Meet our Board of directors

Chairwoman of the Board

María Camila Leiva, Executive Vice President, is in charge of MFZ Management’s general administration, accounting and community relations. She attended the Institute Catholique in Paris, France receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Civilization and thereafter was awarded a special degree in Conference Interpretation and Translation at Washington's Georgetown University. She is fluent in French, Spanish and English, having served as Dean of the School of Interpretation and Simultaneous Translation of the Universidad Del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia. She has intensive experience in Latin America and U.S. international trade and commerce regulations.

She is a member of the board of Baptist Hospital of Miami, Past Chair of the Baptist Children’s Hospital Foundation and past member of the Baptist Hospital Foundation Board. Member of the Board of Give to Colombia, Inc., and Past Chair of the Greater Miami Foreign-Trade Zones Inc. She is also past Chair of PRIDE of Florida, Inc., Industries Training Corp. (ITC) and the Emergency Financial Oversight Board for the City of Miami. She also served in the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Director

I am a plastic surgeon who specializes in microsurgical reconstruction. This is a versatile skill that allows me to address a number of reconstruction challenges in people who have undergone surgery for breast cancer and head and neck cancers. My passion is to use surgical innovation and individualized care to help cancer survivors preserve or restore their relationship with their body.

A major part of my practice is breast reconstruction. I am skilled at a number of techniques that use a person’s own tissue. These include DIEP, GAP, and PAP flaps. More recently, I pioneered the DUG flap technique, enabling even more people to be treated in this manner.

Microsurgical tissue transfer is also useful for nerve reconstruction. For example, people with facial paralysis due to parotid cancer, acoustic neuroma, or Bell’s palsy and people with developmental facial paralysis can benefit. I serve as Director of the Facial Paralysis Program at MSK. I have extensive experience using the full spectrum of techniques for facial reanimation after facial paralysis. These include multiple nerve transfers, nerve grafts, and muscle transplants.

My research is focused on lymphedema, and I serve as Co-Director of Lymphatic Surgery and Research at MSK. I am recognized as an international expert in lymphedema, serving as president and co-founder of the American Society for Lymphatic Surgery and as a board member of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network. I use both microsurgical and other techniques for the treatment of people with lymphedema and I have pioneered techniques to safely perform lymph node transplantation. I also use novel imaging studies to develop tailored treatment plans for each person I care for.

Chief Operating Officer of Health Decisions

Mary Gunn is a Chinese American scientist and the Chief Operating Officer of Health Decisions, a 30-year-old biotechnology and diagnostics service provider in R&D with a focus on women’s health. Gunn has a PhD in Psychology, MBA from Instituto Empresa and Brown University, LLM in Medical Ethics and Law from the University of Edinburgh, BA in Psychology, BA in Economics, and master’s in International Relations from Freie Universität Berlin.

Gunn is an executive-level scientist with 25 years of experience including as COO and GM of private and public biotechnology, medical technology, and CRO companies, overseeing up to 38 countries, 4200 employees, and a $1.6 Billion portfolio in pharmaceuticals (Pfizer), biotechnology (Crucell), medical devices/diagnostics (Becton Dickinson), and Clinical Research Organizations (ICON Plc). Therapeutic areas of expertise include women's health, oncology, autoimmune disease, neurology, vaccines/pandemic planning, and diagnostics. Her career experience is in building and operating companies, fundraising, increasing sales/productivity, and turning around difficult situations through in-depth understanding of drug/device development and their commercialization, as well as global business expertise, having been based out of Europe (UK, Germany, Switzerland), Asia (China, Singapore), and the USA.

Gunn serves on the board of a startup cell therapy company, SpotArt Foundation, is an industrial advisor to private equity, and was elected to the Advisory Board of University Planning for Brown University. She was also a founder of the first medical device trade association based out of Asia (APACMed). Gunn served as the President of Alumni for University of Edinburgh and Brown University, where she was a President’s Scholar and an Eve and Simon Colin Foundation Scholar.

Managing Principal

Allison has over twenty-five years of experience managing complex programs and large transformations with a special focus on addressing strategic, operational, technological, cyber and financial risks. Her clients include C-level executives who expect strategic vision and operational experience coupled with business savvy and passion.

Allison currently serves as the State of Florida Public Services and Higher Education Leader for Deloitte’s Risk and Financial Advisory practice that provides services in the areas of strategic risk, finance transformation, strategic planning and analytics. In her role, she coordinates and manages firm efforts to help academic medical organizations, hospitals, colleges, universities and state agencies manage financial, operational, technological, and regulatory risk in order to maximize institutional value, better serve patients, students and citizens and serve as leaders in our communities.

Allison has served both public sector and private companies as a strategic advisor, process improvement advisor and technologist. She has served hospitals, colleges, universities, municipalities, pharmaceutical companies, consumer business companies and other global crown jewel clients throughout her 22 years at Deloitte. Her career started in Hong Kong in the financial services industry with a leading bank holding company and credit card company and has continued to evolve as she has helped her clients broaden their footprints nationally and globally. She focuses on the patient, student and citizen as the driver of all transformative recommendations and strategic decisions. Allison has been a Principal with Deloitte for over 14 years and has served from her home office of Miami. Born in New York and raised in Miami, Allison has worked and lived in over 10 countries and she has led collaborative teams across multiple countries and cultures. Her multi-cultural background and experience allows her to work across the world to help her clients achieve their goals and fulfill their missions by changing lives one patient, student and citizen at a time.

