Board of Directors
Our Board is comprised of a diverse team of experts who inform the Foundation’s strategic vision and increase our capacity to help communities apply creative expression as a path towards improved health and wellbeing.
Cindy Elkins
Co-Board Chair
Cindy Elkins was Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Juno Therapeutics, one of the pioneers in CAR T blood cancer technology. Following two acquisitions, Cindy served as the Global Head CAR T Patient Experience at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where her team connected patients with their personalized therapy through world class service and technology.
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Prior to Juno, Cindy was the VP, Pharma Informatics at Genentech-Roche responsible for all technology products/services across the Americas. In 2016, Genentech was ranked #3 in Computerworld’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT”. Before Genentech, Cindy was the VP and GM of Supplier Solutions at Ariba where she created the largest transacting business to business supplier community in the world.
Ms Elkins is currently a Board Trustee at Vitalant, Board Co-Chair of the Foundation for Art and Healing and Board Member-Treasurer of FACTMS (Foundation for the Advancement of Clinical TMS). In the past she was also on the boards of Weight Watchers and Chimeric Therapeutics.
She received her BS in Applied Mathematics from UCLA and her MBA from Santa Clara University.
Cindy expresses her artistic self through cooking and very creative golf shots.
Myrna Chao, EA, FSA, MAAA
Co-Board Chair
Myrna is a seasoned Human Resource consultant with a wide range of expertise, including best practices in Inclusion & Diversity, talent management and retirement plans. In her capacity as Lead for the North America Retirement Talent Development Team at Willis Towers Watson, Myrna is one of four top business leaders responsible for driving robust growth in clients, people and profits.
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Her past successes in leading clients and business give her insights in achieving these growth goals by focusing on change management, talent development, Inclusion & Diversity, and succession planning.
Myrna has more than 30 years of experience in retirement plan consulting. She also serves as strategic advisor for some of the firm’s major clients. Previously, Myrna held various business leadership roles, including Northeast regional retirement leader for Towers Perrin and Metro New York Retirement Business Leader for Willis Towers Watson. She has also served as the Global Account Director and the lead retirement consultant for some of the firm’s largest clients.
Myrna has consulted in number of industries, including defense contractors, financial, non-profit, and higher education. She specializes in plan designs and financial management of pension plans. She has experience with Fortune 100 Boards and has given many speeches to various industry associations and served as panelist on topics ranging from financial management of pension plans to effective practices in Inclusion & Diversity.
Marco Diaz
Marco Diaz is Senior Vice President, Global Head of Benefits for News Corp. He is responsible for setting the overarching US benefits strategy in conjunction with the various business divisions with oversight to UK and Australian operations as well. Benefits include a broad suite of Health & Welfare plans, retirement plans such as defined contribution, defined benefit and non-qualified.
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Prior to News Corp, Marco worked for Thomson Reuters 2000 where he oversaw the Americas benefits function. He is currently serving as the Board Chair of NEBGH.
Niyum Gandhi
Niyum Gandhi is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at Mass General Brigham. His responsibilities include financial oversight for the $15BN integrated academic health system and management within the areas of Corporate Finance, Treasury, Managed Care, Real Estate, and Supply Chain.
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Prior to joining Mass General Brigham in 2021, Niyum served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Population Health Officer at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. In addition to overseeing the financial operations of the organization’s eight hospitals and the Icahn School of Medicine, he built Mount Sinai’s clinically integrated network, direct-to-employer business unit, and consumer digital function in his role leading population health and consumer solutions.
Before his tenure at Mount Sinai, Niyum was a Partner in the Health and Life Sciences consulting practice of Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting firm, where he focused on financial planning, value-based health care, and transformation strategies for hospitals, physician groups, and health plans.
Niyum holds an A.B. in economics from Harvard University.
Arnell Hinkle
Arnell Hinkle is the founding Executive Director of the California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness (CANFit) Program. In this role, she is responsible for all aspects, including grant- making, program development, fiscal management, training, and technical assistance, of the day-to-day operation of a statewide program serving low-income, multi-ethnic adolescents.
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Ms. Hinkle’s efforts to produce culturally appropriate nutrition and physical activity education training resources emphasizing youth leadership are nationally recognized, and she has provided consultation to numerous private, state and national agencies including the 100 Black Men of America, Inc., South Dakota Lakota Sioux Diabetes Education Project, the Region 10, U.S. Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is a recipient of the 2003 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award. As a Eureka Communities Leadership Fellow, Ms. Hinkle worked with the Washington, DC -based policy group, Forum for Youth Investment, to examine how the youth development field can
incorporate nutrition and physical activity standards into after-school programs.
