Board of Directors
Susan Dix Lyons, MA, EDAC
Susan Dix Lyons (Founder and Chair) is the founder of Clínica Verde. She is Co-Founder and CEO of Verday Health. Susan began her career working in journalism as a reporter in San Jose, Costa Rica, and later moved to Tampa Bay, where she worked for nearly a decade at an urban newsweekly, starting as a reporter then Editor and Publisher, and where she was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. She holds a B.A. from American University in Washington, D.C., and an M.A. in Art History from the University of California, Davis, with a focus on contemporary public architecture and the U.S. government’s Design Excellence program. Susan attended the Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2014 Susan was honored as an Unsung Hero of Compassion by the 14th Dalai Lama for her work with Clínica Verde. In 2014-2015, she served as a Fellow and Lecturer at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the d.school). She is a fellow of Harvard Medical School’s Media and Medicine program (2019-2020).
Majd Zayzafoon, MD, PhD, MBA
Majd Zayzafoon is a physician, scientist and entrepreneur. As a physician scientist, his work is focused on examining the mechanisms that enable cancer to grow and metastasize to the bone with the goal of developing new targets for drug design and therapies for many life threatening and devastating diseases. As an entrepreneur and founder of Novicure Biotechnology, Majd learned the art of bootstrap financing firsthand. Majd is also the founder of an innovative program that globally shares medical training called “International Advanced Clinical Training Program, InterACT” at University of Alabama Medical School. He is most passionate about entrepreneurship and bioinnovation, and has extensive experience in translational research, commercialization, deployment, management, communication and business. He currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where he serves as Director of International Medical Education in the School of Medicine and director of International Education in the Office of the Senior Vice Provost at UAB.
Paige Preston
Paige Preston (Secretary) is a Vice President at Silicon Valley Bank in Palo Alto, CA, working on a tech lending team in the enterprise software group. She is a 2017 graduate of University of Southern California, with a BA in Political Economy and minors in Social Entrepreneurship and Business Finance. Paige has been involved with Clinica Verde through a multitude of projects and tasks from volunteer work to raising community awareness since her freshman year in high school. In 2013, she traveled to Nicaragua as a student ambassador for the annual board meeting, and also acted as an assistant researcher for the Clinica Verde pitch made at the Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale University. Paige is passionate about sustainability, women’s empowerment, and the environment.
Alicia Hardy
Alicia Hardy is CEO of OLE Health in Napa County, California. Alicia joined OLE Health in 2009 and has over 15 years of experience in the fields of education, mental health and health care administration. She spent several years living and working abroad in both Peru and Nigeria, where she became passionate about working with underserved communities on initiatives related to health and wellness. After returning from South America, Alicia co-founded and taught at a charter school in the South Bronx with the goal of reducing academic disparities in the community. Alicia is a licensed clinical social worker and has provided behavioral health care to patients both at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco and OLE Health. She holds a Master’s degree in Management and Planning from the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley and has worked at OLE in various leadership positions overseeing large scale initiatives related to integration and redesign of care delivery systems. She held the position of Chief Strategy Officer prior to being promoted to Deputy Chief Executive Officer in January 2016. She was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in January of 2018.
Kimberly Hamilton
Kimberly Hamilton is a leading expert in furnished residential monthly leasing and business development. She has spent more than 20 years developing award-winning and nationally recognized businesses as founder and former CEO of AvenueWest Corporate Housing, AvenueWest Global Franchise and Corporate Housing by Owner. In 1999 Kimberly started and led AvenueWest Corporate Housing, Inc., a multi-million dollar company providing real estate property management, real estate investment opportunities, hospitality services and leasing of furnished residential properties, offering full service corporate housing to upscale executive travelers in need of a monthly lodging solution. Under Kim’s leadership, AvenueWest was recognized by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce as the 2003 Emerging Business of the Year, was ranked for 3 consecutive years on Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Businesses list, and in 2010 was recognized by the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) as an industry leader and awarded Provider Company of the Year. In 2018, Kimberly was recognized by Think Realty magazine as one of the top 7 Industry Influencers who are making a distinct and measurable difference in the way the real estate industry invests and how the industry as a whole is perceived by the public. She served for 5 years on the Board of Directors for the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA), the primary trade organization for the $4 billion corporate housing industry, and has been nationally recognized for her business success and her philanthropic endeavors. She’s been featured in media sources including the NY Times, LA Times, Denver Post, US News & World Report, MSNBC.com, CNBC and SmartMoney.com, and her book Making Money with Rental Properties was internationally published and distributed by Penguin Publishing Group.
