Ken Wegner, President of The Jel Sert Company, becomes the Board President of the American Childhood Cancer Organization.
The American Childhood Cancer Organization is proud to announce the appointment of Ken Wegner as their Board President. Ken joins the board with more than 30 years of corporate experience and over 20 years of nonprofit board expertise.
Ken Wegner is President of the Jel Sert Company located in West Chicago, Illinois. The Jel Sert Company was founded by Ken’s grandparents in 1926 and is owned by the Wegner family to this day. Ken started in the company as the Director of Purchasing in 1985, and became President in 1997. Jel Sert is a leading manufacturer of branded, licensed and private label food products distributed nationally to over 60,000 retail outlets, and has over 1000 employees located primarily in the West Chicago area. Their products include freezer bars, dessert mixes, powdered drink mixes and ready to drink beverages.
Ken believes in adhering to the mission of his grandparents and his father, which was to develop and manufacture high quality, great tasting and innovative food products at a distinct value for the consumer. Ken’s mission is to also share Jel Sert products to ease the journey of children treated for cancer. Recognizing the simple yet important role that freezer pops can have in the day-to-day life of a child or teen with mouth sores as a result of undergoing chemotherapy, Ken started the Take a Pop, Share a Smile program with ACCO in 2010. The program is simple: Jel Sert donates a freezer stocked with 2,000 frozen pops to children’s cancer treatment centers across the U.S. As the Fla-vor-ice and/or Otterpops product runs low, hospital staff simply order more free of charge! Jel Sert also handles any maintenance or replacement of the freezer itself. Through the leadership and generosity of Ken Wegner, Jel Sert has donated more than ONE MILLION freezer pops to more than 115 Children’s hospitals and treatment centers in 37 states across the United States!
Ken’s leadership and commitment to raising awareness of childhood cancer took on a personal meaning when his own son was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years after he began the “Take a Pop, Share a Smile” program. Since then he has expanded awareness of the devastation and unique needs of childhood cancer to his more than 1,000 employees. In 2016, Jel Sert held ACCO’s first Corporate PJammin event. Employees were invited to wear their PJs to work in tribute to the tens of thousands of children fighting cancer each day across America. Employees were also invited to donate to ACCO to support our numerous programs that help children with cancer and their families who are currently battling this life-threatening disease. ACCO is humbled and grateful for Ken’s willingness to serve as our Board President.
Ken has a BA in Economics and Spanish from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In addition to being President of ACCO, Ken is Chairman of the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Foundation Board, a board member at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, a member of the Presidential Advisory Board of Denison University and a member of YPO Gold – Chicago.
About American Childhood Cancer Organization: The American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO) is the nation’s largest grassroots organization at the forefront of the crucial battle against childhood cancer. The ACCO is dedicated to improving the lives of children living with childhood cancer and its long-term impacts, and to offering critical advice, support, and assistance to families engaged in this life-altering struggle.