Board of Directors

Courtney specializes in helping medical organizations stimulate research, raise money and awareness.

Currently an independent consultant, Courtney previously served as the Executive Director of the Lung Cancer Research Foundation in New York. She was also the Director of Development of the Psychiatry Department at UCSF and Vice President of the HHV-6 Foundation where she is now a board member.

Prior to running medical research foundations, Courtney worked in fixed income at Goldman Sachs and Drake Management. She received her undergraduate degree in Economics from Boston College and her MBA from the Wharton School of Business at The University of Pennsylvania.

Courtney became passionate about finding a cure for celiac after a close family member was diagnosed with the disease. She resides in Marin County, California with her husband and two young children.

Jim Watson is the Chief Operating Officer of Park West Asset Management LLC, a hedge fund located in Larkspur, California, and is responsible for all operational aspects of running Park West.

His responsibilities include overseeing marketing, investor relations, accounting, human resources, audit, legal, tax, information technology, and office management.

Jim has been the COO since 2013. Prior to his current role, he was the CFO of Park West for over eight years. Prior to joining Park West, Jim was the CFO of Pantera Capital Management LP, a hedge fund in San Francisco, for two years.

Prior to that, Jim was the CFO of Orchid Asia Management, a private equity firm in San Francisco focused on making investments operating in Asia, for six years. Prior to that, Jim was a CPA and manager in the tax department of the San Francisco office of Arthur Andersen LLP for four years.

While at Arthur Andersen Jim’s focus was on compliance and consulting to large hedge funds and large private equity firms. Jim received his Masters in Accounting from Rice University in 1991 and graduated first in his class. Jim also received an undergraduate degree in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University in 1989 and graduated magna cum laude.

Jim was diagnosed with celiac disease in April 2012 and with microscopic colitis in August 2013. Jim attended his first Celiac Disease Foundation Annual Meeting in the spring of 2014.

At the Annual Meeting, Jim instantly connected with a brief speech given by the then CDF Board Chair, Marc Riches, and eagerly wanted to be a part of the CDF team. Jim is passionate about CDF’s role as an advocate for all of those afflicted with celiac disease or other gluten related disorders and is extremely excited to be a part of the board.

Jim resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Rebecca and their two young children.

Brad is a Shareholder in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s Los Angeles office and a member of the Water & Public Lands and Public Agency Groups.

His practice includes a broad range of water issues in the Southwest, including strategic water supply planning, water rights permitting and regulatory compliance, adjudications of groundwater rights, water utility concerns, Indian water rights and environmental matters affecting water use, including CEQA compliance and water quality issues, including those arising under the federal Clean Water Act and California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.

Brad works closely with numerous public water agencies, special districts, private landowners and water utilities, assisting them with transactional negotiations, litigation and administrative agency proceedings.

He serves as counsel to the Chino Basin Watermaster and the South Tahoe Public Utility District, and represents private landowners in the Antelope Valley Groundwater Adjudication and golf courses throughout the Southwest. He speaks and writes frequently on topics related to water rights and management.

Brad is a Trustee for the William Sansum Diabetes Center and a Director for the Groundwater Resources Association of California, and serves as a member of the Executive Committee for each.

Brad was diagnosed with celiac disease at the age of 35 and in the past two years a number of his immediate family members have also been diagnosed. He is passionate about reducing the population of those yet undiagnosed and providing the recently diagnosed with resources for their gluten-free lifestyles.

Adrienne has been a volunteer for Celiac Disease Foundation since 2012 when her son, Alex, was diagnosed at age three. Alex was born premature at a little over four pounds, and spent his first three years on the lowest point of the growth curve.

After one year with no weight gain, Alex’s pediatrician recommended that he be tested for celiac disease. Alex’s diagnosis drove Adrienne to seek help and guidance and also inspired her to help others. Adrienne has served as a support contact person, handling many calls and emails from those newly diagnosed.

However, she primarily focused her efforts on fundraising for Celiac Disease Foundation by coordinating Team Gluten-Free events throughout the year. Since 2012, Adrienne has raised tens of thousands of dollars and was named CDF’s 2016 Volunteer of Year.

