CHAIR

George Eliades is a partner in Bain’s health care practice, based in San Francisco.  He has nearly 15 years of consulting experience. At Bain & Company, Mr. Eliades' recent work focuses on biotech and pharmaceuticals. His work spans commercial and development, and multiple therapeutic areas, with deep expertise in oncology, neurology, endocrinology, ophthalmology, respiratory and several other specialty categories. Mr. Eliades' nonprofit work has included support for the merger integration of CHI and BayBio into the California Life Sciences Association. He has also led work with the American Society of Retina Specialists, focusing on helping the ASRS membership grow their practices in an era of declining reimbursements. Publications include “Healthcare 2020”—a perspective on the key trends shaping the global healthcare market and “Opportunities in integrated care for pharma and biotech.” Mr. Eliades graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard College where he received a Bachelor of Arts. He also holds a Master of Arts and PhD from Harvard University.

VICE CHAIR

David McNinch is an executive in the biopharma industry with extensive experience in orphan diseases. Over his 20 plus year career he has worked with a number of large and small companies including AstraZeneca, Novartis, Genentech, and InterMune. Recently, he built and lead the organization that commercialized Esbriet (pirfenidone) in the US. After Genentech acquired InterMune, David supported the integration and left to pursue other opportunities including continuing to support patients with pulmonary fibrosis through his work with the PFF. David has worked on the development and commercialization of drugs for orphan diseases including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, acromegaly, and cystic fibrosis. He served on the Board of Trustees for the Huntington's Disease Society of America from 1999 - 2006. David is a native South Carolinian and graduate of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

TREASURER

Laurie is a partner at Vigilant Capital, LLC. From 2002 through early 2013, she served clients as both a relationship manager and wealth planner. Prior to joining Vigilant, Laurie was a senior vice president in the private clients group of Fleet Boston Financial for 18 years. Laurie earned her MBA from Southern New Hampshire University, is a Certified Financial Planner™ and a graduate of the Cannon Financial Institute for Trust, Estate, and Financial Planning. In addition to her role with the PFF, Laurie serves as the co-chair of the Patient Family Advisory Council of Portsmouth Regional Hospital. Previously, she served as a board trustee of Southern New Hampshire University, a board member of the Northern New England Financial Planning Association, and as a chair of the Estate Planning Council of New Hampshire. She was also a founding member and chair of the Women’s Business Center, a chair and advisory board member of Families First of the Greater (NH) Seacoast, a chair and treasurer of the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women, and a trustee of the Crotched Mountain Foundation. Laurie is a graduate of the 2006 Leadership NH program. In 2002, Laurie was honored with the Small Business Administration’s New Hampshire Women in Business Advocate of the Year Award. 

SECRETARY

Terence Hales is a corporate real estate executive based in New York City. He has over 18 years of industry experience and has worked for a number of global Fortune 100 companies including Time Warner, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, CBS Corporation, and Pfizer Inc. In his previous roles he was responsible for real estate strategy, transaction management, and cost efficiency. Mr. Hales is currently the Director of Global Real Estate for Zoetis Inc., the former Pfizer Animal Health Division. Mr. Hales is the founder of the NYC Run-Walk-Hike for Pulmonary Fibrosis, which has raised more than $400,000 toward PF research and patient services. Mr. Hales’s father was diagnosed with PF and subsequently underwent a successful double-lung transplant in 2007. Mr. Hales was previously a board member of the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, where his work included lobbying members of congress to support research funding for pulmonary fibrosis. Mr. Hales has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Masters of Business Administration from Fordham University.

Martin Attwell’s family has been deeply affected by pulmonary fibrosis as both his father and father-in-law passed away from the disease. Martin became involved with the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation in 2014 and currently serves on the Finance Committee. He was a key member of the Strategic Planning Committee that developed the PFF 2020 Strategic Plan. His family has been strong supporters of the PFF Walk since its inception and he has been a frequent attendee at the PFF Summit, Annual Volunteer Meeting, and Broadway Belts for PFF!.

