JDRF Appoints Derek Rapp as Interim President and CEO, Replacing Jeffrey Brewer
By Adam Brown
On July 21, JDRF announced the appointment of Derek Rapp as its interim President and CEO, replacing Jeffrey Brewer, who has held the position for the past four years. Diabetes is close to home for Mr. Rapp, whose son was diagnosed with type 1 in 2004. Mr. Rapp has served as the Vice Chair of the prestigious JDRF International Board of Directors since 2010, and has been involved with the organization in many other capacities since his son’s diagnosis. He will leave his role as the Mergers and Acquisitions Lead for Monsanto Company, a large agricultural biotechnology corporation based in St. Louis, Missouri.
This announcement makes Mr. Rapp JDRF’s fifth CEO in the past ten years, a testament to how truly challenging this job is – the JDRF CEO is in charge of a $200+ million budget, nearly 1,000 employees, 100 global locations (86 US chapters), and approximately 300,000 volunteers. Mr. Rapp’s extensive business background, personal connection to type 1, and long-standing JDRF involvement are in many ways similar to Mr. Brewer’s background, qualities that should prove very valuable as the interim leader of the most influential non-profit in type 1 diabetes.
We are sad to see Mr. Brewer leave JDRF, as he has left an amazing legacy at the organization. Over his four-year tenure, Mr. Brewer helped expand JDRF’s focus beyond the cure (e.g., better treatment, complications), played a major role in JDRF’s rebranding (eliminating “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation” to reflect that 85% of people with type 1 diabetes are adults), worked to launch and strengthen numerous corporate partnerships (Medtronic, Dexcom, BD, among others), established strong ties with the Helmsley Charitable Trust and the FDA, formed and supported strong relationships on the social media front, and ensured that JDRF’s impressive fundraising ($181 million in the US in 2013) has continued.
We at diaTribe wish Mr. Brewer all the best in his continued drive to help people with diabetes, and we welcome Mr. Rapp into his new role – we’ll return with an interview as soon as we can! What will be particularly interesting to see is how Mr. Rapp views JDRF’s strategy and priorities. Mr. Brewer has been called “The Father of the Artificial Pancreas,” having led JDRF’s significant push into automating insulin delivery (along with Vice President Dr. Aaron Kowalski). We wonder if that focus will continue under Mr. Rapp's interim tenure, or if JDRF will seek to prioritize more biological approaches to treating/curing type 1 diabetes. For more on JDRF’s near-, mid-, and long-term priorities, see the organization’s 2013 Annual Report. –AB/AJW
