WHO ARE WE?

Chris Bombardier is executive director of Save One Life, an international nonprofit that provides direct financial aid to patients with hemophilia in developing countries. Chris was a board member of Save One Life from 2012 to 2019. During that time, Chris was actively involved on the program and scholarship committees. A mountaineer, Chris became the first person with hemophilia to successfully climb the Seven Summits including Mt. Everest and dedicated his climbs to raising funds for Save One Life. He eventually raised over $250,000 and helped 75 children receive sponsorships.

Chris began his career as a professional research assistant with the University of Colorado Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center after graduating from Doane College with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He later worked with GutMonkey, an experienced-based education company that works with people with chronic medical conditions. Through his travels around the world for the Seven Summits, and his work with Save One Life, Chris discovered his passion for global health work and returned to school. He recently earned his master’s in global health from Northwestern University in 2020.

During Chris’s climb of Mt. Everest a documentary crew followed his journey and created the film, Bombardier Blood. This film has been screened at dozens of bleeding disorder community events, film festivals and is now available to stream on most platforms.

Jenn started her career in radio and television before moving into the non-profit sector, where she worked for several years at the MSPCA at Nevins Farm’s Horse and Farm Animal Shelter. More recently Jenn worked on a contract basis for an educational publishing company and as a aide at her children’s school. She joined Save One Life in September of 2018. Jenn is happy to be back working for a non-profit with such a meaningful cause. She is excited to grow our programs to help as many people suffering from blood disorders as possible.

Jenn earned a BA in Communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She lives in West Newbury, MA with her husband, two kids and dog.

Kristy began her career as an internal auditor at a large insurance company. This introduced her to financial controls and an understanding and passion for corporate efficiency, ethics and a solid control environment. After having her first child, she began working part time and took on the role as controller of the US operations of an international software company for five years. She also spent a few years in the public accounting environment, as a manager of accounting services. Save One Life is Kristy’s first experience in the non-profit environment. She joined Save One Life in 2015. As the mother of two young boys, Save One Life’s mission spoke to her and she is happy to be part of an organization that assists children in need.

Kristy earned her Bachelors in Business Administration, with a minor in Applied Statistics, from Bryant. She lives in Lynnfield, MA with her husband and two sons.

Karen Serevitch is currently our Development and Fundraising Manager. She has a background in technology, working with large firms before entering the nonprofit realm. Her work has centered around volunteer outreach, resource procurement, fundraising and community initiatives.

Karen earned her bachelor’s degree in Computer Information and Technology from Drexel University. She lives in Reading, Massachusetts with her husband, three children and two dogs. She has been a part of the Save One Life team since 2019.

Heather’s career began in educational publishing, before a ruptured brain aneurysm at age 29 altered the course of her life in a split second. That experience allowed her to pick up a paintbrush and find a new passion. Since then, Heather has been a part-time artist and freelance graphic designer enjoying all the trials and tribulations that comes along with being a creative. She has, also, had the pleasure of working in the non-profit world in a part-time capacity over the years through the Brain Aneurysm Foundation and Bread & Roses assisting communications and development teams. She enjoys learning and contributing in any way that moves the mission forward.

Heather lives in West Newbury, MA with her husband, Jeff, son, Jakob, and 10-year old adorable Puggle, Olive. She loves traveling, especially to National Parks, hiking, camping and gardening.

Fay retired in 2017 from her 34-year career managing royalty distributions at a not-for-profit copyright compliance organization. In 2019, she began volunteering for Save One Life.  She was grateful for the opportunity to help young people around the world with hemophilia.  In January, 2021, Fay became a part-time member of the Save One Life team as Program Assistant.

Fay has a B.A. from Syracuse University. She lives with her husband in West Newbury, Massachusetts. They have one son who is married and has two young daughters. Fay and Russ enjoy spending one day a week playing with, and caring for, their granddaughters.

Usha has had a long career in hemophilia, starting in 1986 when she helped Ashok Verma establish Hemophilia Federation (India). She traveled to many locations as the vice president of development for HFI, helping patients and parents organize into HFI chapters and playing a key role in helping to raise the standard of treatment and social acceptance of hemophilia. In 2009, four years after leaving HFI, Usha generously agreed to serve in a volunteer capacity as the India program coordinator for Save One Life. She has been instrumental in realizing Save One Life’s mission in India–enrolling new program partners, monitoring programs and raising the visibility of our work.

Usha comes from Chennai in Tamil Nadu and received her bachelor’s degree from Madras University. She is the daughter of a father and mother of a son with hemophilia, who lives with his wife and two girls in Pennsylvania.

Myrish is CEO of The Philippine Living Heritage Initiative, a 501c3 non-profit organization that seeks to strengthen Filipino identity and build thriving global communities by fostering a deep appreciation of the Philippines’ rich living heritage. Previous to this, she was Senior Director of Global Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship where she designed and launched its pilot Foundry Fellowship for successful founders in Africa and taught early stage entrepreneurs on market-creating innovations to build stronger ecosystems. She also served as Director of Fellowship and Leadership Development Programs at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Interim Executive Director of the Women and Public Policy Program. Before moving her family to the United States, Myrish was deputy legal counsel of Silliman University in Dumaguete, Philippines. She concurrently directed the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development and was a faculty member at the College of Law. She served two terms as an elected local legislator and led social innovation programs for women, children and the poor; championing legislation on good governance and ethical leadership.

Myrish earned her BA in Political Science and Bachelor of Laws from Silliman University. She was a Fulbright scholar to the United States in 2007 and obtained a LLM in Government Procurement from The George Washington University Law School. She and her family relocated to Boston after she finished her Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2015. Myrish is a sister of two brothers with hemophilia and the mother of twin boys with hemophilia.

