Suzanne Conrad, CEO of the Iowa Donor Network, is retiring after nearly three decades of service. Conrad’s career began in 1981, when she served as a cardiothoracic surgery nurse at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. There, she began her work in organ donation and transplantation as a coordinator. In 1985, she moved into leadership roles in Dallas at the Southwest Organ Bank, now known as the Southwest Transplant Alliance.

In 1997, Conrad became CEO of the Iowa Donor Network, a statewide organ and tissue donor program. Under Conrad’s leadership, the organization quadrupled its staff size and expanded its scope to include services like tissue recovery. Along with her work in Iowa, Conrad has been active in multiple national organ donation organizations, including serving as president of both the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization. Conrad has also served on the board of directors for the United Network for Organ Sharing and led initiatives for the American Council on Transplantation, the National Kidney Foundation and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Conrad currently is on the strategic planning committee of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and its research foundation and chairs the board of directors for AlloSource, a human tissue processing and distribution organization.

The Iowa Donor Network has not yet announced Conrad’s replacement.