Professional Dimensions | Sacagawea & Pathfinder Awards

Friday, July 30, 2010

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Professional Dimensions is Proud to Announce the Sacagawea Award Recipients for 2010

Jacquelyn Fredrick, President and CEO of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin (BCW), a world-renowned, non-profit healthcare organization with a $100 million operating budget and over 800 employees. Fredrick is the first female and first non-physician to run the BloodCenter in its 60+ year history.

Fredrick began her career at BCW six years out of college as a supervisor of the laboratories. She became a vice president at the age of 34, responsible for the operations of two of the three BCW divisions. She was then recruited to the American Red Cross (ARC) in Washington, DC and took on several roles under Elizabeth Dole’s leadership of ARC. During her time there, Fredrick was chosen to lead the development of the first national testing laboratories, and was then tapped for a new national role: Vice President of Quality. She then ran the ARC Biomedical Services division, a $3 billion business with 15,000 employees prior to being recruited back to Milwaukee in 2001 to serve as the President and CEO of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin.

Since Fredrick’s return to Milwaukee, the BCW has grown from serving seven counties in southeastern Wisconsin to 54 counties covering 64% of the state. The Blood Research Institute, the research arm of BCW, has grown under her leadership, expanding National Institutes of Health funding by 200%. And at a time when many jobs are leaving Milwaukee, Fredrick has added 200 new jobs to the area, attracting talent from across the globe. This summer, Fredrick was asked by the leadership of Froedtert, Aurora, Children’s Hospital and others to take over tissue and organ procurement because of their confidence in her leadership.

Fredrick is highly sought after for professional and civic leadership. She serves as President of the board for AABB, the largest national association for individuals and institutions involved in transfusion and cellular therapies activities. She is also the Secretary of the Board for the National Marrow Donor Program, Chair of the UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation and Vice-Chair of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. Fredrick serves on the boards of Alverno College, Junior Achievement and the Marshfield Clinic National Advisory Council. She is a member of Professional Dimensions, the Greater Milwaukee Committee and the Rotary Club of Milwaukee. Fredrick is married to Arlyn and has two children, Nathan and Lauren.

Mary Lou Ballweg, Co-Founder, President and Executive Director of the Endometriosis Association (EA), the first organization in the world created for those with endometriosis. A global non-profit association, EA has a network of chapters, groups, sponsors, and women with endometriosis in 66 countries. Ballweg founded the organization in 1980 after being diagnosed with endometriosis and experiencing frustration with medical professionals who lacked awareness and held dismissive attitudes toward the disease. Although it began as a self-help organization to provide information and support to Milwaukee women, EA has grown to support research, educate the medical community, produce books and journal articles and facilitate international conferences on the subject.

Endometriosis affects an estimated 89 million girls and women in the world today – 6.3 million in the U.S. It is a puzzling hormonal and immunological disease that strikes those as young as 8 and those well past childbearing years. Endometriosis is not only one of the leading causes of infertility, it often causes debilitating pain, atopic diseases and is associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, cancer and other physical complications.

Ballweg began her career in communications, having served as the Managing Editor of Investor, Wisconsin’s Business Magazine and then launching her own film and communications company prior to being diagnosed with endometriosis. In the thirty years since she founded the organization, Ballweg has created research partnerships with the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dartmouth Medical College, the National Institutes of Health and Vanderbilt Medical School. She has published four books, overseen the production of three educational videotapes (including an award-winning teen video), developed and executed two million-dollar-plus educational awareness campaigns, and written numerous journal articles, chapters for medical texts and newsletters. Despite having no formal medical training, she is featured in the International Who’s Who in Medicine as the person most singly responsible for calling attention to endometriosis.

Ballweg was raised in the Milwaukee and Madison areas. She has a B.A. from UW-Madison and has a long list of academic and professional accomplishments, including having been instrumental in raising over $25 million for research in EA’s first 25 years. Ballweg’s partner is Jim Dorr and she has a daughter, Aquene Freechild.