Professionally, Adrienne is a Vice President in the Alternatives Investment Solution division of State Street Corporation. Adrienne manages a team that services several hedge fund clients with assets in excess of $20 billion.

She is a 2001 graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and Finance. Adrienne resides in Montgomery, New Jersey with her husband, Aaron, and two children, Alex and Ava.

Over the span of 21 years Elaine Monarch took Celiac Disease Foundation from a small group of celiac patients seeking to find out about their disease and support each other, to the leading national celiac organization with over 144 Chapters and Support Groups across the country.

Founded in 1990 by Elaine, this amazing CDF network was supported by members and volunteers and continues today to raise awareness, advocate for patient concerns and build a supportive community for patients, families and healthcare professionals.

Elaine created a renowned international Medical Advisory Board and established relationships with the NIH, NIDDK, NDDIC and the FDA.  In 2004, the NIH held the first ever Celiac Disease Consensus Conference and Elaine had the honor of serving on the Planning Committee.

It was this landmark event that put celiac disease “on the map” with the research confirming that celiac disease affects 1 in 133.

In 1996 and 1998 Elaine was an honored nominee receiving the Outstanding Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) on National Philanthropy Day. She also received a Certificate of Recognition for Distinguished Philanthropic Leadership of Celiac Disease Foundation by the National Society of Fundraising Executives in 2000.

Elaine was a founding member of the American Celiac Disease Alliance and worked with this cadre of nonprofit organizations, food manufacturers and health professionals who united to form one voice for the celiac community with regard to food labeling legislation.

The passage of the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA ) in 2006 which defined gluten-free, was due in large part to the efforts of this organization.

In May 2011, Elaine retired as Executive Director of CDF and accepted a lifetime appointment to the CDF Board of Directors in Spring 2012. She continues to be actively involved with CDF, sharing her vision for a greater awareness of celiac disease and an improved quality of life for those with gluten-related disorders.

Christopher J. Holland is a reinsurance exec with over 14 years of experience, primarily serving in underwriting, portfolio construction, relationship management & client focused roles. He is a Vice President at Chubb Tempest Re. In this role, he is focused on the underwriting, client management, and production of casualty reinsurance portfolios. Prior to joining Chubb, he was at various reinsurance and insurance organizations, where he spent most of his time building specialty casualty reinsurance and insurance portfolios for market leading reinsurers and insurers.

He was named by Insurance Business America as “Young Guns 2017” and Intelligent Insurer as “Rising Stars: Top 40 Under 35” in 2015.  Christopher serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Celiac Disease Foundation.  He has hosted the CDF golf outing in NY for 7 years with a family focus on raising funds for Celiac Disease.

Lee and his sister were both diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2012. Over the last 8+ years as a Celiac patient, he has been shocked by the lack of understanding of the disease in the medical community. His personal frustration living with Celiac disease compelled him to seek help and support from the Celiac Disease Foundation.

In the professional realm, Lee is responsible for developing Google’s global product strategy, launch timelines and go-to-market planning for the app ads business. He is focused on delivering the next generation of products & solutions for app developers and marketers.

Lee has over 15 years of digital marketing & agency experience and joined Google in 2010. Prior to Google, Lee worked at Conversant, Group M, and Reviewed.com. Lee is a graduate of Middlebury College and lives in San Francisco with his wife and 3 children.

An accomplished technology leader and entrepreneur, Mr. Ramer has helped raise tens of millions of dollars in financing for growth companies in the Cleantech, sustainability, and energy sectors. Over the past fourteen years, he has helped rapidly grow three companies into successful enterprises resulting in very significant increases in shareholder value.

Since 2010, Mr. Ramer has been Chief Executive Officer and Founder of EV Connect, a market-leading company which deploys and manages electric vehicle charge stations for government and enterprise customers across North America.

EV Connect has grown into the leading provider of electric vehicle charge station management services in North America and supports thousands of drivers daily with its technology.

