Colleen McCarthy

Colleen joined Versiti in 2010. She has always had a passion for service and was called to organ donation over 20 years ago while working as a critical care nurse at a Level I Trauma Center in Denver, Colorado. Colleen’s experience as a nurse taking care of her first organ donor and his family was a deeply impactful moment for Colleen and inspired her to begin her career in organ and tissue donation in 2003.

Colleen serves as the Vice President for Organ and Tissue Donation. In this role Colleen is responsible for performance of Versiti Wisconsin’s federally designated organ procurement organization and tissue bank which core mission is to serve donor families and advocate for those waiting for a second chance at life and healing. Versiti is the 4th largest independent blood center in the US, with 5 service lines consisting of Blood Services, Diagnostic Labs, Blood Research Institute, Medical Sciences Institute, and Organ and Tissue Donation. Versiti has operations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. In addition to her Vice President role, Colleen served as Versiti’s Chief of Staff 2018-2021. In Colleen’s Chief of Staff role, she was responsible for leading Versiti’s strategic planning processes; ensuring effective and efficient governance with rapid, quality decision-making; leading the Project Management Office to ensure clear prioritization and project execution; and directing the Continuous Improvement Office and thus CI culture.

Colleen has served on a number of national committees supporting organ donation. Colleen is currently serving as the Association of Organ Procurement Organization's (AOPO) Past President and is a member of the AOPO Board of Directors. Colleen also serves on the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) Board of Directors and is a member of the OPTN Expeditious Task Force and Network Operations Oversight Committee.