Board of Trustees

Jennifer Harter is Vice President and Branch Manager for City National Bank in La Jolla.  She earned her B.A. in Business Administration from Hanover College. A banking professional since 1999, Jennifer is focused on helping individuals, businesses, and nonprofits consistently and materially improve year after year. She and her City National team volunteer frequently at our Ronald McDonald House, serving meals to our families and working on various projects throughout the House. Jennifer is passionate about keeping families close during times of crisis and providing them vital services and comfort.  Her business acumen and leadership help the House find ways to improve these essential services and serve increasingly more families.

Greg Rogers is a San Diego native with over 30 years of experience in commercial construction. Beginning as an apprentice with the District Council Carpenters, he eventually founded his own company in 1984. The company grew to become Pacific Building Group in 2001, for which Greg serves as CEO. His thorough knowledge of the construction industry is a vital addition to our Board, given the close attention and care required to keep our House in top shape for the thousands of families who use it each year.

A practicing attorney with over 40 years of experience, K.C. Thompson brings to our Board expertise in estate planning, business planning and formation, trust administration and real estate planning. He is a member of the State Bar of California’s Estate Planning Trust and Probate Law Section and its California Real Property Law Section. K.C. also served as pro bono legal counsel for the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce and for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Del Mar. Now his specialized skills allow us to better support the increasing number of families who depend on our services.

Lisa came to Lindsay & Brownell, LLP, in 1993, joining as its third partner. Having worked several years for the international accounting firm, Deloitte, Lisa now provides accounting and tax expertise to individuals, nonprofits, closely held businesses and estates and trusts. Lisa is a champion of children’s causes, volunteering her time to support the boards of several family-focused organizations. Her community work helped make possible a grant to our House for major kitchen equipment that greatly improved our families’ meal experience. Now her refined accounting and financial skills can help improve the quality of many services they enjoy.

Ami S. Aranha, CFP^® is a manager in wealth management for Aspiriant. Her extensive background in financial planning includes advising partners of Goldman Sachs on financial, tax and estate planning matters, and providing advice and consultation for clients of U.S. Trust Company and Ernst & Young LLP. Ami’s considerable volunteer experience working with children in New York City and abroad, as well as her appreciation for her own family, connected her to our goal of keeping families close. She now brings her legal background and financial planning skills to our Board, helping us further expand our services.

A retired senior executive at financial institutions, including Union Bank and Bank of America, Doug Dawson is an established leader in San Diego’s philanthropic community. He has served as executive director of the Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation since 1972 and became executive director of The Conrad Prebys Foundation in 2017. Doug also supported numerous nonprofit boards across San Diego County. On our Board, Doug is a Past Chair, chairs the Philanthropy Committee, and serves on several other board committees supporting our work at the Ronald McDonald House. Doug’s breadth of financial and nonprofit experience provides essential tools to meet the needs of the thousands of families we host each year.

A successful businessmen in San Diego for more than 12 years, Gabe Filkey owns Filkey & Associates, a real estate sales and management company. He also launched several local home services companies in San Diego, including You Move Me and Good Neighbor Home Services. His donations made possible the coffee bar in our family dining room and the restorative spa showers for our day-use families. Gabe shares with the House his business acumen and real estate knowledge to help us find new welcoming spaces for our growing number of family visitors.

Daniel Grimmer is a restaurant consultant who draws on his experience in his family’s McDonald’s business. Previously, Daniel was a government affairs manager for MGM Mirage in Nevada. He served on the House Operations Committee for three years before joining our board of trustees. Daniel presently chairs the Finance Committee and has led our Ronald McDonald House through important financial decisions; ones that have allowed us to serve increasing numbers of families each year.

Irvin “Buzz” Kaufman, M.D., has been a pioneer in the field of pediatric medicine in San Diego. After completing his medical education at the University of Chicago, he has served at Rady Children’s Hospital in many capacities, including Director of Pediatric Education, Director of the Critical Care Transport Team, and currently as Chief Medical Officer. With Buzz’s assistance, Rady Children’s Hospital has blossomed into a facility that serves 92% of all hospitalized children in San Diego County. Buzz has worked closely with our Ronald McDonald House to establish programs that benefit families who are served by the Hospital.

John Lamberti, M.D., has long been directly involved with the Ronald McDonald House through his professional focus on the development of a world class pediatric heart institute at Rady Children’s Hospital – San Diego. He developed the Cardiac Surgery Program at what is now Rady Children’s Hospital in 1978, and over 20 years ago created the Kapi’olani Cardiac Surgery Program at its Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu. Since then, well over 1,000 of the Hawaii Program’s patients have visited Rady Children’s, with their families staying at our Ronald McDonald House.

Leslie Mannes is on the Board of the San Diego County McDonald’s Owner/Operator’s Association. As a third-generation Owner/Operator with several McDonald’s restaurants, she brings a wealth of business and management knowledge to our Ronald McDonald House. Leslie has actively participated in many key House events in support of our mission. Through community involvement and her support of our House activities, she demonstrates an ongoing commitment to the enrichment of children and families.

Chris Marsh is responsible for the Wealth Management businesses at UBS across San Diego County. Chris has 18 years of experience within UBS, in roles ranging from family governance, financial planning and investment allocation, to the technology and business management involved in serving clients around the world. Chris has learned from and helped develop teams across Switzerland, Germany, France, Monaco, UK, the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Chris and his colleagues teamed to be the founding sponsors of the San Diego Ronald McDonald House’s annual Giving Circle Celebration since 2013.

A Partner at JGD & Associates LLP, Ronny Mitchell is the leader of the firm’s Assurance practice. Ronny’s experience includes working with not-for-profits, life science, technology and M&D companies in both the private and public sectors. He previously served on boards for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad and Sure Genomics, Inc., and most recently was a senior manager for Cohn Reznick. In addition to other Board responsibilities, Ronny serves as the chair of our Audit Committee.

Paul Petersen founded Trident Technologies, Inc. and spent his business career building Trident into the leading water management technology company in Southern California, with international operations in Latin America.  He served in a variety of organizational leadership positions during his professional career. Paul served as President of the Tierrasanta Community Council and on La Jolla Country Club Board of Directors.  His long history of leadership and business development benefits our Ronald McDonald House, as we strive to serve the growing number of families visiting each year.

Paul Schmid sits on the Board of the San Diego County McDonald’s Owner/Operator Association. He brings tremendous business experience to our Ronald McDonald House through his longtime ownership and innovative management of several McDonald’s restaurants. An active resident of San Diego for over 35 years, he once flew missions as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. Paul served a previous tenure on our Board, and now his creative ideas and business acumen can once again help us to better support our families.