03/02/2026
💙 Please join us in welcoming Lori Jankowski as a participant in this year’s BACKBONES Leaders Program! 💙
Lori Hand Jankowski is a seasoned marketing and communications consultant with more than 40 years of experience building brand narratives and strategic partnerships across corporate, nonprofit, and entertainment sectors. Her expertise spans cause marketing, celebrity engagement, and event strategy, with work for iconic brands such as Starbucks, The Gap, and Old Navy, and nonprofits including The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, the National Kidney Foundation, and JDRF.
Lori has led national marketing campaigns, music and film festival sponsorships, and major fundraising initiatives. She played a key role in Starbucks’ East Coast expansion and managed high-profile campaigns connected to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, featuring celebrity appearances and partnerships with NBC and House of Blues. A passionate advocate for mission-driven marketing, Lori has served on multiple nonprofit boards, raising significant support for education, healthcare, research, and the arts. She holds degrees in Marketing & Communications and Public Relations from Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
In 2005, just four days after the birth of her fourth child, Lori survived an ascending and descending aortic dissection requiring two life-saving surgeries that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Over the past 20 years, she has embraced life with gratitude and purpose—raising her four children and thriving with a spinal cord injury.
Lori serves on the boards of Backbones and BLINK of an Eye, supporting individuals and families navigating spinal cord injuries. She is grateful to share life with her family, now living across California, Florida, New York, and South Carolina.
