REPORT Special
Society President and CEO
Joyce Nelson retires
For close to three decades, Society President and CEO Joyce Nelson has served people living with MS and those who care for them. “Although the time has come for me
to formally pass the torch of leader-
ship to another,” she told the MS
community when announcing her
retirement on October 1st, “my love
for this work and for the people with
whom I’ve served will never fade.”
Nelson began her career with the
Society as a READa THON coor-
dinator in the Northern California
Chapter. She went on to become
president of the Kansas City–based
Mid America Chapter, then vice
president of the Society’s national
field operations and development departments,
and finally, since 2004, the Society’s president and
CEO.
Under her leadership, the Society launched
a range of innovative initiatives, including three
major research funding campaigns: the $10 million
Research Challenge in 2000; the $32 million Promise: 2010 in 2004; and the new $250 million NOW
(No Opportunity Wasted) research campaign.
One of the outcomes of Promise: 2010 was the
establishment of a network of six Pediatric Centers
of Excellence. “That spawned an entire new field—
pediatric MS,” said Dr. Richard A. Rudick, director
of the Mellen Center at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and chair of the Society’s Research Program
Advisory Committee. Fast Forward, which helps
move potential therapies toward clinical trials faster,
is another groundbreaking program. “There was
little like Fast Forward in the MS field before,” Dr.
Rudick said.
A more intangible, but just as durable a contri-
bution may have been Nelson’s gift to bring dispa-
rate elements of the MS community together. “She
is an extraordinarily effective communicator,” said
Weyman Johnson, the chair of the Society’s Board
of Directors from 2005 to 2009.
“During the time she was CEO, we
reached out to lead the entire MS
movement.” Many organizations
that had previously been considered
competitors were instead engaged
to work together. “She involved
everyone interested in MS in a col-
laborative, open-team approach,”
Dr. Rudick stated. That approach
extended to the public policy arena
where, for the first time ever, MS was
included in line-item funding in the
