ACCC Senior Staff Members

Mike Andrews is Senior Director, Corporate Relations, and serves as the primary liaison between the Association of Community Cancer Centers and its Industry Advisory Council, Emerging Companies Council, and Technical Advisory Council.

Previously, Mr. Andrews was National Campaign Director for major healthcare programs at the Sister to Sister Foundation. He worked closely with sponsors and partners to make sure the programs succeeded. Before that, he served as Associate Director of Major Gifts for the University of Maryland Medical System. He began his career in the hotel industry.

Dr. Leigh Boehmer, PharmD, BCOP, is the Medical Director for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). In this role, he’s responsible for assessing educational needs and designing interventions for multidisciplinary cancer care teams serving patients in the community. He also serves as a liaison with external stakeholders, including patient advocacy organizations, policy experts, and governmental agencies, to advance the objectives of ACCC membership and projects.

An alumnus of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, Dr. Boehmer completed PGY1 and PGY2 oncology residencies at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has served as an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, and as an inpatient medical oncology clinical pharmacy specialist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to his position with ACCC, he served as Oncology Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at a community cancer program in North Central Iowa.

Judy Ebmeier is the Director of Development, Educational Initiatives for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). Ms. Ebmeier has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry and is responsible for ACCC’s multi-year initiatives that address educational gaps within multidisciplinary cancer care teams; as well as acquiring funding for these programs. Areas of focus include the ACCC Institute for Immuno-Oncology (IO Institute); Financial Advocacy Network (FAN); and Oncology Pharmacy Education Network (OPEN); and other areas of interest from our membership; to ensure our focus remains on the ever-changing cancer care landscape.

Judy has worked extensively both domestically and internationally in business development and operations roles; providing educational services to the pharmaceutical sector focused on both live meetings and events, as well as in the multi-channel, digital education space. Her experience spans both start up organizations and fortune 100 companies.

Judy received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida.

Lori Gardner is Senior Director, Membership and Public Relations. She has more than 30 years of association membership and marketing experience. Ms. Gardner leads successful recruitment and retention campaigns utilizing strategies such as direct mail, email marketing, telemarketing, advertising, and member–to–member outreach. Ms. Gardner also has expertise in marketing and management in publications, website, merchandise, meetings, and certification, as well as experience in conducting market research and needs assessments and public relations.

Ms. Gardner has worked for such organizations as the American Cancer Society, National Association of Social Workers, Society of American Foresters, Community Associations Institute, and B’nai B’rith Women.

Stephen Ketchum has 30+ years of both public and private accounting and finance experience. In his role as Controller, he provides oversight and direction of the accounting and finance team.

Monique J. Marino is Senior Director, Editorial Content and Strategy at ACCC, where she is responsible for developing quality, member-driven content for ACCC’s bimonthly, peer-reviewed journal Oncology Issues. She is also responsible for developing agendas for ACCC flagship meetings, including identifying topics and subject matter experts. Monique grew up in Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude from Shippensburg University. Monique lived in Tokyo for five years before moving to the Washington, DC. metropolitan area. She spends most weekends sailing and motoring in the Chesapeake Bay.

Lisa Monaco is a data-driven, results-oriented marketing leader and have led teams supporting association membership and program initiatives as well as supporting brand marketing across a variety of healthcare clients in several therapeutic areas including oncology.

Laura Ricker, PMP, is the Director of Event Management for ACCC and has been implementing international and domestic events and programs across multiple industries for the past 25 years. In this role, as the head of the CMI Meeting's Department, she directs the overall planning and strategy for all in-person meetings for CMI clients, including the ACCC National Oncology Conference, Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit, Oncology Reimbursement Meetings and various Oncology State Societies annual conferences.

While demonstrating positive impact and developing long lasting connections, she enjoys working with a dedicated team who inspire connection, education and advocacy and help to positively impact the healthcare landscape.

Latha Shivakumar has a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular biology from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and is a Certified Healthcare CPD Professional. She has 13 years of experience in the continuing medical education field and is currently the Director of Clinical Education Development at the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). In her current role, she is responsible for identifying educational needs among the ACCC members and developing innovative clinical educational programs to address these gaps.

Latha started her career in oncology research and transitioned to the continuing education field where she retained her focus on oncology. Most recently, she was the Director of Educational Development at The France Foundation, where she contributed to expanding their educational offerings in oncology and set up new collaborations with medical societies and academic centers. Prior to this, Latha has held educational development positions with accredited medical education providers including, Rockpointe corporation, Institute for Medical Education and Research, and Physicians Education Resource.

Karen Tacka, PhD, is the Chief Program Officer for the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). In this role, Dr. Tacka works interdepartmentally to ensure alignment of provider education programming with ongoing assessment of members’ needs, community issues and previous program outcomes to produce meaningful and impactful education for the ACCC membership.  Dr. Tacka brings with her over 15 years of experience in a wide variety of settings focused on process standardization, education and strategic partnerships.

She earned her PhD in Neuroscience from SUNY Upstate Medical University and her bachelor’s degree in Biology from King’s College.