Meet the Staff
Penny DeCou, LCSW, Director of Mission, comes to Cancer Connection from Texas Oncology where she was the Midtown social worker. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Masters degree in Social Work. Her non-profit work began in Chicago as a client support specialist with The CARA Program and continued with the American Cancer Society in Austin as a patient navigator. Penny has a strong interest in holistic health, community collaboration and supportive counseling and is honored to be a part of the Cancer Connection team. After growing up as a Navy brat, followed by many years in Australia and Chicago, Penny is glad she and her family have found their way to Austin.
Roni Kendall, Director of Volunteers, has been personally inspired by the cancer experiences of her aunt and uncle. Both are long term survivors active with cancer support organizations. Roni’s career spans 25 years of working with social services that include: crisis intervention, mental health case management, and professional legal guardianship. In addition to bachelor degrees in Education and Social Work, she is also certified in Massage Therapy. Roni feels privileged to help individuals identify and locate supportive resources that significantly improve the quality of their lives. In her capacity working with volunteers, she seeks to help provide experiences that will be personally gratifying, intellectually stimulating, emotionally meaningful, and spiritually uplifting.
Connie McFarland, Director of Finance & Operations, is a cancer survivor of stage III colon cancer and one of Cancer Connection's first care-receivers. She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Cornell College with a BA in Economics & Business. After several years in the banking industry, Connie moved into the non-profit world as Financial Director of the Charlottesville Housing Improvement Program in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since moving to Texas in 2000, she has spent many hours volunteering through her church and in her daughters' schools. She and her husband are avid college basketball fans and enjoy "March Madness" each spring.