Board of Trustees

Eric Eastham is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for The Familie, an agency representing top talent in sports, music, art, and media with offices in Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Certified as an NFL agent since 2018, Eric founded ALIGN Sports Management, also acquired by The Familie, with the goal of protecting players in every facet of their careers while also maximizing their opportunities on and off the field. Eric represented a diverse network of clients in licensing, intellectual property, and litigation at the Boston-based law firm, Mintz. Eric served on our Philanthropy Committee before joining our Board of Trustees. He lives with his spouse and three children in North San Diego County.

Matthew (Matt) Cobas is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and founder of Kaiyo Wealth. He provides comprehensive financial planning and investment management to high-net-worth individuals, families, and business owners. Matt is a 2020 graduate of LEAD San Diego, the leadership program of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Prior to his career as a financial advisor, he served as an officer in the United States Navy for 8 years, between active and reserve duty.  A native San Diegan, Matt lives with his spouse and two children in San Diego. Matt brings his diverse background, expertise in wealth management, and knowledge of our community in service to our San Diego Ronald McDonald House.

Brandy Bullen is the founder and CEO of Sequoia Consulting Group, which serves life sciences and biotech industries in California.  Their Sequoia Gives Back division also raises funds and awareness for San Diego charities, which is how she first engaged with the House. Brandy manages the company’s business and client development while maintaining a sharp eye on trends in the life sciences field. Her experience managing rapid development will be crucial in responding to the increasing number of families passing through our doors.

Tasia Blazevich serves as US Life Science IPO co-leader and San Diego market leader for the Accounting & Reporting Advisory services practice at Deloitte & Touche LLP. Tasia provides transaction advisory services for clients looking to enter the public markets (IPO, Reverse-Merger, SPAC), and has expertise over complex technical accounting, SEC Reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance matters. She specializes in working with emerging growth life science companies and also serves companies in the technology and consumer products industries. She has over 20 years of experience working with both public and private companies and is a CPA in the State of California. She graduated with a B.S. from USC and received her Master of Science in Accountancy from San Diego State University.

Anthony Bernal is Senior Program Manager of the technology sector for CBRE Global Workplace Solutions, serving Intuit, where he focuses on strategic and operational management. He has a decade of public policy experience with local, state, and federal government. Anthony graduated with Honors from the University of San Diego with a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership and Management, with an emphasis on impact investing. For the past two years, he served as a member of the Ronald McDonald House Operations Committee. He brings his extensive expertise in asset management, public policy, and impact investing to the Board. Anthony enjoys spending his free time with his wife, Amy, and their two young children, and playing competitive tennis.

Brian Cahill is president of the Southwest Division of Balfour Beatty Construction, where he focuses on continuing business growth, developing client relationships, and gaining momentum in emerging markets. Prior to that, Brian supervised projects as executive vice president of operations, and in this capacity, he led the construction team that built our current Ronald McDonald House. Brian is a Past Chair of our Board of Trustees. He’s been a longtime supporter of the House’s annual golf tournament, and he now serves as the chair for the event’s Golf Invitational Committee.

Bambos oversees a team of local professionals who provide wealth management advice, strategies and services to successful individuals, family offices, foundations and endowments throughout the San Diego area. Bambos has 15+ years of experience in financial services at J.P. Morgan. Most recently, he served as a banker at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in London. Bambos began his career at the Private Bank in the Europe, Middle East. and Africa Strategy Team, and also spent 5 years advising clients in Los Angeles and the Southern California region. He graduated with Honors from the University of Bath with a B.S. in Business. Bambos has obtained the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation, the Series 7 and 63 licenses in the US and is registered by the FCA in the UK.

Trulette Clayes and her spouse Jeff Partrick have been involved with our Ronald McDonald House for more than a decade and have regularly served Thanksgiving dinner to our families. Together they have introduced many of their friends and family members to our House. A Coronado native, Trulette is the Co-Trustee of the Joseph Clayes III Charitable Trust and has recently retired after a distinguished career as the controller for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. She graduated with a degree in accountancy from the University of San Diego before joining Coopers and Lybrand where she became a CPA.

