CEO, DKC

Sean is CEO of DKC, one of the leading independently owned public relations agencies in the country. Joining the company in 1992, Sean’s extensive experience includes corporate, media, health care and legal public relations as well as crisis management. Named a Partner in 1996, Sean built DKC’s health care practice into one of the largest and most reputable providers of public relations services to hospitals and health related not-for-profit organizations.

Sean assumed the role of CEO in April of 2025, after serving as President since January 2004, overseeing the company’s day-to-day client service operations and senior management teams, while leading several of the company’s largest accounts. During his tenure as President, the firm was named the Holmes Report’s “Consumer Agency of the Year” while experiencing a 75 percent growth in overall revenue.

Sean has orchestrated strategic communication and brand building campaigns for multiple high profile clients including Delta Air Lines; United Airlines; NBC Universal; Time-Warner; News Corporation; Jim Beam Brands; Us Weekly; Esquire; Giuliani Partners; New Balance Athletic Shoe; Cantor Fitzgerald; Clive Davis; Robert F.X. Sillerman/CKX; Michael Eisner/ The Tornante Company; Continuum Health Partners; St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers; and Grand Central Terminal.

Named one of the “Most Influential New Yorkers” by New York Magazine, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American history from Tufts University. Sean has been on the board of directors of the Children’s Health Fund since 2009.

Partner, Siegel & Reiner LLP

Partner at Siegel & Reiner LLP, the Manhattan law firm, Craig leads the firm’s corporate transactional practice.  Craig has extensive experience representing buyers and sellers in both asset and equity transactions across a variety of industries, particularly the marketing and communications, media and not-for-profit sectors.  In his work Craig handles a range of commercial matters including investments, joint ventures, conventional and SBA financings and cross-border issues.  Craig counsels clients in all aspects of their day-to-day operations and advises on matters related to corporate governance, dispute resolution and insolvency.

Prior to joining Siegel & Reiner LLP, Craig was an associate in the Corporate & Transactions and the Insolvency & Finance practice groups of Davis & Gilbert LLP and, prior to that, was the Coordinator of the Business Affairs group of NBC Sports, where he participated in the drafting and negotiation of licensing, talent and programming agreements.

Craig received his B.A. with honors from University of Pennsylvania and earned his law degree at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He is a member of the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association.

Operating Partner/Consultant, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe

Mr. Hunter is an Operating Partner on the Healthcare team, having joined WCAS in 2022. Prior to joining WCAS, Mr. Hunter spent the last 20 years in leadership roles at Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC), where he helped build a $125 billion, multi-national healthcare enterprise. In his most recent role, Mr. Hunter served as Executive Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions and Chief Strategy Officer.

While at Centene, he instituted a diversification strategy to expand from a single-product managed care plan to a national leader across government-focused healthcare programs and populations. Prior to joining Centene, Mr. Hunter worked in mergers and acquisitions at Humana Inc. and for Healthcare Financial Partners, a publicly traded specialty finance company. 

He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Miami University in Ohio and an M.B.A. from Washington University’s Olin Business School from which he received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014. He also serves as a board member and strategic advisor to healthcare, technology and non-profit organizations including the Community Health in Partnership Services, a free health clinic that promotes wellness for the uninsured and underserved.

Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Emad H. Khalil is a partner in the New York office of the international law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. His practice focuses on U.S. and cross-border investments and co-investments, acquisitions, dispositions, and joint ventures, as well as related financings (including Islamic finance) and restructurings. His representations include control, minority and preferred equity investments; and asset-level construction, development, and operation.

Mr. Khalil regularly represents strategic, infrastructure fund and private equity clients in the renewable power, infrastructure, oil and gas, energy transition, and healthcare sectors. He also represents issuers and investors in connection with venture capital and growth equity investments in a broad range of sectors. He has represented clients throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Khalil was born in Cairo, Egypt and raised in New York City. In addition to New York, he has lived and worked in Singapore and Dubai. He is also fluent in Arabic.

Board Chair
Former CEO, Freddie Mac

Donald Layton has more than 40 years of experience in financial services and as a corporate leader. He worked for nearly 30 years at JPMorgan Chase and its predecessors, starting as a trainee and rising to vice chairman and member of the three-person Office of the Chairman, retiring in 2004. More recently, from 2007 to 2009 he served as chairman and then CEO of E*TRADE Financial, which he shepherded through the financial crisis. Additionally, Layton has been a member of the boards of several financial services firms and was a senior advisor to an industry association.

