the newest additions to the Board; she joined in July of 2006. Kelly was raised in Durham, North Carolina and relocated to Chicago in 2005 to join the Forensic services practice at KPMG, LLP where she participated in financial investigations, litigation support and contract compliance services for clients. Kelly began volunteering for breast cancer causes in North Carolina where she served on the grants committee of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and participated in the Komen Foundation’s annual “Race for the Cure.”
Kelly’s passionate commitment to the breast cancer fight is motivated by her mother’s tragic death from breast cancer only four days after being diagnosed. As an African-American, Kelly’s top priority is an expansion of Breast Cancer Network of Strength Illinois’support and educational programs in the underserved African-American and Hispanic communities. She is especially interested in promoting education on controllable cancer risk factors like diet.
Kelly lives in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood with her husband, who is a brand manager at Kraft Foods, and their 11-month old son Evan. She holds a Ph.D. and Master’s in accounting from Virginia Tech and is a licensed CPA in the State of North Carolina. She is presently an Assistant Professor of Accounting in the School of Accountancy and Management Information Systems at DePaul University.