The NEGU Foundation is lead by a seasoned team of professionals from various backgrounds, who all share a passion for bringing hope and encouragement to kids fighting cancer and other serious medical conditions.
Gina Crofts – Director
After a very successful and rewarding career with Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, Gina joins The NEGU Foundation to enhance and advance the mission. A perfect opportunity to ignight her passions for pedatric cancer and release her talents for leadership, management and donor relations.
While at PCRF, Gina learned the art of building and leading a foundation focused on finding a “cure” for pediatric cancer. Now Gina takes all of her experiences, passions and talents to help build and lead NEGU to provide “care” to families in the fight.
Gina and her husband Ed live in Irvine, CA and have been blessed with five wonderful children.
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Erik Rees - Jessie’s Daddy
On March 3, 2011 the tapestry of the Rees family changed forever when they were told their 12 year old daughter Jessie had an inoperable brain tumor. This heart wrenching news challenged Erik like never before and led him to turn Jessie’s dreams into realities…Dream #1 spread joy through JoyJars. Dream #2 help children Never Ever Give Up in their medical fight. Erik is the Pastor of Ministries & Worship Life at Saddleback Church. A perfect role that taps into his twenty years of life coaching and people development to assist people in surrendering their life, seizing their life purpose and setting their life plan. Erik is the author of several books including Only You Can Be You, S.H.A.P.E. and Congratulations…You’re Gifted. Erik’s greatest joy in life is spending time with his wife Stacey and their three children Shaya, Jessica and JT.
Kim Eilber – Member, Board of Directors
Kim Eilber is a Vice President at Northern Trust in Denver’s Wealth Strategies Group. She specializes in financial solutions and planning for high net worth individuals and their families as well as non-profit entities.
Prior to joining Northern Trust in 2010, Eilber was a Planning Director with Citigroup’s Global Wealth Advisory Services. She was responsible for providing services to high net worth clients in a five state region. She focused on developing strategic financial and estate planning with clients. In addition, Eilber has had experience in a local financial planning and investment management firm, as well as in Deloitte & Touche, one of the largest public accounting firms.
Eilber is a member of both the Denver and Rocky Mountain Estate Planning Councils. She is an active volunteer in the community. A graduate of UCLA, Eilber received her law degree and masters in tax from the University of Denver. She is a Certified Financial Planner™ and holds her Series 7 and 63 licenses.
Terry Rocheleau – Member, Board of Directors
Terry is known as “Mr. Ops” for his amazing organizational and strategic leadership skills, which he developed over his 40 year career and at his position VP at Albertsons. Terry has supported many charities over the years and beleives NEGU will become a national brand of encouragement and hope.
Terry is always thinking of ways to best leverage the foundations resources so 90% always goes to fulfilling of our mission. Terry also has a massive heart for people who are hurting, which makes him a great addition the The NEGU Foundation.
Terry and his wife Nancy live in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.
Toni Andrews – Member, Board of Directors
Toni has a heart of gold and deep passion for kids fighting cancer. Toni also enjoys cultivating and connecting resources to great missions like NEGU so that more children can be cared for and encouraged.
Toni has served on many local and national charities focused on serving children in need. Toni has also helped her husband Ronnie build one of the most successful cancer diagnostic companies in the world known as Clarient.
Toni and Ronnie live in Coto de Caza, CA and have three amazing children.
Cary Larger - Member, Board of Directors
Cary’s career started in 1993 at Nordstrom as a salesperson, she quickly moved off the sales floor and took on a position in management, where she stayed for two years. She then landed a corporate job with the Northwest Event Marketing team where she planned corporate events across the western half of the United States. After spending 12 years with Nordstrom she switched careers and began her work in the non-profit sector with a large Hospital Foundation on the Special Event team. In 2010 she began her role as Senior Vice President of Community Fundraising. Her focus within the Foundation is Special Events and Corporate Giving. Cary holds a Bachelors of Art in Psychology, with a focus in Consumer Psychology, from Marylhurst University. Cary spends her time with her family in Colorado. She has a wonderful husband, a 17 month old son, and two dogs.
Jeff Frum - Member, Board of Directors
Jeff has over 25 years of experience as a corporate leader with Fortune 100 medical device companies. He is currently a Vice President for a major orthopedic manufacturer. Jeff resides in Trabuco Canyon, CA with his wife Joy and their 6 children the last two were recently adopted from Uganda.