Doug Wilson, MD
Doug Wilson, M.D., is Medical Director of Palliative Care at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa, CA and works at OLE Health, a community health clinic. He was born in England and lived in Australia before moving to Napa Valley as a child. He was inspired to study medicine while taking a year off high school to work/study in Irian Jaya and the Solomon Islands. He is a graduate of Pacific Union College and Loma Linda Medical School. After residency in Ventura County Family Medicine he studied Palliative Care at Harvard. While working primarily at Clinic Ole, Doug also enjoys moonlighting as a hospitalist and teaching high school Physics. Doug’s overarching interest is the evolution of consciousness, and bringing sustainability to the human presence on the planet. He loves volunteering for Adventist Health International.
Nikhil Bumb, MBA
Nikhil Bumb is a MBA graduate from the Yale School of Management, where he focused on healthcare strategy and global social enterprise. He first crossed paths with Clinica Verde while at Yale when he participated in the Global Social Enterprise program, through which students provide pro-bono consulting services to non-profit and social enterprise organizations in developing countries, in Nicaragua in 2013. Prior to business school, Nikhil worked for ZS Associates, a sales, marketing, and management consulting firm with a niche in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He has a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University, where he began cultivating an interest in healthcare by heading efforts to establish a health orientation program for incoming students. He then pursued this interest in healthcare by concentrating on medical imaging and devices during his Masters degree in electrical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently, Nikhil is a Director with FSG and is based out of the Washington, DC area.
David Davidovic, MBA
David Davidovic (Treasurer) is the Founder of pathForward Strategic Consulting. He has worked in the life sciences sector for over 36 years. During the 25 years he spent with Merck & Co. and 8 with Genentech and Roche, he was responsible for building and leading multiple commercial, business unit, and medical education functions in Canada, the US, Europe, as well as the Middle East and Africa. Most recently, he was Vice President and Global Head of Commercial Services for Roche and Genentech. Since partially retiring at the end of 2012, David has concentrated his efforts in non-profit work as well as mentoring and advising many start-ups and established companies, mostly in the healthcare space. Throughout his career, he has been fortunate to work in environments and activities dedicated to meeting unmet medical needs and serving populations in many socio-economic, geographic and competency segments. He is passionate about healthcare and about applying thoughtful and practical solutions to closing healthcare gaps. David was born and grew up in Quito, Ecuador and holds a BSc in Physiology and an MBA, both from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He lives in San Francisco, CA.
Jan Nissen, RN, MBA
Jan Nissen (Vice-Chair) currently serves as VP of Patient Innovation and Engagement and is the leader of the US Vaccine Regional Commercial Operations group for Merck. She has been in the pharmaceutical industry for a total of 33 years in a variety of positions including sales, training, marketing, and operations at both Merck and Abbott Laboratories. In 2012, Jan had the opportunity to serve as a Merck Fellow working with Population Services International. The teams’ project objective was to complete a franchise operating model that could be utilized in setting up health care clinics in developing countries. Jan has a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Illinois Medical Center, a Master’s in Business Administration from Lake Forest College, and she is currently enrolled in a Population Health Master’s program at Jefferson University in Philadelphia. She is married and the mother of two sons.
Alanna Houck
Alanna Houck brings more than a decade of experience in organizational change and working with both community-based organizations and federal agencies. She is a manager in Deloitte Consulting’s federal practice, advising clients on organizational transformation in the health and transportation spaces. Prior to Deloitte, she worked for UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Through their combination of research, advocacy, programs, and a national network of nearly 300 community-based Affiliate organizations across the country, they simultaneously challenge the social, economic, and political barriers that affect Latinos in the United States. Alanna is passionate about reaching underserved communities and identifying ways to better integrate the private and nonprofit sectors. She holds a BA in International Studies and Spanish from Allegheny College and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Alanna resides in Washington, DC.
Board Emeritus
Cristiana Chamorro, MA
Cristiana Chamorro is a journalist and the founder and director of the Violeta Chamorro Foundation, an organization dedicated to upholding freedom of expression and projects aimed at fortifying the leadership of journalists, civil society and democratic institutions in Nicaragua. Since its founding, the Violeta Chamorro Foundation has directed and coordinated projects promoting the search for excellence in journalism, a system of access for public information and other actions aimed at the promotion of human rights and a culture of peace. As a journalist Cristiana won the international prize of “Excellence in Journalism” in the category of Opinion in 2000 awarded by the Inter-American Press Association and the International Press Association. She is a regular opinion columnist for the newspaper La Prensa and member of the board of directors of La Prensa. During the campaign and presidency of Violeta Chamorro (1990-1997), Cristiana served as advisor to the President of Nicaragua. She has a degree in History and Philosophy from the University of Central America and a M.A. in Latin American History and Literature from Ohio University. In 2018, Cristiana completed the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.