Ilian Emmons is the Director of IT Assurance at Grant Thornton, LLP, one of America’s largest audit, tax, and advisory firms. Some of Ilian’s more than 20 years as an IT risk and compliance executive were spent working internationally: in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a year, and Vienna, Austria for three years, as well as many work assignments in Mexico, Central and South America, and Europe. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her Master of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. Ilian is a wife, parent, dog lover, spinning enthusiast and avid reader. She serves as Chair of our Audit Committee.

Donna Evans has volunteered for Ronald McDonald Houses and Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities for over 30 years. She currently owns the award winning The UPS Store of Encinitas Ranch Towne Center. Donna served as the founding chair of our 2010 Red Shoe Day and previously led our Marketing Communications Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and chaired our Board of Trustees. A graduate of Cornell University, she now is serving her second tenure on our Board, where her leadership and strategic planning skills help the House grow to meet the increasing needs of our community.

Paul Fitzgerald is responsible for Global Real Estate & Facilities procurement at Qualcomm Incorporated. Serving Qualcomm since 2003, he’s also supported Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions (QWBS) and Qualcomm Technologies & Ventures (QT&V). Paul currently serves on the board for the International Facility Managers Association (IFMA). Since 2011, he’s chaired the IFMA Golf Invitational & Fundraiser in San Diego, which directly supports our House. Now serving on our Board and Philanthropy Committee, Paul’s skills enhance the House’s fundraising efforts and long-term growth capabilities.

Highly engaged with the Ronald McDonald House since 2010, Adrienne and the Hoehn family have long been strong advocates for keeping our family guests close. She earned her master’s degree in public health from Columbia University, and worked with children and families in health crises while in New York City and abroad. Adrienne brings to the Board a commitment to community service and philanthropy. From her meal service for our families, the annual ROMP gala, and Hoehn Motors car raffles, her work helps ensure new families continue to find relief and comfort at our House.

Corwin Johnson’s first paying job was working at a McDonald’s while in high school. After a career as a CPA and traveling the world in varied financial leadership roles, from small family-owned businesses to a large Fortune 500 company, he returned to a long held personal dream of becoming a McDonald’s Owner. Corwin joined the McDonald’s system when he purchased several restaurants in December 2019. Corwin is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach in accountancy and received his MBA from the University of Southern California.

Jennifer is a visionary leader and seasoned executive in the dynamic and fast-paced world of event management. Her career spans over 20 years, primarily focused on the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She is recognized as a leader within the local hospitality community. Jennifer also co-founded Love Hard, which honors her son’s life by helping families navigate through the extreme grief of losing a young child.

Jackie Lewis is a co-founder of Wealth With Options, a wealth management firm for high-net worth individuals and families. A Certified Financial Planner (CFP), she provides comprehensive financial planning and investment management services to her clients. Her prior experience includes roles as SVP and wealth advisor at several large private banks in Los Angeles and New York. She graduated with a BBA from the University of Hawaii and received her MBA from San Diego State University. She lives with her spouse in North San Diego County and has three children, who are now young adults. She enjoys traveling worldwide and hiking, having recently climbed Hualalai volcano. Jackie first became active with RMHC-San Diego as a member of our Philanthropy Committee.

Tom is a life science executive, entrepreneur, and advisor. He has over 20 years’ experience starting, building, and expanding innovative life science companies. Prior to his experience in life science, Tom spent 10 years as a management consultant supporting clients in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He graduated with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He brings great insight into our local business and philanthropic communities.

Jill Strickland brings key insights from her leadership role at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, a 505-bed pediatric care facility providing the largest source of comprehensive pediatric medical and behavioral health services in San Diego, southern Riverside and Imperial counties. She joined Rady Children’s Hospital in August 2020 after previously serving as senior vice president, physician practice administrator at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for 11 years. She also held various leadership positions at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia/Kaiser Permanente, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation and SouthCare Medical Alliance PPO. Her firsthand knowledge of families’ experiences at our primary partner hospital helps us identify opportunities to better support families’ overall well-being during their time with us.