Eric is COO of Diplomat Specialty Infusion Services, formally BioRx–which he co-founded in 2004–based in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Prior to this Eric was VP of Blood Products for Coram Healthcare and held various positions for National Medical Care.

Eric collaborated with Laurie Kelley to make the first CEO Challenge climb up Mt Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Save One Life in 2011, and joined Laurie again on the 2016 climb. The Hill Family is the second donor to contribute to Save One Life’s endowment fund. Eric is Save One Life’s 2016 sponsor of the year.

Eric earned his BS in Psychology from Wake Forest University. He is the father of two teenage sons.

Having a son with hemophilia herself, Cindy is passionate about making a positive difference for those living with chronic bleeding disorders.

Cindy was responsible for the vision, leadership, advocacy and strategic direction of the Arizona Hemophilia Association (AHA) for 15 years. She first joined the board of directors where she served as Vice-President and President before becoming the Executive Director and ultimately the CEO. Cindy wrote the business plans and founded the Arizona Bleeding Disorders Health and Wellness Center (ABDC), My Neighborhood Primary Care (MNPC), AVASA RX, and Get Infused Infusion Suite. All provide a perpetual revenue stream that is reinvested back into AHA to fund the programs and services at AHA. During her tenure, AHA tripled the revenue and quadrupled the staff and the programs that the AHA provides to the Arizona community.

Cindy came up with the concept, wrote the grants and established the NOW (National Outreach for von Willebrand’s Disease) Conference and Fundfusion (National Fundraising Conference for Hemophilia chapters). She expanded programming, increased funding, and served as the chair for NACCHO (North American Camping Conferences for Hemophilia Organizations) the past 12 years. Cindy has been progressive and innovative in developing new funding sources and opportunities. She has received grants from BHHS Legacy Foundation and Thunderbird Charities to develop AVASA RX, a pharmacy that provides the medications for those with chronic bleeding disorders and other infusion therapies.

Cindy attended graduate school at Thunderbird International School of Management where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Business and International Management. Prior to joining AHA, she worked for 18 years in business development, sales, and insurance. She loves serving nonprofit organizations where each day she can help make a difference in the lives of others. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her 3 kids and her husband.

Wendie Chadd has been in the hemophilia community since childhood.  Growing up in a very active hemophilia family, having her own bleeding challenges as a carrier and raising her son with Hemophilia has definitely had an impact on her journey both personally and professionally. Wendie has been a lifelong patient advocate and has worked in healthcare her entire professional life with her focus being in Specialty Infusion since 1999. She is proud to be celebrating her 20 year work anniversary with Nufactor Specialty Infusion Company where she is the National Director of Customer Service.

Driven by her desire to make a difference for our global hemophilia brothers and sisters, Wendie and her husband Ric joined Laurie Kelley on Save One Life’s 2019 Kilimanjaro Challenge.  Although she is very proud of their Kilimanjaro summit – she is even more proud of the awareness and money they raised that will support Save One Life’s work in developing countries. Wendie lives in Southern California with her husband and their two children.

Sudha first heard about Hemophilia when she started working with the founder – late Ashok Verma of Hemophilia Federation (India) back in 1990.  She worked and traveled with Ashok all over India which motivated her to become a lifelong supporter of the cause.  Sudha moved to Shrewsbury, MA in 2000 and met Laurie Kelley. She was on the original board of Save One Life. Sudha lives with her husband and has one teenage son in college.

Milton is managing partner of Kerstein, Coren, & Lichtenstein, located in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is a specialist in the field of regulatory, administrative, education and employment law, as well as in the field of criminal and civil law. Milton is a founding member of Save One Life, and he also serves as general counsel to Planet Aid Inc., which assists developing nations worldwide.

Milton earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

Justin Levesque holds a BFA in photography from the University of Southern Maine, with a specialization in the critical analysis of images and their impact on social norms and community expectations.

He lives in Portland, Maine, and runs his own design studio, Shop Geometry. Justin served on the board of directors for Hemophilia Alliance of Maine from 2014 – 2018 and now runs a group of programs called FOLX (folxfolx.org) that celebrate arts and creativity in the bleeding disorder community.

Natalie became both aware and interested in the bleeding disorders community after meeting her husband, Patrick James Lynch, who has severe hemophilia A. She soon became an active advocate in the community. She has traveled to both Asia and South America with the World Federation of Hemophilia and Believe LTD for production of videos that highlighted and advocated the discrepancies of care in developing countries. Natalie co-hosts BloodStream, a popular and informative monthly podcast for the bleeding disorders community.  Her deep passion for health advocacy includes maternal health, as she is a licensed doula. She also attends monthly board meetings at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles to improve the patient experience. Natalie believes healthcare is a right and will not stop advocating until all humans have access to affordable, safe and quality care. Natalie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Hunters College in New York.

Marelle has extensive communication experience, having worked for various international organizations including Doctors without Borders and International Dialogues Foundation. For several years she also worked as a freelance journalist for the Dutch Press Agency and Haarlem’s Daily, among others. Throughout her career, she has volunteered for charities such as the Red Cross and the World Peace Forum. Marelle has travelled extensively to the most needy parts of the world. Coming from a family with hemophilia, Marelle joined Save One Life in 2016 and is glad now to use her expertise to support other hemophilia families who are in more need.

Marelle holds a Master’s Degree in International Communication from the University of Amsterdam. Her internship took place at Radio Netherlands World Service and her thesis focused on the situation for journalists in Uganda. She lives in Germany with her husband and two sons.