Prior to EV Connect, Mr. Ramer led corporate development for NanoH2O, a venture-backed developer of energy efficient water purification technology. As one of the first employees, he was instrumental in defining the company’s business model, helping to raise venture financing, and managing governmental affairs for the company, which was recently sold to LG Chem in 2014.

He also held executive positions for over 7 years in business development, product management and marketing at AeroVironment, a leader in clean transportation and energy systems, where he spent seven years elevating the company into the industry leader, spearheading the company’s international expansion and launching its fleet management software solution.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ramer held roles in business development, finance and strategy for several venture-backed technology start-ups and received his CPA while working at his first professional job at Arthur Andersen.
Mr. Ramer has served as a Loaned Executive with the United Way, and the boards of the Wildwoods Foundation and UC Santa Barbara Bren School Eco-Entrepreneurship Council.

His non-profit board service started after completing the Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development Program in 2002.

In recognition of his board service with the Wildwoods Foundation, he was awarded the US President’s Volunteer Service Award, which was established in 2003 to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in our communities and encourage more people to serve.

He holds a Masters of Business Administration from UCLA Anderson and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Skidmore College. He is married and lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and two children.

Jamie Resin is a Vice President in the Los Angeles office of the Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management Group, advising high net worth individuals, families and non-profit institutions. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2001. Jamie earned his B.A. in Economics and History from Emory University in 1992 with Phi Beta Kappa Honors, and his MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA in 2001 with High Honors. Jamie serves on the Investment Committee for Sinai Akiba Academy, a private Jewish day school in Los Angeles.

Jamie and his wife Talia live in Beverlywood and have three sons.  Their youngest son, Jackson, was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 12 and is a Student Ambassador for the Celiac Disease Foundation.

Since my daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2006 – after almost 10 years of misdiagnosis – I have become immersed in educating myself about the disease. In this process, I have become a fierce and passionate advocate about raising celiac awareness in the community.

This includes helping families with recently diagnosed celiac disease members learn how to not only lead a gluten free lifestyle, but to also address the emotional and social challenges that come with living with an autoimmune disorder.

It is my strong belief that there was a missing support mechanism to address the emotional and social challenges of celiac disease that led my husband, Peter, and I to approach the Celiac Disease Foundation about developing a program late last year.

Our interest in developing a program ultimately led us to become the founding financial sponsors of the Gluten-Related Conditions Youth Support Group Initiative, a national continuing education program that will someday train psychologists, medical professionals and lay people to effectively deliver education and support services that will provide patients and families with the skills to cope with this disease.

I am a make-up artist and live in Tarzana with my husband and two children. I trained at the Lancôme Institute in Paris and credits include album covers, magazines, television, and social events. I have had the pleasure of working with amazing artists such as Johnny Depp, Cher, Elle Macpherson, Annie Lennox and countless others. I love traveling and skiing and have lived in Paris, Tel Aviv, Guadalajara, Acapulco, and Hawaii.

It is my sincere hope that through my involvement with the board of CDF and our support of the Gluten-Related Conditions Youth Support Group Initiative, that we can raise the awareness of celiac disease throughout the community, help diagnose more previously undiagnosed Celiacs, and to help those already diagnosed.

I am so excited and honored to become part of this amazing and important organization!

Warren Saft has spent his entire career on Wall Street, the majority of which has been in structured finance. In early 2017 he joined Brownstone Investment Group, LLC as a Managing Director. Prior to joining Brownstone he had a similar mandate while a Managing Director at CapRok Capital LLC and a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns. Previously Warren was at Creditex where he had numerous roles, including setting up their structured product and data businesses. Warren began his career at Citigroup in the Associate Program.

Warren holds a B.S. and a Master of Engineering in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University. He was a member of Cornell’s first graduating class in the Financial Engineering concentration.

Linda Solomon was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2015, after having no idea it was a GI problem. Shortly thereafter, 2 of her children were diagnosed. After attending the Celiac Disease Foundation annual conference, she knew that she had to be a part of this organization and its mission.

Linda has recently joined the board of directors for the Celiac Disease Foundation to help in the future research and development in supporting the community at large with Celiac Disease.

