Board of Directors
Campaigning for Cancer is governed by a Board of Directors, who are responsible for the strategic direction of the organisation. The Board of Directors includes individuals from various high-profile businesses representing different sectors of the economy and people affected by cancer.
Lauren Pretorius
Lauren Pretorius is CEO of Campaigning for Cancer, a patient advocacy organisation which she co-founded in 2007 to work for the promotion and protection of the rights of patients and those affected by cancer.
Lauren has extensive experience in both corporate and non-profit organisations. She established her first company while still at school; in the next ten years she created companies in the field of branding and marketing, developing wide-ranging expertise on brand creation, management, and governance.
Working with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation gave her exposure to non-profit work. A partnership with the Children’s Fund and Foundation followed, and in 2005 she was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Breast Health Foundation. Her combination of business skills and non-profit experience led to the establishment of Prime Consulting, which assists non-profits develop sustainable and effective strategies, structures and processes.
Lauren has put her experience and knowledge to work building accredited course modules to assist non-profits; recently, under her guidance, Campaigning for Cancer has partnered with Friends of Cancer Patients to create the Patient Advocacy Incubator equipping patient advocacy organisations with professional and relevant skills.
Lauren represents Campaigning for Cancer on multiple local and international coalitions, such as the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC); the South African Health Technologies and Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC); the Lymphoma Coalition(LC) an international alliance of 75 lymphoma patient groups across 42 countries, of which she is a director; and the Global Lung Cancer Coalition (GLCC).
Lauren has been invited to play a number of roles at national and international level. As just one example, she heads the Patient User Network, a network of 118 health-related patient groups. She is a signatory to the Presidential Health Compact.
Lauren has co-authored a number of academic papers and is in demand locally and internationally as a speaker on both cancer and patient advocacy.
Sean Donovan
With both an MSc and an MBA to his credit, chairperson of Campaigning for Cancer, Sean Donovan brings to his position entrepreneurial, management and scientific chops, with extensive experience in a wide spectrum of media and communications.
A former management consultant, Sean is a tech start-up founder who co-founded media agnostic communications agency OPENCO – The Open Collaboration in 2008. When it was acquired by massive global agency TBWA he became managing director and later Group CEO of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in South Africa.Now based in Singapore, he has been President, TBWA\Asia since August 2019, with responsibility for another 23 TBWA\ agencies across 12 markets including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India, the Philippines and Thailand.
Christopher Parkin
Chris Parkin is solutions-driven, with some 30 years’ experience in many fields of business, including operations, change management, risk management, human resources and governance implementation. His experience in finance and accounting is extensive; he has assisted, consulted and project-managed for a number of organisations and corporates, small and large, anything from the Gates Foundation to Mercedes Benz and the IDC. He has established entrepreneurial solutions that contribute to formalising small businesses within the greater ecosystem.
Chris’s broad skill-set is a valuable asset to a non-profit like Campaigning for Cancer.
Tony Davis
An entrepreneur with extensive experience in both starting and running businesses, Tony Davis, has experience in IT, logistics and health care. He has established a non-profit organisation, as well as acting as consultant for a number of organisations, helping them to take their business to the next level – he has racked up over 7,000 hours of personally coaching and mentoring leaders, and spread the word through public speaking and a business book published in 2020.
Tony currently holds directorships with three medical-software companies, and is Managing Director of his own executive consulting business.
Lynda-Louis Marthinus
Lynda-Louis Marthinus is a cancer survivor with a long track record of investment in cancer causes, which is what led her to her involvement with Campaigning for Cancer. In 2009 she represented her employer, Vodacom, as Cancer Ambassador, she’s been involved in campaigning for Breast Cancer Awareness, and is Breast Cancer Ambassador for Jenna Clifford.
As Executive Head: BBBEE/Transformation to the Vodacom Group of Companies in South Africa, Lynda has 10 years BEE experience and has been recognised for her leadership qualities, as well as her contribution to the success of the BBBEE deal with a CEO Award in 2008.
Cameron (Cam) Battley
Currently Chief Corporate Officer (CCO) at Aurora Cannabis Inc. and owner of both Health Strategy Group Inc. and Wind Gage Communications Inc., Canadian Cam Battley has rich experience in the fields of health care, government, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, marketing worldwide, and non-profit organisations.
He began his career with in-depth exposure to legislative processes as a Legislative Assistant to the Canadian Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and went on to become Vice President of the largest health care communications company in Canada, before founding his own companies.
