Janel Jorgensen McArdle, President of Swim Across America, made a splash as a teenager winning two gold medals at the Pan American Games and silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea. At Stanford University, she set four American records, was a 27-time All American and won 15 NCAA championship titles.

After her career, she hung up her swimsuit and spent 12 years working in the corporate world including strategic development responsibilities at Oracle.

But in between the time spent on conference calls, business trips, office cubicles, lunch meeting and late night, Janel volunteered for Swim Across America. “I felt there was something more to do,” explained Janel with her boundless energy, trademark smile and sparkling eyes.

After volunteering for nearly two decades, Jorgensen decided to dedicate her life to helping others. Ditching the business suits, she went back to swimsuits in 2005. Entirely focused on increasing Swim Across America’s impact on communities, families, individuals and cancer research, she began racking up the air miles to travel across the country raising charitable funding and corporate support. Together with hundreds of community groups and thousands of people swimming in pools, lakes and oceans, Swim Across America has raised over US$40 million for cancer research, prevention and treatment.

As Janel envisioned, she went back to her roots of swimming and found her niche – making a big impact on funding research and programs on cancer research through swimming events across the United States.

A 2010 Swimming World TV interview is below:



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