Martin has worked in the Energy and Health Insurance sectors for more than 30 years. He began his career as a Software Engineer in London. He had a long career with BP and Amoco in various roles in Finance, IT and Organizational Change in the UK and the US where he led many large-scale process improvement and organizational change projects. Most recently, he was Director of Organizational Effectiveness at Health Care Service Corporation. 

He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Law Degree from the University of London, and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Imperial College, London. He is certified as both a Project Management and Change Management professional.

He currently lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Colleen. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, collecting antique maps, and supporting his favorite “football” team Chelsea FC. 

Dana Ball is an independent philanthropic advisor specializing in medical and scientific research program design, development and assessment.  Dana’s career started more than thirty years ago as a patient advocate during the HIV/AID crisis and has evolved to include more than seventeen years focusing on advancing scientific and clinical programs in type 1 diabetes (T1D).  Dana now works closely with philanthropic and industry clients across a range of disease areas.

For seventeen years Dana focused his career on developing and executing innovative type 1 diabetes initiatives.  Prior to launching his consulting services, Dana was co-founder and CEO of T1D Exchange, a patient-centered organization dedicated to improving care and investing in innovative approaches to driving faster research and development, accelerating emerging therapies and improving patient outcomes. Before founding T1D Exchange, Dana was selected as an inaugural executive and Program Director for the T1D program at The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. There, he played a leadership role in the development of the Trust’s strategic and operational plans and led their T1D Program which focused on understanding the root cause of T1D and accelerating the development and delivery of novel devices, therapeutics and technologies.

Dana’s introduction to T1D started in 2001, when he joined the Iacocca Family Foundation and shortly thereafter became Executive Director. His responsibilities included developing a funding strategy and overseeing all aspects of the family’s philanthropic and T1D strategic investments activities.  Throughout his career he has successfully created partnerships with organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and a range of industry stakeholders.

In addition to extensive experience in T1D programs, philanthropy and working with high net-worth families, Dana has experience working across a range of serious diseases, including Foundation advisory boards created to develop strategic funding programs.  His most recent work includes neurofibromatosis and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Collectively, Dana’s early experience working as a patient advocate and his leadership roles with family offices and Foundations in the medical research field, enable his ability to recognize critical success factors to advancing better treatments to patients efficiently and effectively.   Dana now incorporates his experience and expertise to serve his client’s philanthropic goals and support their vision to make the greatest impact possible.

Dana is a member of TRAIN, the research acceleration and innovation network, an initiative of the Milken Institute and also a member of the American Diabetes Association.  He has served on many family foundation advisory boards and is a frequent speaker on related nonprofit and industry panels.

Julie Halston is an actress with a long list of theatrical and television credits. She began her career co-starring in the comedy plays of Charles Busch in the 1980s, and was a founding member of his theatre company, Theatre-in-Limbo. In 1992 she wrote and performed a series of one-woman shows, Julie Halston’s Lifetime of Comedy, which eventually earned her a CBS network development deal for a sitcom pilot. In the late 1990s and 2000s she appeared in a steady stream of Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000), Hairspray (2002), Gypsy (2003), Anything Goes (2012), and Tootsie (2019). She has received the Richard Seff Award for her portrayal of Gay Wellington in You Can’t Take It With You (2014). She also has numerous film and TV credits. She earned her BA in Theatre Arts from Hofstra University.

Julie’s husband Ralph Howard, celebrated and veteran radio news anchor, was diagnosed with PF in 2008. He received a life-extending lung transplant 2010, but ultimately lost his battle in August of 2018. Julie is the host of the largest PFF fundraiser Broadway Belts for PFF!, which has raised over $2M since its debut in 2011. Julie recently launched a new half-hour comedy talk show, Virtual Halston, during the COVID-19 2020 pandemic, and has used the show in part to encourage support of the PFF.

Jeff Harris is an officer and shareholder of the Chicago law firm of Figliulo & Silverman, P.C. His business litigation practice of nearly 40 years includes matters relating to construction, commercial real estate, corporate and partnership disputes, professional liability and fiduciary duties.

