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Kathleen Ruddy
Executive Director
With more than 20 years of professional non-profit fundraising, marketing and public relations experience, Kathleen began working on St. Baldrick’s in early 2001. The daughter of two cancer survivors, Kathleen believes in paying it forward, and enjoys managing and serving as a board member for the Foundation. She answered the call to “be brave, get bald” herself, as a shavee in 2005 – the year that the St. Baldrick’s Foundation held its first events as an independent charity.
Kathleen chose a life of service at the age of 14. On her first day as a hospital volunteer, she tried to comfort a four-year old patient who was inconsolable and crying for his mother. She remembers wondering how the nurses could care for all their young patients so lovingly without getting choked up themselves. That night Kathleen told her mother she didn’t have it in her to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a pediatrician or obstetrician, but she would find another way to help. At the time she couldn’t have imagined St. Baldrick’s, but believes God has the best plans for us all.
Becky Weaver
Chief Philanthropy Officer
Of her 30 years in fundraising, Becky has devoted 12 to the cause of childhood cancer research. She remembers the day some guys from New York called to say they planned to raise $17,000 by shaving heads at their St. Patrick’s Day party… and the day they called back to say, “We raised $104,000 – and we’re doing this again next year!”
Fast forward a few years: Becky became the second employee of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, where she now leads teams dedicated to taking care of donors and making grants to researchers. Her mom, two aunts and an uncle are cancer survivors, and cancer took her younger brother at age 40. Finding a cure is not an option – it’s an obsession.
After a recent move with her husband and pets to an old hillside cottage, she’s now “Rebecca of Sunny Oaks Farm.” She will someday complete her mystery novel, travel to Morocco, and play every Chopin nocturne perfectly. Meanwhile, she loves family and friends, books, and fiendish Sudoku.
Gary Muenzel, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Gary Joined the St. Baldrick's Foundation in December 2008. He brings over 15 years of financial leadership experience from both the for-profit and not-for-profit industries. Gary has been an active California CPA for over 11 years and has performed most of his public accounting work with Delotte Touche.
Most recently Gary served as the Chief Financial Officer of Pacific Clinics, a private, nonprofit community behavioral healthcare agency providing leading-edge behavioral healthcare services across the life-span to diverse populations in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino and Ventura counties in California.
Gary has two children and his wife is a public school teacher. He enjoys spending time participating in the various academic and recreational endeavors that involve his family.
Marc McCarthy
Senior Director of Marketing & Communications
Marc brings more than 25 years of planning and leading comprehensive results-producing campaigns and strategies in support of business goals and objectives to serve St. Baldrick’s mission to Conquer Kids' Cancer. His breadth of experience encompasses agency, nonprofit and corporate environments in hands-on, supervisory and entrepreneurial roles. Marc works closely with ED Kathleen Ruddy and CDO Becky Weaver to ensure the Foundation’s mission is respected and stewardship of key relationships remains an organizational priority.
Prior to joining St. Baldrick's, Marc held the role of Sr. Director of Communications for the nonprofit media advocacy group GLAAD, where he served as the first-ever straight ally on the senior leadership team. Under his stewardship, GLAAD took the lead on many pressing issues for the LGBT community: Ensuring that media moments such as former NBA player John Amaechi’s coming out were used to broaden the dialogue around LGBT issues and raise the visibility of LGBT people in stereotypically “straight” worlds, and swift response to Tim Hardaway’s declaration on a radio talk show that he hates gay people which resulted in media coverage that reflected the impact that defamatory incidents such as these have on the LGBT community.
Marc is no stranger to cancer having lost several relatives and both parents to the insidious disease. He is a parent to two adult sons, and very active in youth athletics working with US Lacrosse, USA Hockey and Positive Coaching Alliance.
Heather Kash
Director of Corporate Relations and Risk Management
Heather brings to St. Baldrick’s the unique perspective of both an employee and a volunteer. She graduated from Northwestern University with a major in Communication Studies and entered the world of reinsurance. Fate, and her career path, led her to become a Principal at Towers Perrin, but her heart (and a gentle nudge from board member emeritus, Tom Leonhardt) led her to become a St. Baldrick’s volunteer in 2002.
She has been organizing the downtown Chicago event and working with other local organizers ever since. As she met doctors, patients and families affected by childhood cancer, her commitment took on a deeper meaning and Heather officially joined the St. Baldrick’s team in 2007. Heather was fortunate enough to have her head shaved in 2008 by one of those patients, adding even more meaning to her work.
When not commuting “across the hall” to her home office, Heather loves to travel and her journeys have taken her as far as Scotland, Greece and Kenya. She’s grateful to be the mother of three healthy kids.
Mariela Castillo
Director of Special Events
Mariela joined the St. Baldrick’s team in December of 2006, shortly after earning her BA from Cal Poly Pomona. After getting a small taste of the real world, she realized that she desired a career where both her passion for helping others and her bilingual skills could be put to good use. It must have been destiny because during her search for these things, the Foundation was looking for a Spanish-speaking representative. And so, Mariela’s career in the Special Events Team began!
During her time away from St. Baldrick’s, Mariela enjoys playing softball. She also recently began training for races and completed her first half marathon at Disneyland in August 2008! When she’s not on the softball field or running on trails, she enjoys exploring different cultures, reading, listening to music and trying new foods.
Natalie Stamer
Director of Digital Communications Strategy
Natalie came to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in 2002 after several years in corporate communications and event planning. Online giving and website development for non-profit organizations blossomed during this time and Natalie embraced the age of digital philanthropy wholeheartedly. Excited about user experience, Natalie is committed to providing the St. Baldrick’s audience relevant and engaging content and honoring all kids with cancer and their families through her work.
Now with three children of her own, the importance of her work is even more acute. ”Every day, I hold my children and I’m thankful for their health,” Natalie said. “To have your dreams for your child squelched by this disease is infuriating, and I’m driven by a desire to prevent parents the agony of losing a child.”
In Tucson, Natalie enjoys University of Arizona football games with her family and a 30-second commute to her home office. If she’s lucky, she gets to dust off her snow skis and drive to the nearest mountain in the winter, but at home she steals time to sew, bake or just curl up with a good book.
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