Board of Directors
Elected Officers
Robert Roth
board chair
Executive Committee Chair
Robert Roth is the retired Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Home Box Office Inc. (HBO), a wholly owned subsidiary of WarnerMedia. He had been at the company for 33 years, the last 15 as CFO, responsible for the financial planning, reporting, and control activities for all divisions of the network. Rob comes from a family of PKD patients including his grandmother, mother, and brother and as such, has been a strong advocate for PKD research and organ donation awareness. Rob received a kidney transplant in 2014 from his longtime college friend for which he will forever be grateful. He and his wife Linda reside in Weston, CT, and have two adult children, Jaclyn and Benjamin. Rob has an Economics degree from Stony Brook University and an MBA degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. He also serves on the board of Donate Life Connecticut, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of organ donation.
Navin Manglani
vice chair
Navin Manglani is a Professor of Technology at NYU Stern and runs a data consulting company he founded called Numberscape Consulting. He also is involved in a number of technology startups and real estate investing. Prior to teaching, Navin served as a Director at American Express. Prior to American Express, Navin ran and sold a family business in the fashion industry. Navin holds a BA in Economics from Yale University (summa cum laude) and an MBA from Columbia Business School where he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honors society. Navin’s family has been contributing to the PKD organization for over a decade. In addition to being a PKD patient, PKD affects multiple of his extended family members. After a successful transplant, Navin’s uncle, whom Navin was very close to, died of a brain aneurysm (complication of PKD) at the age of 78. When he’s not taking advantage of the theater and unique dining experiences that his native city of New York has to offer, Navin enjoys playing the cello, piano and saxophone.
Stu Caplan
Treasurer
Financial Oversight and Investment Committee Chair
Stu Caplan is currently Chief Investment Officer of Apex Financial Advisors and a Partner at AFA Real Estate Partners. He is seasoned investment professional with experience in multiple asset classes including equity, fixed income, hedge funds, and real estate. Previously, he worked for Brickell Capital Management, a multi-family investment office in Miami, Fl, where he managed several portfolios of varied instruments. He began his career with his family’s retail art supply chain based in Silver Spring, Md. Stu received his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and his BSBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, cum laude, from the University of Arizona. He has PKD which he inherited from his mother who received a transplant in 2018 and as a family, they’ve been involved with the PKD Foundation for over 20 years.
Amy Omenn
Secretary
Amy Omenn is a health & wellness coach and the owner of Bloom Kundalini Yoga, where she teaches breathwork, meditation and yoga asana. She has been an active and involved supporter of the PKD Foundation for over 19 years in various roles such as: local chapter coordinator, Chair of the Seattle Walk for PKD in 2003, and traveled to Washington, D. C. to advocate on behalf of PKD patients. Amy’s family has experienced much loss due to PKD and she too is a PKD patient. Therefore, funding PKD research to find a cure is her top priority. Amy lives in Seattle, WA with her husband, Jason and their three children, Jacob, Larkin, and Emma. It is Amy’s hope that future generations won’t have to experience the affects of PKD.
Directors
Katherine Dell, M.D.
Dr. Katherine Dell is Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University and Vice Chair of Research at Cleveland Clinic Children’s. She graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed her Pediatrics and Pediatric Nephrology training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She has been a PKD researcher and practicing pediatric nephrologist, treating children with ARPKD and ADPKD, for over 20 years. She is a past member of the PKD Foundation Scientific Advisory (SAC) and was the 2016 recipient of the Dr. Vincent Gattone Research Award. Her major research focus is defining factors that contribute to ARPKD kidney and liver disease progression and identifying and evaluating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of disease progression, for which she has received both NIH and PKD Foundation funding. She is an experienced clinical researcher, having participated in numerous clinical trials and studies of pediatric chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Her ultimate goal is to be able to bring novel treatments to clinical trials in children with PKD. She and her husband live in Shaker Heights, OH and have two children.
Paula Krumboltz Hutchinson
Paula K. Hutchinson is finishing her second term on the PKD Board next June. She recently retired, after careers as a journalist, attorney and teacher. Paula’s husband John is a chemistry professor at Rice University. Their younger daughter Emma Grace was born with ARPKD in 1988 and was under the care of the renal team at Texas Children’s Hospital until she passed away at the age of 20. Emma was the first infant successfully dialyzed from birth at TCH, and received a kidney from her Grammy just before her second birthday. Paula and John, their daughter Ashlyn, her husband Ryan and dozens of friends and family have been participants in the Walk for PKD in Denver, Seattle, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Memphis.