He is an annual guest lecturer on physician communications and medical advocacy for the World Medical Association. He actively supports several health charities, is a member of the Board of Pregmedic (Canada), and a past member of the Board of the Osteoporosis Society of Canada.
Mandi Smallhorne
Mandi Smallhorne has been writing about health as a journalist, author and media practitioner since 1993. Having edited a magazine for medical professionals for 24 years and written for a range of media and international organisations, she understands the media and communications landscape. She serves on the Exco of the Southern African Freelancers Association (Safrea), representing science journalist and on the Board of the World Federation of Science Journalists where she holds the position of Vice President and Chair of the Health Committee. With a husband who is a cancer survivor, Mandi brings a personal passion to bear on her position with Campaigning for Cancer.
Ravik Singh
With a qualification in human resources management and extensive experience of knowledge of processes and management skills, Ravik Singh brings to his position on the board a vital perspective on human resources policies and procedures, both in the public and the private sector. His knowledge of forensic investigation is an advantage to an organisation where investigation offers critical insights, as well as change management, communication, and organization restructuring.
Ravik was the Deployment Director in Northern KZN at Independent Electoral Commission in 1994, Regional Manager of Statistics South Africa for three years, General Manager at Grassroots Entrepreneurial Development for two years, and Chief Operating Officer at New Africa Consulting for 11 years. His non-profit experience includes being Board Chair of the Akani Foundation, and an experienced Trust Administrator for the New Africa Youth Trust and Bethelsdorp Development Trust.
He is currently the Director at Open Water Advisory Services (Pty) Ltd and is studying towards a degree in Public Administration and Communication Facilitation.
Stuart John Lowe
Stuart Lowe has been campaigning and advocating for patients’ rights and access to medicine for over a decade in a very personal way: from 2011 to 2014 he was involved in his niece’s battle with Chordoma, a rare spinal tumour. He then took up the cudgels on behalf of his daughter Jenna Lowe as she fought late stage Pulmonary Hypertension, a rare lung condition. The family established NPO The Jenna Lowe Trust and launched the celebrated GetMeTo21 organ donor campaign in 2014. Jenna sadly passed away in 2015 after a failed double lung transplant.
Stuart himself was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (bone marrow cancer) in 2013. These deeply personal experiences have given him extensive experience in the world of cancer and sourcing medication for himself and other patients.
As Campaigning for Cancer board member, Stuart also brings to bear 25 years of experience in media and marketing with Touchline Media and RamsayMedia where he is CEO since 2008.
Dr Ormondi Ogude
Born in Nairobi, Dr Omundi Ogude earned his medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, going on to specialise in Internal Medicine. An interest in cancer led him to super-specialise in medical oncology; his interests focus on gastro-intestinal, lung, gynaecological and haematological malignancies.
He is a member of both the South African Oncology Consortium and the European Society of Medical Oncology. He is involved with a number of multi-disciplinary forums in Johannesburg and oncology advisory boards both local and international, either as a member or chair.
He currently works as a director of Sandton Medical Oncology Group, practising at Sandton Oncology, a recognized site for various multinational trials, where he is involved with cancer research. He practises at Morningside and Sandton Mediclinic as well as well Ahmed Kathrada Hospital.
Melanie Teixeira
Melanie has a very personal reason for her commitment to Campaigning for Cancer: in 2015 she was diagnosed with NHL – Nodal Marginal Zone Lymphoma Stage 4.
In 2016, her research around Lymphoma prompted Melanie to register a NPO: Lymphoma SA. The aim was to raise awareness and education around the disease. During 2016 Melanie was approached by Campaigning for Cancer to join the organisation, and she now serves as a non-executive director on the board of C4C.
Melanie has worked in the financial services industry for 34 years and currently consults for the family business.
Melissa Daniels
Melissa Daniels operates in the creative space as Managing Director of creative agency DDB South Africa, but has powerful practical skills, being responsible for business and strategic management. Currently responsible for the business and strategic management of the company, she also looks after key special projects with brand and advertising agency Omnicom group in South Africa.
These special projects include business development, establishing new capabilities and implementing new services across various teams.
Melissa is an avid fan of new technologies and fascinated by how audiences interact with them, bringing an insight into the digital space to her role on the Campaigning for Cancer board. Experience with a wide range of industries gives her a broad spectrum on best practice communication.
