Cure Sanfilippo Foundation is thrilled to announce that Katie Walton has accepted the position of Vice President of Marketing. Katie has been a key leader and volunteer for more than five years with the Foundation. Her expertise and insight has led to some of the core conceptual themes used by the Foundation, including graphics, website vision, birthday campaigns, marketing materials, and much more.
Katie’s story for the passion and interest in Cure Sanfilippo began while walking down the halls of Ohio children’s hospital in 2014:
“It all started with ear tubes for my four-month-old son. As I carried my son through the halls of Nationwide Children’s Hospital to outpatient surgery, I thought of the parents I was walking among, those shouldering unbearable burdens, and the thought of them never left me,” said Katie Walton. “Fast-forward two months later, I clicked on People.com article and learned about Sanfilippo Syndrome and the possible clinical trial at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. These parents were the kind I had been walking among, the ones I couldn’t forget because they could have just as easily been us. And if it were us, who would carry us? It would have to be the grace of strangers. Firmly believing that you have to put into this world what you hope to see out of it, I dove in to the fight to cure Sanfilippo Syndrome and remain more committed than ever. The ability to devote myself full time to supporting Cure Sanfilippo is an honor and personal passion.”
Glenn O’Neill, President of Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, stated: “We are extremely lucky to add Katie to our team. One of our continued challenges is spreading awareness for a disease few people have heard of and spreading this beyond the circles of the rare disease community. Katie brings not just passion, but many years of hands on experience in crafting messages and content to larger audiences. Katie will enhance our ability to professionally present and drive the Foundation mission, values, and accomplishments, in a customized way, to a variety of audiences via different mediums. This will lead to more engagement and more ongoing support, which is necessary to move our mission forward, faster; always our goal.”
Prior to joining Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, Katie worked for the Ohio Credit Union League, the state trade association for Ohio’s 250+ credit unions, for the past 15 years, including most recently as Vice President of Public Affairs. She oversaw all marketing, communications, public relations, and consumer awareness functions and served on the organization’s management team, providing strategic direction and leadership.