Margarita Gurdian, MPH
Margarita Gurdian was Minister of Health of Nicaragua from 2004-2007. During that time she was in charge of the management of 1076 health units, 25,000 employees and a budget of $182 million US per year. As Minister, Margarita negotiated and implemented an alliance between the country and Merck & Co. to conduct a joint project valued at $75 million US to vaccinate all infants born in Nicaragua over a 3-year period to prevent rotovirus gastroenteritis. She also led the planning process for a National Health Policy for 2004-2015, a 5-year health plan and the Health Comprehensive Model of Care. She conducted and implemented a reorganization of the Ministry, promoted and supervised the implementation of an integral approach for malaria, elaborated a Reproductive Health and HIV AIDS National Strategy, and successfully implemented a plan to eliminate Rubella in Nicaragua. Before her position as Minister of Health, Margarita served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health, as the country representative for the Center for Communications Program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University, as Executive Director of the Nicaraguan Family and Children Fund (FONIF), social policy advisor to the Vice Minister of the Presidency, and as administrator of Oxfam U.K. and Ireland in Nicaragua. She has served as an analyst of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vice Consul of the Consulate General of Nicaragua in Los Angeles, California. Margarita received her B.A. in Latin American Studies at the University of California, Riverside, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies with a major in Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mary Huber, MD
Mary Huber, M.D. is an internal medicine doctor for the Permanente Medical Group. She received a B.S. in Biology from Georgetown University and her M.D. from Wright State University School of Medicine. Mary received her Internal Medicine training at University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and worked in the Collinwood area of Cleveland as part of Federal Loan Repayment Program. From 1994-1997 she was a clinical instructor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She joined University Hospitals’ primary physician care group in 1997, where she worked until 2002. Mary was also a volunteer at Southwest General Hospital Free Clinic in Cleveland. She is board certified in Internal Medicine. Mary is the founder of Clinica Verde’s HIGHER (Helping in Global Health, Education and Reform) program.
Donald E. Farrar, Ph.D.
Donald E. Farrar, Ph.D. has over 30 years experience in the areas of economics, finance, capital markets and financial institutions in the United States and abroad. He has held faculty positions at a number of leading U.S. Universities and at Koc University in Istanbul, Turkey. He served as Director of the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Institutional Investor Study, whose 8-volume Report originated the concept of a National Securities Market System in the United States and was later embodied in the 1975 Securities Acts Amendments. Don also served for 13 years as Executive Vice President and Director of Benham Management Corporation, a mutual fund management company in Northern California, and for the six preceding years as an independent director of Benham managed funds. In addition, he served as a director of Mattel, Inc., the Mattel Foundation, the Permanent Portfolio Fund and various Benham managed funds, including Capital Preservation Fund International (Luxembourg), for which he was Chief Operating Officer. He has served as a consultant to many organizations and has testified before federal regulatory agencies, state legislative bodies and on five occasions before Committees or Subcommittees of the U. S. Congress. His international consulting assignments have included: studies of capital markets in India, lectures on securities valuation and portfolio management in Croatia, lectures and consultation on the valuation of fixed income securities in Polish pension portfolios, the feasibility of establishing a mutual fund industry in Indonesia and both technical and policy issues faced by the Government of Moldova in its attempt to move from a centrally directed to a market economy. He is the author of The Investment Decision Under Uncertainty, and a co-author of Managerial Economics, Foundations of Modern Economics Series, Institutional Investor Study Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Readings in Investments. Don has an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College and an A.M. and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
Kenneth B. Weeman, MBA, LHD
Kenneth B. Weeman is a private investor. From 1964 to 2000, he was active in the financial services industry. He was an executive with a number of investment banks in securities trading and was a Member of the New York Stock Exchange. From 1980 to 2000, Ken was with Dresdner RCM Global Investors. He was a senior managing director and Vice Chairman – retiring in 2000. Ken served as an Officer with the U.S. Army Special Forces. His nonprofit activities include serving as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees with Golden Gate University. He is a board member of the Basic Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner-City Children); a trustee (retired) of Trinity-Pawling School; as the Founding Chairman (retired) of the Episcopal Sanctuary (now Episcopal Community Services); and is a Board member of The Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis (UCSF). He was awarded a BS by the University of San Francisco, and an MBA from Golden Gate University. In 2008, Ken was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Golden Gate University.