In his career at JPMorgan Chase, Layton’s responsibilities spanned capital markets and investment banking, consumer banking, and operating services. From 2002 to 2004, he was responsible for Chase Financial Services, the consumer and middle-market business, which included the fourth-largest mortgage firm in the United States. He was co-chief executive officer of J.P. Morgan, the investment bank of the company, from 2000 to 2002 and oversaw its entire range of global activities. Prior to the merger of Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan in 2000, Layton was responsible for Chase’s worldwide capital markets and trading activities, including foreign exchange, risk management products, emerging markets, fixed income, and the bank’s investment portfolio and funding department. As well, he was responsible for Treasury & Securities Services, the operating services unit of the company, from 1999 through 2004.

He served as a senior advisor to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association from 2006 to 2008 and serves as chairman emeritus of the board of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing homelessness in New York City, after having been its chair for nearly a decade.

Chair, CHF Advisory Board
Contributor, CBS Sunday Morning

A familiar face on morning, daytime and primetime television, and one of broadcasting’s most respected journalists, Jane Pauley is the anchor for CBS News Sunday Morning. Pauley began her network career as co-host of TODAY for thirteen years, anchored Dateline NBC for more than a decade and hosted her own daytime program, The Jane Pauley Show.

Pauley is the recipient of multiple Emmys, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievement, the Gracie Allen Award for outstanding achievement by an individual, the Wilbur Award and the CINE Golden Eagle Award. Pauley is a member of the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame.

Pauley has written two New York Times bestsellers. A memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue (2004) and Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life (2014).

A longtime advocate in children’s health and education, Pauley is a member of the Board of Directors of Children’s Health Fund, The Mind Trust and Encore.org and is a highly regarded spokesperson in mental health. She and her husband, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, are the parents of three grown children.

Co-Founder

Long recognized as Children’s Health Fund’s “third founder”, Karen Redlener was recruited by co-founders Irwin Redlener and Paul Simon to operationalize the mission of the organization, including the challenge of designing what has become Children’s Health Fund’s signature mobile pediatric clinic. This first fully self-contained clinic on wheels was in service for more than two decades and was the prototype that spawned a fleet of more than 50 CHF mobile clinics operating in disadvantaged urban and rural clinics throughout the U.S.

From 2004 to 2016, in addition to her leadership roles at CHF, Karen also served as executive director of Children’s Health Fund’s nationally recognized NY Flagship Program (Community Pediatric Programs) at Montefiore Health System. In this role she had oversight responsibility for the development of the New York Children’s Health Project, a mobile program that focuses on homeless kids and families, and the community-based South Bronx Health Center and its unique Center for Child Health and Resiliency. In June, 2015, Karen was appointed by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio as a member of the 11 person NYC Board of Health, to fulfill the remainder of a six year term expiring May 2020.

Prior to her work establishing and overseeing Children’s Health Fund’s New York’s programs, Karen’s career included work in Head Start programs, field experience developing and overseeing social services at a VISTA clinic in East Arkansas and managing special programs at the Mailman Child Development Center in Miami, Florida.

Karen is a founding board member of the Children’s Health Fund. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pomona College and holds a Master of Science in Health Management and Policy from the New School University.

Chair Emeritus
President and CEO, Emerald X

Hervé Sedky joined Emerald in January 2021 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Hervé is a results-oriented leader who develops, grows and transforms global businesses while driving profits. Prior to joining Emerald, Hervé spent six years as President of the Americas for events giant, Reed Exhibitions (RX), leading more than 100 sector- leading exhibitions and events in North and South America each year, as well as the company’s global quirky pop culture & lifestyle focused offshoot, ReedPop. Before his time at RX, Hervé spent over 20 years at the American Express Company, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager of American Express Global Business Travel, as well as on American Express’ senior management team.

His business profile is complemented by a profound commitment to community development and the nonprofit sector. Hervé is on the board of the French Cultural Center/Alliance Française and is an active member of his community.

Hervé earned a B.S. in International Business Administration from Northeastern University and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program (PMD) at Harvard Business School.