For the past 15 years Jeff has served in various leadership positions at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA and has been a speaker at Purpose Driven Church Conferences both locally and internationally. He also serves on the Leadership team for Until Then an organization focused on outreach to street children around the world.
Marilyn Skeie Henley - Director, Board of Directors
Marilyn spent 20 years as CFO for a construction company in Los Angeles, where she was also a partner. Most recently as co-owner of a construction company and property management company for the last 16 years. Marilyn’s goal for the NEGU Foundation is to lead effectively and maintain proper accounting practices, protect the Foundation’s non-profit status, closely follow the income/expenses, and to advise where needed.
Marilyn and her husband Bob live in Newport Beach, California and enjoy boating with their dogs.
THE BOARD OF ADVISORS
Ron A. Andrews - Member, Board of Advisors
Ron has been Chief Executive Officer of Clarinet since July 2004. From August 2002, Andrews was Senior Vice President Global Marketing and Commercial Business Development at Pleasanton, CA-based Roche Molecular Diagnostics. In that role, he developed and led the strategic execution for all diagnostic commercial operations. This included the oversight of five Business Sector Vice Presidents responsible for all aspects of global marketing and business development in the areas of blood screening, virology, women’s health, microbiology and automation/emerging diagnostics. Ron was also responsible for executive direction of all marketing functions, directed the development of the 10-year Strategic Plan for the organization, and completed the reorganization of commercial operations during that period.
From 2000 to 2002, Ron held two senior executive positions with Indianapolis-based Roche Diagnostics Corporation. As Vice President, U.S. Commercial Operations, Molecular Diagnostics, he directed sales, marketing, technical field support, and product development activities and was responsible for US commercial strategy development for the clinical laboratory market. Prior to that, as Vice President, Marketing, US Commercial Operations, he was responsible for planning and directing all aspects of the Roche US Laboratory Systems Commercial Operations Marketing which included the clinical chemistry, immunochemistry, hematology, near patient testing and molecular markets.
Ron earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from Spartanburg, SC-based Wofford College in 1981 and has participated extensively in the executive development programs at both Roche and Abbott Labs. He currently lives with his wife and three children in Coto de Caza, CA.
Dick Allen - Member, Board of Advisors
Dick has over 39 years experience in the health care industry, both as an operating executive and as an angel investor/board member. He started his career at Baxter Healthcare, holding domestic and international positions in both finance and operations during his 10 year stint there. After leaving Baxter, Dick co-founded Caremark, a venture capital-backed pioneer of IV infusion therapy delivered in the home. He headed the finance, operations, and administration functions of the company at various times in its period of rapid growth and was instrumental in helping to lead a successful IPO just three years after the company’s founding. Since Caremark’s sale to Baxter in 1987, Dick has been President of DIMA Ventures, a privately-held firm that provides seed capital and board support for start-up companies in the medical device and health care IT markets. In this capacity, he has been a founder, board member, or early-stage private investor in more than a dozen companies. He co-founded Pyxis Corporation, a manufacturer and marketer of hospital-based automated prescription drug storage and dispensing devices, and he served on the executive committee of the Board of Directors until the sale of the company for almost $1 billion to Cardinal Health in 1996.
Dick held the position of Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business from 1989 to 1993. He returned to Stanford in 2004 where he is presently teaching a course entitled “Managing Growing Enterprises”. Dick is a past Chairman of the Board of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, and he continues to serve as a board member for the hospital. He is also a past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Business Council and a past recipient of the Director of the Year award from the Orange County Forum for Corporate Directors. He is on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Community Foundation, the M.I.N.D. Institute, and several privately held health care companies.
Dick received his BS degree (cum laude) from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, and has been married to his wife Mary for 41 years. They are both active in the Orange County chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They live in Newport Beach, California, and have two grown children and two grandchildren.
David Crockett - Member, Board of Advisors
Mr. Crockett is well-known in the bio-medical device industry, and represents industry leaders with diverse technologies, including internet communications, silicon wafer processing, and virtual reality systems. His technical expertise spans many disciplines, including nuclear power, electronics and electrical engineering, hydraulics, pumps and motors, medical devices, software, communications, silicon wafer processing, and nitinol and shape memory materials. Mr. Crockett draws on this vast technical experience to provide specialized patent counseling dealing with multi-disciplinary technology issues.
Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Crockett was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy on board the fast attack submarine USS La Jolla (SSN 701). Mr. Crockett was also associated with Lyon & Lyon before forming Crockett & Crockett.
