Janita Pickett-Gordon, associate vice president of regional philanthropy at City of Hope® Cancer Center Chicago, oversees fundraising and philanthropic efforts for our Illinois hospital and other clinical locations across the state. In this leadership role, Pickett-Gordon develops and maintains strong relationships with current and new donors, with the goal of building support for the pioneering research and leading-edge treatments that characterizes City of Hope’s approach to cancer care.
Pickett-Gordon has more than two decades’ experience creating and developing philanthropic programs for nonprofit organizations in the fields of education, community support and health care. She has held positions with the Girl Scouts of the USA, Arizona State University and the Arizona Community Foundation, which developed the state’s first early education system. Prior to taking on her current role in 2024, she served in a senior philanthropy position at the TGen Research Institute Foundation, a research center that is part of City of Hope.
A longtime advocate for greater, more equitable access to health care and education, Pickett-Gordon has served the philanthropic communities in both Phoenix and Chicago for over 25 years. She has served on multiple boards, including her current role as chair of the board for the Doughtery Foundation, an organization that helps Arizona college students find funding and scholarships for a college education. During her time at City of Hope, she also oversaw the institute’s first Walk for Hope fundraising event in Chicago, recruiting over 580 participants at the event, and raising nearly $1 million for cancer research.
Pickett-Gordon attended the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and public administration, and she held a fellowship with the Society for Organizational Learning, founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