In the course of providing training and technical assistance to CANFit Program grantees, Arnell has experience working directly with residents of over eighty African American, Latino, Southeast Asian, Filipino, and American Indian, low-income communities throughout California. In addition to her work in the United States, she has also been involved in international development projects in India, Ecuador and Scotland.
Prior to her work at CANFit, Ms. Hinkle was Project Coordinator of the Hunger and Chronic Disease Prevention Program of the Contra Costa County Health Services Department, a professional chef, and organic farmer. Arnell has a BA degree in Geology from Princeton University, and both a BS in Nutrition and Clinical Dietetics, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Health Education Specialist.
Marc Lieberstein
Marc Lieberstein is a partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP and the co-chair of the Retail & Consumer Goods industry team. His practice focuses on intellectual property licensing and franchising in the retail/consumer goods and services areas, fashion/apparel and accessories, food and beverage, and commercial/industrial design, including the drafting, negotiation and enforcement of license and franchise documents and agreements, as well as implementation of branding and commercialization objectives for clients via licensing and franchising.
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In conjunction with the services above, he counsels clients on creating effective strategies for procuring, protecting and enforcing their global intellectual property assets. He frequently lectures and writes on intellectual property issues for a variety of intellectual property organizations and publications, including International Trademark Association (INTA), New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Intellectual Property Section, American Bar Association Forum on Franchising, Wharton Business Law Association at the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fashion Law Committee, Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), National Law Journal, IP Strategist and The New York Law Journal, Practical Law, The Licensing Journal.
Marc is a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York, University at Albany, B.A., History, Minor in Business, cum laude. He’s a member of the Bar Associations for Connecticut, Colorado, and New York.
Robert Murphy
Robert Murphy has over 25 years of hands-on marketing experience in a wide range of industries, including healthcare, retail, and political campaigns.
In healthcare specifically, he has led product development teams focused on patient-centric platforms for personal health management and chronic condition management, plus monitoring and intervention tools for provider teams.
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Robert’s consulting practice, Marketing Navigators, is currently working with Performance Clinical Systems and Healthy Communities Institute, both offering components for providing population health management solutions.
He has contributed marketing, communications, and branding guidance to the Foundation since its start. Robert lives in Southern California and has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH
Founder & President
Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School, where his teaching and research activities address the design of healthcare delivery systems that improve quality, cost-effectiveness, and access. He also works in consultation with several major organizations to develop healthcare programs that are centered on the use of emerging information technologies, combining “high tech” with “high-touch” in meeting the needs of patients and those who care for them.
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A published poet, Dr. Nobel has received several awards for his poetry including the Bain-Swiggett Prize from Princeton University, and the American Academy of Poets Prize from the University of Pennsylvania.
An avid arts supporter, Dr. Nobel has served on the Board of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company of New York City, the Board of Overseers of the De Cordova Art Museum in Lincoln, MA, and is a member of the Institute for Contemporary Art/Boston Director’s Circle.
Dr. Nobel graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University within the Science and Human Affairs program. He received his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania and completed his internal medicine residency at the Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. Board-certified in both Preventive Medicine and Internal Medicine, Dr. Nobel also holds Master’s Degrees in Epidemiology and Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health, where he is an adjunct professor.
Deborah Obalil
Deborah Obalil has 20 years of experience as a leader in the national arts and culture industry, having led multiple highly acclaimed organizations and served as a well-regarded management consultant to the field. She currently serves as the President & Executive Director of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design (AICAD), leading the organization in achieving its mission of strengthening and connecting its member schools, thus advancing art and design education.
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Prior to her appointment with AICAD, Deborah operated a successful boutique arts management consulting firm, Obalil & Associates. The firm provided consultation and facilitation in strategic planning, marketing research and planning, and board development for non-profit arts organizations, independent artists of all disciplines, and creative for-profit ventures.
Deborah’s career has included leadership roles with the Alliance of Artists Communities, Arts & Business Council of Chicago, and the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. She has served on numerous non-profit boards of directors including Res Artis, the international network of artist residency centres; New Urban Arts, one of the country’s premier youth arts organizations, and Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts, a statewide advocacy organization, among others. In addition to the Foundation, Deborah currently serves on the board of Clinica Esperanza, a free clinic in Providence, RI that provides linguistically appropriate, culturally sensitive care to those in need.
Deborah received a Bachelor of Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University in History and Dance, and a certificate from the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders – Arts at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
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