Julie Marshall
Julie lives in Connecticut where she works as the Associate Vice President of Treatment for a company that provides in home ABA services. She received her Master’s of Education from Cambridge College where she is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis. When Julie was pregnant with their second son, she and her husband received news that he had signs of ARPKD. This was the first time they had heard of PKD and began educating themselves on the condition. After Porter passed away from complications related to ARPKD when he was a newborn they began spreading awareness and fundraising for the PKD foundation. Julie and her husband went on the have a third child who was also diagnosed with ARPKD. Jameson will be turning 3 and so far has no complications related to his ARPKD diagnosis. Their oldest child does not have PKD. Julie and her family enjoy traveling as often as they can. Julie is a distance runner and keeps busy training for longer distances between work, school, and family time.
Michal Mrug, M.D.
Scientific Advisory panel Chair
Dr. Mrug is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where he trains the next generation of physicians and scientists. He is recognized as one of “Top Doctors” by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. He co-founded and co-directs the UAB PKD Clinic and oversees clinical PKD research activities at UAB since 2009. This includes the CRISP study, an NIH-funded collaborative effort between Emory University, University of Kansas, Mayo Clinic, UAB and University of Pittsburgh that has led to many seminal discoveries. He also coordinated the REPRISE clinical trial for UAB; outcomes of this study played a crucial role in the recent FDA approval of tolvaptan as the first treatment for ADPKD. Dr. Mrug’s clinical research is centered on the development of statistical models for identification of ADPKD patients that may benefit most from therapeutic interventions. His basic research is focused on the discovery of molecular pathways that modulate PKD progression. He also directs the Therapeutics Development and Screening Core, one of four cores within the UAB Hepatorenal Fibrocystic Disease Core Center. This Center is one of four NIH-funded P30 centers focused on PKD; the other three are located at University of Kansas, Mayo Clinic and University of Maryland. The mission of these centers is the development of innovative technologies to advance PKD research and to provide access to these resources to other scientists to promote PKD research in institutions where such resources are not available. The activities of the UAB Center are focused on ARPKD. Dr. Mrug serves as the Scientific Advisory Committee Chair for the PKD Foundation.
Meyeon Park
Meyeon Park is a nephrologist and clinical researcher at University of California, San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the UCSF Polycystic Kidney Disease Center of Excellence. Meyeon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and completed residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she decided to pursue a career in nephrology and research. Her research centers on metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes in individuals affected by kidney disease, focusing on individuals with polycystic kidney disease. As the primary nephrologist for many individuals with PKD, she has first-hand experience with the many ways PKD affects the lives of her patients and their families and feels privileged to be part of the PKD community. The mission of her work and that of the PKD Center of Excellence at UCSF is to advance care for patients with PKD, both now and in the future.
Christopher Wess
governance chair
Chris Wess is a finance leader at Merck and Company. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has had responsibilities in R&D and manufacturing supporting strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, capital investment, and corporate planning & reporting. Before he moved to the pharmaceutical industry, Chris worked in finance and analytics in the media industry for both Dow Jones and Nielsen Media Research. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst with an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in English from McDaniel College. Chris lives in Skillman, NJ with his wife Alyson and two daughters, Ellie and Georgia.
Bruce Winn
Bruce Winn served as Chairman, Director, Chief Executive Officer and President of Corporation Service Company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware since 1989. CSC is a 100+ year old international leader in providing corporate governance and compliance, intellectual property, tax compliance and domain name services to corporations and the legal industry.
Received both a B.S. in Accounting and an M.B.A. from Brigham Young University. He has seven children and 29 grandchildren.
Bruce also served as the first President of the Philadelphia Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 2016-2019. This required organizing over a thousand volunteers to serve in the temple from its dedication through the first three years of its operation. The Philadelphia Temple has become a beacon and landmark in the Philadelphia community since its construction. Also served as President of the Utah Salt Lake City Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 2010-2013, leading and organizing 250 young missionaries. Have served in many other volunteer positions with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints including service with youth and young single adults and have been the Bishop of two congregations.
Amanda Yen
Amanda Yen is a partner at the Nevada law firm of McDonald Carano. She focuses her practice on Commercial & Complex Litigation and Appellate Law. Amanda handles cases in federal and state courts involving contract disputes, tortious interference, landlord/tenant, fraud and misrepresentation, quiet title and matters involving injunctive relief. Her appellate law practice focuses on representing clients before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Nevada Supreme Court and Nevada Court of Appeals. Amanda has a successful motion practice and authored the Motions Practice Chapter of the 2021 edition of the Nevada Appellate Practice Manual. Before joining McDonald Carano, Amanda was a judicial law clerk for the United States District Court. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation, Amanda is a member of the Nevada Commission on Ethics and the Sierra Club. Since 2015, she has also held numerous leadership positions at Meritas, a global network of 185 independent law firms that helps clients do business around the world.
Emeritus
Orme Lewis Jr. Phoenix, Ariz. Managing Director, Select Investments Vice Chair, Arizona Biomedical Research Commission
Page last reviewed August 2022