In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Harris is President of the Mary D. Harris Memorial Foundation, which he founded in 1998 following the death of his wife from pulmonary fibrosis; current member and former Chair of the Board Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, former Chair of the Board of the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis; and Vice-President of LAH Oil, Inc. In 2005, he received the Frank Cabral Humanitarian Award from the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis in recognition of his contributions to furthering education, patient support and research regarding the disease.

Mr. Harris received his undergraduate degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and his Juris Doctorate from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.

Mike Henderson served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors from June 2014 until July 2017 after serving as Vice Chairman since February 2013. Mike is a founder and served as Chairman of Albina Community Bank from 1995 until he retired at the end of 2009. He currently serves on the board of OrePac Building Products and Prolifiq Software. He was President of PacifiCorp Holdings, Inc which held interests in energy, telecommunications and financial services. He has served as CEO of Vermont Castings, Pinemeadow Group, Prolifiq Software and Crescent Foods, Inc. He was a partner and CPA with Deloitte Haskins & Sells during a seventeen year career there. Mike also served on the board of three public companies; Longview Fibre, Pacific Telecom and Comdial. Mike was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2004 and received a double lung transplant in 2006. He is a facilitator of Pulmonary Fibrosis and Lung Transplant Support Groups in Seattle and Portland.

Dr. Limper has long been involved with the PFF. He is currently serving as Chair of the Medical Advisory Board and is past-Chair of the former Scientific Advisory Committee, which is now the Research Review Committee (RRC). He has also been actively involved in each of the PFF Summits and serves on the committee to peer-review all academic abstracts for poster presentation and award selection.

Dr. Limper is with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and studies lung defense and elimination of fungal infections, such as pneumocystis pneumonia, in patients with impaired defense systems. Dr. Limper and his team seek to find new ways beyond traditional antibiotics to prevent and fight lung infections in these individuals.

Additional research interests focus on interstitial lung diseases and pulmonary fibrosis. Dr. Limper's laboratory studies the causes and mechanisms of pulmonary fibrosis in an effort to identify new drug combinations that may be beneficial for patients with these disorders.

In 2017, Dr. Limper was named the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery Associate Dean of Practice Transformation. In this role, he leads a team highly focused on the science of care delivery, not simply on anecdotal evidence. Using innovative pilot projects, novel methodologies combined with patient-centered approaches, and robust data mining and management technology, the team works closely with Mayo Clinic practice to discover new ways to improve health and the way people experience health care.

Barbara Murphy joined the Board in February 2019. A retired information technology professional and longtime volunteer with the PFF, Barbara has been a support group leader, Team PFF leader, PFF Ambassador, and Broadway Belts for PFF! committee member.

Barbara was incorrectly diagnosed with IPF in 2003. Several years later, her diagnosis was revised to scleroderma-related. After her initial diagnosis, she started the Garden State Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group in 2004 when she discovered no New Jersey support group existed. The support group is still thriving today. In 2012, she received a lung transplant from New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, a PFF Care Center.

Barbara’s interests span across the Foundation’s many initiatives, but is grateful that education and awareness are continued high-priority focus areas. She looks forward to working with the organization to continue to expand upon programs as well as provide guidance on new projects. 

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

William T. Schmidt was named President & CEO of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) in August 2017. As President & CEO, Mr. Schmidt is responsible for the overall management and direction of the Foundation, which is the leading national organization that mobilizes people and resources to provide access to high quality care, and leads research for a cure so people with pulmonary fibrosis will live longer, healthier lives. Prior to joining PFF, for twelve years he was CEO of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the largest non-governmental source of funding for retinal degenerative disease research in the world.

Mr. Schmidt has had extensive experience as a senior executive for a number of high-profile and respected health research advocacy organizations, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF).  As Vice President of Public Affairs at JDRF, he directed the government relations, communications, media relations and foundation relations departments. 

An honors graduate of Amherst College, Mr. Schmidt also received his J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law and completed the Kellogg Graduate School of Management’s Executive Development Program.