Allison studied International Relations at Tufts University, she holds a BA from the University of Michigan focused on International Business, along with an MBA from the University of Florida focused on Finance and Entrepreneurship. Allison’s highlighted clients include Miami Dade College, Florida International University, City of Miami, Miami Dade Public Schools, University of Miami, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Tufts University, University of North Texas, Texas A&M, Adventist Health System, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical, IVAX Pharmaceuticals, Burger King, Ryder Systems, Avon and many other distinguished clients.

Allison serves on the FIU MBA Healthcare Advisory Board, University of Florida MBA Advisory Board, Junior Achievement and the United Way Women United Executive Boards. She was appointed and serves on the State of Florida Biomedical Research Advisory Council and serves on a joint committee with the CCRAB, Florida Cancer Control and Research Advisory Council. She is a State Leader and National LEAD Alumnus and Advocate for the Young Survival Coalition (YSC). She has an incredible passion for healthcare and education and has served as a board member for ITWomen, College Summit and Vice-Chairman for the Key Biscayne Education Advisory Board.

She dedicates her life to her family first and her passion for healthcare and education second. She believes that every person deserves great healthcare and every child deserves an opportunity for a great education. She is a proud mother of two beautiful boys, a breast cancer survivor, an advocate for healthcare and education and a consummate professional and community servant. Allison lives by her motto of “Carpe Diem” every day because she is grateful to have survived and thrived after being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Allison finds every opportunity to engage with anyone that may be diagnosed with cancer, may care for those diagnosed with cancer and may help those that are enduring the treatments and side-effects of cancer because she believes that her life was spared to help others save theirs.

CEO

Alex J. Ness is an entrepreneur with a strong passion for a humanistic approach to technology and science. Originally from Spain, Alex has dedicated over 20 years to build his career in private equity in the U.S., after starting his career in private banking in Europe. Alex founded Sofos Capital, a multifamily office wealth advisory group, Domus One Group, a private equity platform for real estate developments, and One Eleven Capital, a private equity firm managing capital across selected asset classes, which consequently led him to found and spearhead Welwaze Medical. The recession in 2008 brought a great deal of personal growth and Alex shifted his investment strategy focusing on companies and opportunities that have a strong social impact while creating value and return to his investors and shareholders.

Alex is an early stage investor in technology startups and currently sits on the Board of three family groups. He is invited to speak to groups looking for inspiration, purpose, and growth. His continuous support to Miami’s community has earned him recognition as a Miami-Dade County Key recipient.

Director

Futurist and best-selling author of Exponential Organizations and Exponential Transformation, Salim Ismail has been building disruptive digital companies as a serial entrepreneur since the early 2000s.

Salim is Founding Executive Director of Singularity University and Co-founder and Chairman of OpenExO, a global transformation ecosystem that connects world-class professionals with organizations, institutions and people who want to build a better future through cutting-edge ideas and actionable methodologies. The ExO consulting ecosystem consists of more than 155 certified coaches and advisors from 29 countries doing business in 24 different languages. OpenExO and the global consulting team at ExO Works transforms global business by catapulting organizations into the world of exponential thinking through the ExO Sprint, a proprietary process to achieve 10x performance for organizations of all types. Salim founded and led some of the most influential tech companies at the foundation of our digital society, including PubSub Concepts and Angstro, which Google acquired in 2010. He led Yahoo!’s internal incubator, Brickhouse, and is an XPRIZE Foundation Board member.

Salim also co-founded the Fastrack Institute which harnesses new technologies to solve the most pressing problems faced by cities today. He sits on the Board of Rokk3r, Inc, and is a general partner at its Rokk3r Fuel ExO venture fund where he identifies the next founders of exponential growth companies.
A prolific speaker, Salim gives more than 150 talks a year to audiences of all sizes around the world. He has been profiled across a vast array of media outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, WIRED, Vogue, and the BBC.

Director

Rodolfo Batres began his endeavors with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), part of the World Bank, creating an office for Foreign Investments in Guatemala. Along with a team of five members, he undertook an investigation to identify Guatemalan potential in commerce and industry with the objective of attracting foreign investment to the region. In 2004, he became head of the “Invest in Guatemala” division which he directed for four years.

In 2010, he was named Director of CODISA, Company that distributes products of mass consumption such as Hershey´s, Kellogg’s, Shell Lubricants, SCA, Ottis Mcalister, among others.

Under his leadership, PDC Group is currently negotiating several mergers and acquisitions in the Central American region. In addition, Rodolfo participates actively in Energy Resources Capital (ERC), a family own company that builds hydroelectric power plants in Guatemala. With 6 power plants ERC is generating more than 400,000 GW. His family is founder of Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala, leading organization dedicated to the production and distribution of the finest aged rums and other high-quality products, including Rum Zacapa Centenario. He is also a current member of several Board of Directors in Central America, in insurance, brokerage and financial corporations.

Rodolfo has a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Escuela Agrícola Panamericana (Zamorano), and later studied a BS in Business Administration at the University of Florida. In 2006, he earned an MBA from Universidad Católica de Chile.