Board of Trustees

Officers

Shawn V. Austin

Chairman of the Board

Shawn Austin is SVP, Head of Accident & Health, N.A. at Everest Re Group, LTD. Prior experience includes North American Head of Accident & Health for the AIG, and SVP and Executive Director of Benefits and Special Risk Distribution for Liberty Mutual Insurance. Shawn is a graduate of Fordham University, where he earned an MBA, and of Rutgers University, where he earned a BA in mathematics. He is on the board of several nonprofits in NYC. He is married to Jennifer Jones Austin with two children, Kennedy and Channing. Click to view full title.

Rebecca Alper

Vice-Chair

Rebecca Alper started volunteering with The Icla da Silva Foundation in 2013 when her Brazilian host-sister from her college semester abroad, Carol, was searching for a matching bone marrow donor. Rebecca is a Strategic Sourcing Manager at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYP), where she leads procur ement of clinical products and services for pharmacies and laboratories across NYP's 11 hospital locations in New York City and Westchester County. Rebecca holds a Masters degree in Healthcare Administration from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and a Bachelors from Washington University in St. Louis. Click to view full title.

Andrew M. Wuertele, FACHE

Treasurer

Andrew Wuertele has been an active volunteer at the Icla da Silva Foundation for more than a decade and currently serves as the Treasurer. He is the Chief Executive Officer of East River Medical Imaging in New York City, the leader in providing advanced diagnostic imaging services in a compassionate and comfortable setting. Andy is an active board member or officer of several other organizations that seek to improve healthcare, civic dialog, education, and the arts. He holds a Masters degree in Healthcare Management and Policy from the Milano School, and degrees in Industrial Engineering and Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. Click to view full title.

Melissa Betheil

Secretary

Melissa is a Partner Engagement Lead at the World Economic Forum, responsible for driving strategic and meaningful engagement for top health and healthcare companies. Prior to her current role, Melissa worked at the New York Blood Center on community outreach, partnership building, and educational e fforts to recruit more donors to the bone marrow registry. Melissa also has held roles in the Fiscal Governance program at the Open Society Foundations and the International Economics program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Melissa graduated from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she concentrated her studies in International Politics and Latin America. Click to view full title.

Board Members

Mackenzie Brown

Mackenzie is a Project Manager within the Depression and Anxiety Center for Treatment and Discovery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance of clinical trials with FDA and NIH requirements, and manages 8 treatment sites enrolled in a nati on-wide clinical trial for treatment resistant depression among Veterans. Mackenzie holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Mackenzie is also engaged with other philanthropic organizations, such as the Lighthouse Guild and the New York Junior League, which are actively involved in the community. Click to view full title.

Ivan Camponogara

Ivan Camponogara is a Private Wealth Advisor at Goldman Sachs. He works with affluent families to manage their investments and lending needs. He has been volunteering at the Icla da Silva Foundation since 2009 and has personally felt the benefit of the Foundation when they helped his father find a b one marrow donor. He attended Princeton University for his undergraduate with a B.A. in Economics and studied at the Yale School of Management for his MBA. Click to view full title.

Olivier Gillier

Olivier Gillier is a Managing Partner of RioBlanco Capital LLC, specialized in providing global wealth management services to wealthy families. Before joining RioBlanco Capital LLC, Olivier was a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch International. He also worked at Citigroup in Private Banking and Arthur Andersen Consulting (Belgium) as a Business Consultant. In parallel to his career in finance, he was also active as a Professor at VLEKHO-Business School (Belgium) where he taught “Portfolio Management and Securities Valuation” and currently holds an Adjunct Professor position at the International University of Monaco. He was nominated for “showing promise and excellence in the economic field” by IoD. Olivier and his wife, Vanessa, are active participants in the HLH Center of Excellence, an organization dedicated to funding research, creating awareness and providing family support for an often fatal childhood illness called HLH. Click to view full title.

Kala Maxym

Kala Maxym is the Founder and CEO of LA based events company, Five Senses Tastings. Her diverse professional background includes working as a Senior Program Analyst with the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, singing opera roles, recitals, and concerts around the world (and for thr ee Presidents!), and working at a VC-backed tech startup. Kala holds a BA in Political Science and Music from Barnard College of Columbia University and a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory. She speaks German, French, and Spanish and is a certified Spanish-English translator. Kala herself was a bone marrow donor. Click to view full title.

Felipe Mendonça

Felipe Mendonça has been in the financial industry for over 15 years, with capabilities across all phases of the investor lifecycle, including a history of working with international institutions and ultra-high net worth individuals and their families. Felipe is currently the Head of Investor Relat ions at Glide Capital, a fund of funds based in Miami. Prior to Glide, Felipe served as Senior Relationship Manager at CONTI Capital and a Managing Director at StoneX Wealth Management. Previously, he was an Executive Director at BTG Pactual. Felipe holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and is a CFA charter-holder. Click to view full title.

Radhy Miranda, MPA

Radhy Miranda is has a proven track record of government affairs, public relations and community engagement. He currently works at the NYC Economic Development Corporation as an Assistant Vice President of Government & Community Relations. He has volunteered with the Icla da Silva Foundation and Be the Match since 2017, organizing several bone marrow drives. Radhy holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a dual Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing & Management/Leadership. Click to view full title.

Dr. Alejandra Ramirez-Santiago

Dr. Alejandra Ramirez-Santiago is an Executive Medical Director and Global Program Lead at AstraZeneca. Dr. Ramirez-Santiago has more than 17 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Originally from Mexico City, she graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Me xico and has focused her career on bringing new medicines to patients, particularly patients with rare hematological diseases. Dr. Ramirez Santiago is passionate about increasing access and removing barriers, enabling more patients to receive hematopoietic stem transplantation. Click to view full title.

Julius Steffen

Julius is a healthcare management consultant. He is the founder of Akimbo Health and previously held the positions of Managing Director at Accenture and Partner at Bionest. Julius is passionate about increasing access to quality care for patients from underserved communities. He has worked extensive ly in the bone marrow transplant space and has advised some of the leading biotech and pharmaceutical organizations on how to design and implement effective patient support programs. Click to view full title.

Renato M. Tichauer

Renato has over 40 years of experience in the mining and ferroalloys industries. He has held executive positions at the Hochschild Group in Brazil (presently Anglo American do Brazil) and at Hamanna Alloys in New York. He has been president and CEO of Tremond-Shine Group, Inc., since its founding in 1993. Renato holds a Bachelor in Economic Sciences and Business Administration from Faculdade de Ciências Economicas Alvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil. Click to view full title.

David Zabell, MD, JD

David Zabell is General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of IvyRehab Physical Therapy, a network of leading outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy clinics, with over 275 sites throughout the U.S. Prior to joining IvyRehab, David was a partner in the corporate healthcare department at Garfunkel Wild, P.C., where he was the Co-Chair of the E-Health & Telehealth Practice Group. David holds a BS in Biology from the University of Michigan, a MD from New York Medical College, and a JD (cum laude) from Brooklyn Law School. Click to view full title.

Board of Trustees