What makes your career in organ donation and transplantation special? Throughout my career in organ donation, I have had the unique opportunity to work on initiatives and strategies that touch every department and facet of our work. For more than 13 years, it has been both a privilege and a responsibility to contribute to our mission through a variety of roles, and as a donor daughter myself, that mission is deeply personal.
From beginning my career as an event coordinator, to supervising our public education efforts, to my current role overseeing organizational strategic planning and project management, my work has been defined by breadth, collaboration, and impact. Each role has offered a different lens into the donation and transplantation process, from community engagement and storytelling to internal alignment and long-term strategy.
What makes my career special is the ability to connect these perspectives while consistently breaking complex goals into the steps necessary to achieve them. I understand how decisions made in one department ripple across teams and priorities, how public trust is built and sustained, and how thoughtful strategy strengthens mission outcomes across the organization. Early in my career, this meant executing meaningful, mission-driven events; today, it means helping our organization plan, align, and oversee large-scale strategies. Combined with my cross-departmental experience and personal connection to donation, this holistic view allows me to serve as a bridge between people, priorities, and purpose, always ensuring that strategy and execution inform one another at every level of our work.
Katie Benton, Director of Strategy & Support at Donor Network of Arizona (DNA), brings more than 13 years of experience in organ and tissue donation, with a career spanning public education, strategic planning, and organization-wide process improvement. In her current role, she focuses on aligning strategy with execution by building the structures, systems, and frameworks that support long-term organizational success.
As her career has evolved, Katie has shifted from executing individual initiatives to overseeing large, cross-functional strategies that shape how DNA works. She is known for breaking complex goals into clear, actionable steps and connecting day-to-day work with long-term direction. A donor daughter herself, her work carries profound personal significance; among the initiatives she is most proud of is Recipes of Remembrance, a cookbook honoring donors and their families. Katie holds a bachelor’s degree in Design Management and a graduate certificate in Project Management, and her experience includes supporting award-winning public education efforts and helping launch the organization’s strategic planning process and Project Management Office.
Across every role, Katie brings a holistic, systems-level perspective, serving as a bridge between people, priorities, and purpose by aligning organizational strategy with execution.
