ABOUT US: Board of Directors

The Board of Directors facilitates and supervises the development and use of research funds. A number of outstanding individuals serve on this board. They bring a wealth of business, scientific and academic expertise as well as personal knowledge of CLL.

B.M. (Mack) Rankin, Jr.

Mr. Rankin serves as chairman of the Board. He is vice chairman of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and McMoRan Exploration Company; Rankin is a co-founder of Freeport-McMoRan. He is currently a private investor and consultant. Rankin serves on numerous boards including the Board of Visitors of the University Cancer Foundation at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Rankin is an avid supporter of the University of Texas at Austin.

Louis Katopodis

Mr. Katopodis is currently the President and CEO of Fiesta Mart, Inc., a grocery chain with 50 locations in Austin, Dallas and Houston. In addition, Mr. Katopodis is a board member of the Food Marketing Institute and has served on the Boards of Houston's East End Red Cross and as Chairman of the Skyline District of the Boy Scouts.

Michael Keating, M.B., B.S.

Dr. Keating serves as president and CEO of CLLGRF. He is an internationally renowned CLL clinical scientist and a Professor of Medicine in Hematology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He has been a member of the faculty of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center since 1977 and works as a physician in the Leukemia Department. His major pursuits are developing new potentially curative therapies for CLL and developing rational combinations of new agents in the treatment of leukemia in general.

Robert C. Bast, Jr., M.D.

Dr. Robert Bast is currently the Vice President for Translational Research at M. D. Anderson; he works to facilitate collaboration between clinicians and laboratory investigators at the Institution. His responsibilities include the Cancer Center Support Grant, which provides support for the programs and shared resource facilities at M. D. Anderson, philanthropically funded research programs, research interactions between divisions and collaborations with the private sector. Prior to joining M. D. Anderson in 1994, Bast was Director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has served on numerous committees including chairing the Food and Drug Administration's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee from 1985-1989.

Phyllis Gordon Cohen

Ms. Cohen has served on various boards including the University of Chicago Visiting Committee for the Visual Arts and the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City. She was born in York, PA, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, B.A. with Honors, Summa Cum Laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she received the Nathan Burkan Award. She practiced law in Los Angeles with Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodard, Quinn & Rossi, a prior iteration of the Los Angeles office of Arnold & Porter. Her practice focused on commercial litigation and entertainment law with an emphasis in antitrust defense and copyright infringement actions, inter alia. She currently resides in Kansas City with her husband, who is a native of Kansas City.

Emil J Freireich, M.D.

Dr. Freireich has been on the M. D. Anderson Faculty since 1965, where he is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Adult Leukemia Research Program. Freireich holds the Ruth Harrier Ainsworth Chair in Developmental Therapeutics. Prior to joining M. D. Anderson, Dr. Freireich worked for ten years at the National Cancer Institute. During that time, he was the first physician-scientist to conduct randomized clinical trials for cancer patients. Dr. Freireich is considered a founding father of modern clinical research; Freireich has had tremendous impact on the management of many malignant diseases, particularly in the use of combination therapies for acute leukemia.

David Kesterson, Ph.D.

Dr. Kesterson is Professor of English and Special Assistant to the President for the Humanities at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. He has been at UNT for 36 years, as assistant, associate, and currently full professor. He has also held many administrative posts at UNT: Chairman, Department of English; Associate Dean and Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences; Vice Provost; and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In his professorial role, he is a specialist in Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and American Humor, and has published seven books and numerous articles related to these and other authors and subjects. He is a member of the Fulbright Association (having been a Fulbright Professor in Germany in 1985), Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Phi Beta Delta International Honor Society, and Golden Key Honor Society.

Susan Berry Kohlhas

Ms. Kohlhas serves as Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Baldwin Investment Management, LLC. She has 23 years of individual and institutional investment and risk management experience. Susan attended the College of William and Mary and the University of Delaware, earning a B.A. in Economics and History, Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She and her family recently relocated from southeastern Pennsylvania to Middleburg, Virginia where she opened a branch office of Baldwin.