Board of Trustees

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 has 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.

Hudson Drake has served in leadership roles throughout his 40-year career, including nine years as president of Teledyne. Hudson won a presidential appointment as a White House Fellow from 1968-1970 under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. He went on to a senior leadership position in the Department of Commerce before re-entering the private sector here in San Diego. His experience with nonprofit boards includes years with Children’s Hospital, UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center and UCSD’s board of overseers. He has been engaged with the Ronald McDonald House since 2010, when his wife Mary created the House’s signature ROMP gala.

Born and raised a Midwesterner, Jennifer Harter began her banking career in 1999 and is now Vice President, Branch Manager of City National Bank in La Jolla. She married her high school sweetheart, and together they moved to San Diego, which they now call home with their two children. Jennifer is committed to supporting youth, particularly through education, and instilling in them an understanding of financial literacy. She is passionate about family. Jennifer demonstrates her commitment to keeping families together during times of crisis through her service to the Ronald McDonald House.

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.

Travis Alegria is Branch Sales Manager for Sharp Business Systems, a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation. He first was introduced to the Ronald McDonald House during the construction of our current facility, when his previous firm installed a phone system donated by the local McDonald’s corporate office. Travis now chairs our House Operations Committee and has skillfully guided the House through the implementation of several programs essential to serving families in need.

David Bialis joined Cox Communications in 1992 and now oversees the operations of the Cox cable systems in San Diego and Orange Coast. He previously was senior vice president of western division operations, responsible for Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada and Ohio. Earlier, David served as CFO for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, worked in financial management for several entertainment companies, and was a senior auditor with Price Waterhouse & Co. An active member of our Golf Invitational Committee since 2011, David now contributes his wealth of experience to helping us improve operations and expand services for our families.

Dan Close is the founder and shareholder of EDR Valuations, Inc., a business specializing in forensic accounting, business valuation and economic/fraud analysis. His diverse background includes experience as an auditor with an International CPA and consulting firm, and as a financial controller and chief financial officer in private industry. Dan’s involvement with the Ronald McDonald House dates to 1986. His service includes chairing both the Audit and Compensation Committees.

Nick Cole is an executive vice president responsible for the Wells Fargo Finance and Gaming groups. Previously, he served as the managing director and senior client manager with Banc of America Securities, working for 12 years in corporate and investment banking. Nick’s banking and finance knowledge has been invaluable to his work on our House Raffle and Finance Committees. In addition to those contributions, he also has volunteered for our Ronald McDonald House, alongside his Wells Fargo colleagues, serving meals to our families as a volunteer dinner provider.

Donna Evans has volunteered for the Ronald McDonald House and Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities for over 30 years, including service as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Ronald McDonald Charity. She is the owner of the award winning The UPS Store of Encinitas Ranch. Donna served as the founding chair of our 2010 Red Shoe Day and has led the Strategic Planning Committee for our House for the last four years. She is a graduate of Cornell University.

Susan Hoehn is an established philanthropist and community leader. She is currently the Honorary Chair of our Giving Circles program, celebrating our most generous benefactors, and since 2011 has made possible our annual ROMP car raffles through donations from her family business, Hoehn Motors. Susan and her husband, Bill, also were the honorary committee chairs for our ROMP galas in 2011 and 2012.

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 85% 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.

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.

Cleland Landolt, M.D., brings to our Board unique medical and corporate experience, including an extensive, successful career as a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon. Currently serving as President & CEO of Cambridge Life Science Strategies, Cleland provides medical and strategic consulting services to public and private partners, with an emphasis on cardiovascular diseases, healthcare informatics, and cloud-based technologies. He also is knowledgeable about hospital- and community-based management, corporate partnerships and corporate investment strategy. Cleland’s broad range of skills are tremendously valuable to the efforts of our San Diego Ronald McDonald House to provide for the increasing needs of our families.

Janice McKinnon is a San Diego native with long-standing connections in aerospace, publishing, and broadcasting established through her late husband and partner of thirty years, Dan McKinnon. For 15 years, Janice worked as a bank manager in San Diego, after which she served for 16 years as CFO of North American Airlines, one of her and her husband’s many business ventures. Upon returning from New York to San Diego, she and Dan supported military and evangelical philanthropic causes. Janice is now building on her personal commitment to help families and children in need through the Ronald McDonald House.

Chris Marsh is responsible for the Wealth Management businesses at UBS across San Diego County. Chris has 17 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.

Ofelia Melendrez-Kumpf is the U.S. Vice-President and General Manager of McDonald’s Southern California Region. Ofelia joined McDonald’s over 20 years ago, starting out as a manager trainee and moving up through the ranks to her current position, in which her responsibilities include overseeing the marketing, finance, operations and human resources functions for over 800 restaurants. Ofelia has served in many managerial positions for McDonald’s in the U.S. and in Latin America, and she has served on the Board of Directors at the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, in addition to currently serving on the Board at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California.

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.

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.

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.