Ellen Leake

Ellen Leake is Vice Chair of the JDRF International Board of Directors and serves on the JDRF Executive Committee. Formerly she chaired the Development Committee (2013-14), the Lay Review Committee (2011-12) and the Information Technology Working Group (2009-2011). Prior to her involvement at a national level, she and her husband joined a group of friends in forming the Mississippi chapter of JDRF in 1999. She has worked in numerous roles in the chapter, including president in 2002-03. She co-founded Mississippi Cures, the state advocacy and public policy group in support of stem cell research. Ellen was awarded the Jim Tyree Chairman's Choice Award in 2015.

Continuing her type 1 diabetes affiliations, she is an at-large member of the National Institutes of Health’s NIDDK Advisory Council. She received a BA in economics from the University of Mississippi and an MBA from Tulane University.  Her connection to Type 1 diabetes is her daughter, Elizabeth, diagnosed at age 10.

Ellen currently leads a family timber and land development business in Mississippi. Previously she had a long and successful career with IBM where she was a senior executive in the Financial Services sector. Prior to joining IBM she was an aide to U.S. Senator, Thad Cochran.