Katie Quintas
Founder and CEO
Board Chair
Prior to founding Here to Serve in 2011, Kathleen Quintas designed and managed the local, national and international fundraising programs of over 100 nonprofits through her work with two of the largest marketing/communications and fundraising agencies in North America, the Russ Reid Company and Grizzard Communications, now merged and called One & All. She also was responsible for the philanthropic and volunteer initiatives of a California nonprofit serving children and families in crisis with social and mental health services. She has served in the field of nonprofit fundraising, marketing and communications for nonprofits and corporate philanthropy programs since 2000. Prior to this, she had her own marketing and communications agency after being Vice President at a direct marketing agency. Rounding out her background is her experience in telecommunications at TeleTech and journalism at McGraw-Hill. Learn more: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kquintas
Kathleen is also a mother and wife who has been through life-threatening medical events while holding down a full-time job. Both her son and husband were diagnosed with cancer six months apart; her son with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and her husband with leukemia. They were treated in two different hospitals across town from each other; her son at City of Hope in Duarte, CA and her husband at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, CA. The magnitude of her personal crisis allowed Kathleen to experience the physical, spiritual, intellectual and emotional toll it takes. She knows the challenges such an event can bring about and she also has met dozens and dozens of other people who have gone through crises and gained knowledge from their struggles and needs. Kathleen Quintas is a graduate of Ohio University where she majored in Communications and holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism. She has been a contributor to industry organizations and trade journals on the topics of fundraising, marketing and communications. She has also spoken at trade conferences and seminars on these subjects.
John Hellickson
Board Vice Chair
John Hellickson is a veteran information security and risk management executive who brings over 30 years of information technology experience, with the last 26 years focused on security and risk management. As a Cybersecurity Executive Consultant, John specializes in cybersecurity strategy, governance & cyber resilience to help chief executives develop business-aligned cybersecurity strategies and to manage those security programs long-term with measurable outcomes. John is also a small business owner in the Colorado Springs area, helping local businesses reduce their operating costs through innovative mobile compaction Smash Truck™ services while helping his customers positively impact the environment.
John previously served as Global Chief Security Officer at First Data, the world’s largest third-party processor of credit and debit card transactions. He joined First Data in the late 1990s as a hands-on security engineer and quickly progressed through security leadership ranks to lead the 400-person $96M global security program. Earlier in his career, John served seven years in the US Air Force, supporting base communications, information technologies, and managing the security of highly classified systems directly supporting the United States nuclear war plan at US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).
The mission and over a decade-long commitment that Here to Serve has been providing had hit home with John, where close family and friends have gone through battles with cancer who could have benefited from the wraparound support services that Here to Serve provides. “I could not find a more impactful non-profit for families forced into the cancer journey that was unfortunately sprung upon them!🎗️” John shared that he wanted to help the organization on its own journey of being more easily recognized and known for being the most supportive and trusted wraparound services to ease the burden for those families navigating cancer.
Adeel Khan
Board Treasurer
Adeel Khan is an experienced public company executive and accomplished CFO whose experience spans 25 years in commercial real estate and other industries. He is recognized for his expertise in commercial real estate, initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, financial & operational strategies, acquisitions and development, capital and debt markets, enterprise risk management, and leadership development. He brings board governance experience and is qualified to serve as a financial expert on audit committees.
Adeel learned about the end-to-end program/mission offered by Here to Serve after a discussion with CEO and Founder Katie Quintas. Furthermore, Adeel’s spouse previously worked for USC/Norris Cancer Hospital and learned about the cancer journey for the patients and families through years of secondary discussions and experiences. Adeel’s goal is to extend the mission by further developing the organization’s structure and to help elevate every facet of the organization ultimately leading to support for additional families. Hopefully this will allow the organization to go from a best-kept secret to a household name.
Jeff Eyrich
Board Secretary
Jeff brings a varied background of corporate management and entrepreneurship to Here to Serve’s board of directors. For the past 15 years, he has been managing a boutique systems development and implementation consultancy, Leverage Point Corporation, that he founded in 2005. During the 20 years prior to Leverage Point, Jeff held a variety of sales and management positions in the technology field, culminating in his position as Regional Vice President over western operations for a global software and services company, responsible for combined annual revenue of over $70 million.
Jeff became aware of Here to Serve after the organization began supporting a close family friend in his battle with Osteosarcoma, and saw first hand how families can struggle juggling the myriad of responsibilities and challenges that come with caring for a child with a life-threatening illness. After actively participating in the care community that Here to Serve helped organize for the family, Jeff became interested in helping the organization grow and develop more efficient methods for serving families in need.
Jeff hopes that the combination of process expertise and technology experience that he brings to the table can help Here to Serve streamline operations, develop efficient technology solutions and improve outreach and service delivery.
