YOUR LAB Leadership

President and CEO, Brian G. Gannon

Mr. Gannon brings more than 20 years experience as a health care administrator and executive and eight years in corporate product management, and he is uniquely qualified to meet the challenge of providing for the transfusion needs of the world's largest medical community.

Serving for 14 years as president and CEO of The Blood Center for Southeast Louisiana excellently prepared Mr. Gannon for his role here. Prior to his tenure in Louisiana, he held numerous leadership positions, including chief operating officer of Belle Bonfils Memorial Blood Center and Neurosciences Program Administrator at the Swedish Medical Center, both in Denver. His appointment as president and CEO of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center was a homecoming for Mr. Gannon, as earlier in his career he was a product manager at Armco Steel in Houston.

Mr. Gannon holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

Chief Technical Officer, Caron Cousins-Baker

Caron Cousins-Baker, a member of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center's management staff since 1997, served as director, national donor testing services until 2000. In this position, she was responsible for all infectious disease laboratory testing at The Blood Center as well as for client blood centers in and outside of the Texas Gulf Coast region. She also directed all aspects of the planning and implementation of nucleic acid testing protocols. Additionally she has had responsibility for required quality planning and implementation of new technology providing improved efficiencies and enhanced cGMPs for testing processes.

Ms. Cousins-Baker received her BS degree in biology from Marian College and completed her specialist in blood banking requirements at Milwaukee Blood Center. Prior to joining The Blood Center's staff, Cousins-Baker held positions of increasing responsibility at LifeSource Blood Services in Chicago, IL. Just prior to her move, she was managing director, quality programs and responsible head. She also gained critical blood banking background with Gamma Biologicals in Houston, the American Red Cross, and the North Suburban Blood Center in Glenview, IL.

In 2000, Cousins-Baker was appointed chief technical officer at The Blood Center. In this position, she assumed responsibility for laboratory services, national testing services and education and training.

Ms. Cousins-Baker is a past president of the Chicagoland Blood Bank Society and held various positions with the Council of Community Blood Centers. She is also active with the AABB and America's Blood Centers.

Director of Technical Services, Cheri Jennings, BS, MT(ASCP)SBB, CQA(ASQ)

A native of Austin, Texas, Cheri earned her BS degree from The University of Texas – then moved to Houston to complete her certification as a Specialist in Blood Bank technology from The University of Texas Health Science Center.

Cheri is currently Director of Technical Services at Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in Houston where she has held numerous positions including: Supervisor, Consultation and Reference Laboratory and as Manager of the National Donor Testing Laboratory, Quality Assurance and Operations.

Cheri has presented before the FDA's Blood Product Advisory Committee, national and regional conferences/conventions and locally. She serves on the Houston Community College Technical Advisory Board and is active in the South Central Association of Blood Banks, American Association for Clinical Laboratory Science, and is an assessor for the American Association of Blood Banks Accreditation Program.

Director of Client Services, Steve Ruth

Steve received his Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from Texas A&M University in 1994, and in 1997 began his blood banking career in Hospital Services as a Shift Supervisor. Since then, Steve has held the positions of Director of Hospital Service and Director of Donor Recruitment prior to holding his current position as Director of Client Services.