Linda is a Systems Engineer with a major Aerospace company in Southern California. Linda holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Northridge as well as a Masters of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. Linda brings a nurturing mind and a passion for advocating for oneself.

Linda is an avid golfer, runner (especially mud runs and obstacle courses), potter and loves Tae Kwon Do. Linda resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.

In December 2012, John A. Wagner was named the first Chief Operating Officer, of First 5 LA, building on his nearly two decades of experience in running a number of state departments in the health and human services arena. In August 2016, John was promoted to the position of Executive Vice President.

Prior to joining First 5 LA, John served as Director of the California Department of Community Services and Development from 2011-2012, and Director of the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) from 2007-2011. At CDSS, he oversaw a budget of over $20 billion and programs affecting California’s most vulnerable residents including foster children and youth; children and families receiving aid through the California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs); and children and adults in state-licensed community care facilities.

John has served as senior policymaker and advisor to both Republican and Democratic administrations in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and California. Prior to coming to California, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Children, Youth and Families for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, where he coordinated policies and programs across many state agencies. Additionally, John served as the state’s Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance from 2002 to 2007.

John earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University.

Yasith Weerasuriya is President of Stanbridge University, located in Irvine and Los Angeles, California. Stanbridge is an award-winning institution with a focus on healthcare training that leads to licensure, offering programs in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Nursing, and Veterinary Science. Mr. Weerasuriya has over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the education sector. He attended Wichita State University and Irvine Valley College and was founding President of the College Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, President of the Alpha Gamma Sigma chapter, and President of the Honor Society.

After working with the Special Projects Department at Irvine Valley College in 1996 to facilitate a partnership between Microsoft and over a hundred California community colleges, Mr. Weerasuriya founded Executive 2000 Inc. Executive 2000 quickly grew to become an industry leader in Information Technology, Information Security and Optical Fiber Training in California. In 2003, Mr. Weerasuriya led the organization to national accreditation and broadened the focus to include medical and business training, establishing what would become Stanbridge University. Mr. Weerasuriya founded Stanbridge on the core values of innovation, technology, academic rigor, and community engagement, and it has received national recognition for its focus on service. Recipient of the IMPACT 2018 Award for Innovation in Education, CAPPS 2017 School of the Year Award, ACCSC School of Excellence Award and 6 consecutive years of placement in the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, Stanbridge is home to the first Synthetic Cadaver Lab on the West Coast, robotic telemedicine as well as one of the largest virtual reality labs for medical training in the United States.

Mr. Weerasuriya is an active member of the World Affairs Council of Orange County where he is a Trustee and recently served as Chairman. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Discovery Science Center and has previously served on the Orange County Workforce Investment Board, the Second Harvest Food Bank, and California Association of Private Post-Secondary Schools of which he was a past President. Mr. Weerasuriya is a nationwide speaker on the integration of service in higher education pedagogy and recently founded the Root for Change initiative to plant 10,000 trees in Southern California by the end of 2020.  His daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease at age five, inspiring him to pursue a partnership with the Celiac Disease Foundation, as they seek a cure.

Kristin Yarema has a passion for bringing new medicines to patients. She has over 20 years experience working across the many different functional areas needed to make the promise of new medicines a reality.  Kristin started her career in biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing, earning her PhD at UC Berkeley, and spending time as a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen, Germany.  She then moved into industry, working as a junior partner in McKinsey & Company’s global pharmaceuticals and medical products consulting practice, and later in a series of clinical development and commercial roles including Global Head, Strategic Marketing, at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel, Switzerland.  Now back in the US at Amgen in Southern California, Kristin has overseen the US dermatology business, and served as Global Marketing Therapeutic Area head for inflammation, bone, and nephrology.  In this capacity, she has overseen pipeline development in multiple areas, including autoimmune disease. She was a driver of Amgen’s partnership with Celimmune to develop a new treatment for refractory celiac disease.  Currently, Kristin serves as Amgen’s Vice President for Global Product Strategy and Commercial Innovation. Kristin’s passion for improving diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease is also personal, with her elder daughter diagnosed at age 2 and other celiacs later discovered throughout her family.