Stephen Chen
Board Member
Technology Committee Chair
Stephen Chen brings over 25+ years of leadership in program management, engineering development, and IT operations, defining strategies, leading programs to success, and offering creative ways to streamline the process for productivity and affordability. Having worked in the defense industry, commercial organizations, and nonprofits, he brings large organization discipline to start-ups and reintroduces the nimbleness of start-ups to large organizations. As a Senior Vice President at NuCompass Mobility today, Stephen serves as the visionary and architect for innovation, implementation and management of technology, security and data science solutions that support business execution and growth. He stays engaged with current events via different communities, including being a member of Cybersecurity Advisory Council for California State University, Chico, and publications through Forbes Technology Council.
Having lost both his mother and mother-in-law to cancer, Stephen understands the challenge and importance of having a good support system. As a lifelong techie, Stephen wants to pay it forward by leveraging technology to serve the common societal good and further Here To Serve’s mission to better cancer care and the treatment/recovery journey.
Dr. Ned Swanson
Board Member
Program Committee Chair
Dr. Ned Swanson has a unique background combining scientific, clinical, and industry knowledge. He is passionately dedicated to improving outcomes for patients across the entire patient journey, from therapeutic innovation to comprehensive social support. He obtained his M.D. with honors from Harvard Medical School and trained as a resident in plastic and reconstructive surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During his time at Harvard and Hopkins, he witnessed the importance of focusing on quality of life and the outcomes that are most impactful to patients.
After Hopkins, Dr. Swanson co-founded PolarityTE, Inc, (Nasdaq: PTE), a biotech company developing a range of regenerative tissue products and biomaterials, led by its flagship product SkinTE® that has helped save patients’ lives and limbs with >1,200 patients treated. As a co-founder of PolarityTE, he gained extensive experience building and operating a public company – serving numerous roles as a former Board Member, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Swanson has over 18 years of experience in biomedical research spanning oncology, transplant immunology, cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and neuroscience leading to more than 45 peer-reviewed papers, four book chapters, and 30 conference presentations. Prior to medical school, Dr. Swanson completed his undergraduate training in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science, with his senior thesis focused on red blood cell drug delivery for traumatic brain injury.
As a clinician, I am dedicated to improving the lives of patients and their families, which includes the entire journey from diagnosis through treatment. I couldn’t be more excited to join the team at Here to Serve because I know we can fill a massive unmet need for cancer patients and their families by delivering wrap-around support. By supporting the journey, Here to Serve will undoubtedly elevate the outcomes of the traditional focus on treatment and research – a vision that should permeate every field of medicine.
Kayla Moriarty
Board Member
Marketing Committee Chair
Kayla is an award-winning marketer and industry leader who specializes in brand marketing and awareness. She was recently named a Rising Leader Under 40 honoree by AdExchanger, and has also been named one of the Top Women in Media and a Social Media Groundbreaker by Cynopsis, as well as named one of the Cynopsis 2021 It List honorees. She has spoken on native advertising panels at Adweek Europe, and has won several PromaxBDA, Webby Adweek, YouTube Works, and Clio awards. Kayla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Fairfield University and a Master’s of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.
She recently served as the first-ever VP of Marketing at Headgum (comedy podcast network) and the first-ever VP of Digital Consumer Marketing for the MTV Entertainment Group (Comedy Central, Paramount Network, MTV, VH1, CMT, TV Land, Pop, Smithsonian, and Logo) where she worked on campaigns for series and franchises such as: Broad City, South Park, VMAs, Yellowstone, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Kayla’s background in social work and working with partners of patients in the GYN Oncology unit at Roosevelt hospital lead her to seek out an opportunity to lend her marketing skills to a life-changing organization. She is excited to contribute to the mission-driven work at Here to Serve.
Jason Hicks
Board Member
Jason Hicks is a veteran information security and risk management executive with CISO experience in the finance, retail, information security service provider, entertainment, manufacturing, and logistics verticals. As a Field CISO for Coalfire, he is responsible for helping our client CISO’s maximize their security investments and program maturity. Prior to Coalfire, he was the Global CISO for the Kudelski Group (SWX: KUD) and was responsible for the global security programs at five member company’s. Jason also provided Virtual CISO services to multiple, multi-billion-dollar organizations. Prior to Kudelski Group, Jason served as global chief information security officer (CISO) at Ares Management LLP (NYSE: ARES), a multi-national alternative asset manager with more than $262 billion in assets under management.
Hicks joined Here To Serve’s board of directors to do his part to help families in their fights with cancer. Cancer has taken multiple family members from him, and touched others that won their battles.
Jennifer Doner
Board Member
Jennifer (Jenn) Doner is a healthcare business leader who has been driven for over two decades to improve health and well-being through advancing business strategy. Her career has spanned healthcare consulting and executive leadership of multiple organizations & business functions, including a large orthopedic practice, care model innovation for home dialysis, and modernization & innovation solutions for large healthcare businesses. Her leadership has focused on transforming and driving change across all types of healthcare organizations (e.g., not-for-profit, for-profit, academic, large hospital systems, physician practices, and insurance corporations) to address the gaps in our healthcare systems today.
As an individual who has experienced journeys in healthcare, personally and professionally, Jenn believes in the invaluable impact of enabling support, care, and inspiration for families facing pediatric cancer. By helping to support families during their cancer journey, Jenn hopes these services help reduce stress and propel hope, which could have an exponential impact on clinical outcomes.