President and CEO, Nellie Mae Education Foundation

Dr. Gisele C. Shorter is the third President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, which funds community-rooted educational transformation that challenges racial inequities and advances excellent, student-centered public education for all New England youth. Foundational to Gisele’s career is the deep belief that an equitable society starts with an equitable education system. Over the last 15 years, she has led large-scale community-based programs, research and policy initiatives to advance justice and equity, close health disparities and ensure access and opportunities for Black and Brown youth and communities to flourish. Dr. Shorter most recently served as the Director of the National Education Strategy at the Raikes Foundation, where she was responsible for impact and strategy coherence across the K-12, post-secondary, education field building, and policy portfolios. She is a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the Office of Leadership and Innovation at NYU Steinhardt Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology. In that capacity she advises doctoral students on a wide range of complex problems of practice from the role of philanthropy in China’s evolving socio-political context to the role of district superintendents as agents for change. Dr. Shorter both facilitates and is a strategic designer of Leadership Summits across NYU’s international campuses.

Dr. Shorter earned her Doctorate in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a master’s degree from Long Island University and a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College. She is a Pahara Aspen Fellow and active member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Writer, Producer, Creator of Doonesbury

Garry Trudeau was born in New York City, and was raised in Saranac Lake, New York. He attended Yale University, where he received his B.A. and an M.F.A. in graphic design.

Doonesbury was launched in 1970, and currently appears in nearly 1200 daily and Sunday newspaper clients in the U.S. and abroad. His work has been collected in 64 hardcover, trade paperback and mass-market editions, which have cumulatively sold over 7 million copies worldwide. Trudeau became the first comic strip artist ever to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1989, 2004 and 2005.

Collaborating with composer Elizabeth Swados in 1983, Trudeau wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical, “Doonesbury”, for which he was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards. A cast album of the show, recorded for MCA, received a Grammy nomination. Trudeau again collaborated with Swados in 1984, this time on “Rap Master Ronnie,” a satirical revue about the Reagan Administration that opened off-Broadway at the Village Gate. Over the next four years the show was continuously updated for numerous productions around the country. A filmed version of “Rap Master Ronnie,” featuring Jim Morris, the Smothers Brothers, and Jon Cryer was broadcast on Cinemax in 1988.

In 1988, Trudeau wrote and co-produced, along with director Robert Altman, HBO’s critically acclaimed “Tanner ’88,” a satiric look at that year’s presidential election campaign. The show won several awards both in the U.S. and abroad, including the gold medal for Best Television Series at the Cannes Television Festival, and Best Imported Program from the British Broadcasting Press Guild. “Tanner ’88” also earned an Emmy – as well as four ACE award nominations. In 2004, he reunited with Altman to write and co-produce a sequel series, “Tanner on Tanner”, for the Sundance Channel.

In 2013 he created, produced and wrote “Alpha House,” a political sitcom about four Republican senators sharing a house in Washington, D.C. The first streaming-only production of Amazon Studios, it starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, Matt Malloy, Wanda Sykes and Cynthia Nixon. 

In recognition of his work on wounded warriors, Trudeau has been presented with the Commander’s Award for Public Service by the Department of Army, the Commander’s Award from Disabled American Veterans, the President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts from Vietnam Veterans of America, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a special citation from the Vet Centers. From 2005 to 2014 his website hosted The Sandbox, a milblog posting over 800 essays by deployed soldiers, returned vets, caregivers, and spouses.

Trudeau lives in New York City with his wife, Jane Pauley. They have three grown children.

Founder and Managing Partner, Ascel Health

Lujing Wang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ascel Health, a premier management consulting firm specializing in the life sciences industry.  He also serves on the Executive Committee of OPEN Health and is a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

With extensive experience in both public and private sectors, particularly in healthcare financing, health system operations, and pricing and reimbursement. Lujing has assisted many leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies in developing pricing and market access, evidence generation, and new product commercialization strategies across various therapeutic areas. In addition, Lujing has a proven track record in building and scaling professional service organizations. He has fostered a unique collaborative culture marked by challenging work and exceptional professional growth opportunities.  Acsel Health has achieved consistently high organic growth, and garnered an outstanding reputation for quality and excellence. 

Previously, Lujing held roles as Managing Director and Practice Area Leader at Campbell Alliance (now Syneos Health) and served at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy. He holds an MD from Peking Union Medical College and an MPH in Health Care Management from Harvard University.