John McCann joined the Burn Foundation Board of Directors in 1996 as the representative of Sunoco, Inc. The company had been represented on the board for many years by the manager of the Philadelphia Refinery.  Due to a scheduling conflict he needed to resign from the board and nominated John as his replacement, where he served up to his retirement from Sunoco in 2009.  At that time John submitted his resignation to the board.  However, the board asked him to stay on because of his extensive contacts with the oil industry, and his work with the Philadelphia Fire Department and others in the industry.

At the time he joined the board, John was the Manager of Public Relations for the Sunoco Philadelphia Refinery. Prior to that assignment he had been, at various times, the Supervisor of Fire Protection and Security, and the Security and Training Supervisor.

In the early 2000’s the economy was in freefall and donations, grants and other sources of income for the Burn Foundation were drying up.  This forced a reorganization of the foundation and, over the next few years, the laying off of all employees except the President/Executive Director, Patsy Porter.  At a board meeting in early 2013, she announced that she would be leaving the foundation but would stay on board until a replacement was found.  During the reorganization many services offered to the burn care and burn patient communities were discontinued due to a lack of staff to provide them.  It was then decided that the former P/ED position would become a part-time – 20-30 hours per week.  Since John’s retirement from Sunoco, he was working part time in an on-call position but was actively looking for a more stable job so he applied and was hired.  He began working as the Burn Foundation Administrator in April 2013.

Over the last 12 years the Burn Foundation has gone through many changes, including a move from free office space on the campus of the Crozer Chester Medical Center to rented space in offices in Upper Darby, PA in 2017.  Then there was the COVID-19 pandemic.  That event caused the cancellation of important fundraising events, closures of donor businesses, and the end of many individual donations from folks who had lost their jobs or saw a dramatic reduction in income. As former donors have moved on, new donors have stepped up over the years to enable the foundation to continue its work.  Through it all, however, several organizations continued to support the Burn Foundation mission and enabled it to survive and maintain a level of service to our core communities.   

John will be retiring in early 2026 following the selection of a replacement.  He will remain available to his successor for as long as necessary to assure the continuation of the Burn Foundation mission of Prevention, Education, Treatment and Recovery.  He is proud of what has been accomplished since he joined the foundation in 2013 and looks forward to its continued success.

We want to thank John for his years of dedicated service to the Burn Foundation and its fundraising efforts to support and aid burn survivors. God bless him and his family.