Peter Stanley, LEED AP
Peter Stanley, LEED AP, BD+C is Co-Founder of Verday Health and principal of ArchiLOGIX, an architectural and development consulting firm in Santa Rosa specializing in planning, urban design and architecture for multi-family, commercial, healthcare, public safety and winery projects. His professional background is in business and resource management with an emphasis on implementation of complex projects. Peter spent 12 years working in architectural firms before starting his own firm in 2001. He served as vice chair of the City of Santa Rosa Planning Commission. Peter spent more than a decade working in Nicaragua, including managing the construction of the Clinica Verde community health clinic in Boaco as well as the Santa Helenita Housing project in Empalme de Boaco, Nicaragua, an affordable housing project consisting of a 64-unit subdivision targeted at low- and very-low income families as well as the master plan and construction of a new high school, multi-use facility and computer learning center in the Empalme area.
Gary Jenanyan
Gary Jenanyan is a designer, restaurant consultant and chef instructor. He was Executive Chef of the Great Chef’s Program at Robert Mondavi Winery for 26 years before retiring in 2002. Since 1998, Gary has been Executive Chef to the fleet for Lindblad Expeditions, partnered with National Geographic Expeditions, the internationally acclaimed, environmentally conscious small-ship expedition cruise line. He is responsible for menus and recipes for the food operations on 5 ships worldwide and co-responsible for the wine lists. Gary developed and is currently the Project Manager for the OPUS Project on the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. OPUS (Operation to Prevent Unwanted Species) is a system developed to peel, sanitize, vacuum pack, refrigerate and ship fruits and vegetables ready to prepare from Quito on the mainland of Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands without introducing invasive species, the most significant threat to the fragile environment on these unique islands. Gary’s culinary consulting firm, Jenanyan Design, designs restaurants, winery and home kitchens, ship’s galleys, troubleshoots food service operations, develops menus and recipes and provides chef instruction to a variety of clients internationally. He was the Executive Chef and chief food stylist for the 13-part PBS television series, “America’s Rising Star Chefs” and authored its companion cookbook. He works and teaches in English and Spanish and is conversant in French.
Tim Lyons, MD
Tim Lyons, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer of Adventist Health St. Helena (AHSH) and an anesthesia-intensivist with board certification in Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Echocardiography. He is also the medical director of Anesthesiology at AHSH. He graduated from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and completed his residency in anesthesiology at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, where he also completed a fellowship in Critical Care. Tim completed a fellowship in Cardio-Thoracic Anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has served as assistant-professor of anesthesiology, co-chief of the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Tim has a Master’s in Health Care Management from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Dennis de Vreede
Dennis de Vreede is Chief Financial Officer of Wereldhave, a Dutch real estate investment company. Prior to this position Dennis was CFO at DeepOcean and Senior Vice President at Prologis, a global market leader in the industrial real estate space. He also served as CFO of REDEVCO, an international real estate company owning major retail portfolios in Europe, and Global Finance Director for Rockwell Automation Inc. In addition, Dennis has served as VP Finance for telecommunications venture KPNQwest N.V. and gained Mergers & Acquisitions experience at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in London. He started his career in 1993 with KPMG in The Netherlands. Mr. de Vreede earned a Bachelors of Economics from The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He received a Masters in Accountancy and graduated as a registered accountant from Nyenrode Business University in The Netherlands. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School after successfully completing several Executive Education programs, a member of NBA, the Royal Netherlands Institute of Registered Accountants and the Controller’s Institute of The Netherlands.
Bill Bylund
Bill Bylund is architect and principal of Valley Architects and a Founding Board Member of Clinica Verde. He began his career as a designer at HOK Architects in San Francisco, where he worked on such projects as the Stanford Library, Ryhad Airport and Moscone Center. In 1980 he and partner Tom Faherty founded Valley Architects, whose projects include the Napa City/County Library Expansion, Japan Airlines Flight Training Center, Santen, Inc. corporate headquarters, Towpath Village Expansion and a number of wineries including Domain Carneros, Domaine Napa Winery, Rossini Winery, Villa Francioni Winery in Brazil and Monte Xanic Winery in Mexico. He is a member of or has been active in the following civic groups: The Napa Valley Environmental Design Group, National Trust for Historic Preservation, St. Helena Community Center Group, Urban Design Group, Sierra Club, Napa Land Conservancy and Calistoga Arts Council. He has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2006.