Rx Kids Advisory Circle

Dr. Dave Chokshi

Sternberg Family Professor, City College of New York

Dave A. Chokshi — a practicing physician and public health leader — is currently Sternberg Family Professor and Founding Director of the Health & Opportunity Leadership Institute (HOLI) at the City College of New York. He is also Chair of the Common Health Coalition and Co-Chair of the Health and Political Economy Project. Dr. Chokshi has practiced primary care internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital since 2014. He has held successive senior leadership roles that span the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and is currently a board member for KFF, EqualCure, and Yuvo Health. A Rhodes Scholar and White House Fellow, he is nationally recognized as a transformational leader, a clinical innovator, a policy expert, and an advocate for a stronger and more equitable health system.

Natalie Foster

Board Member, Economic Security Project

Natalie Foster is a leading architect of the movement to build an inclusive and resilient economy that works for all. She’s president and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative, and the author of The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy. Natalie speaks and writes regularly on economic security, the future of work, and the new political economy. An unstoppable builder, Natalie previously founded the sharing economy community Peers, co-founded Rebuild the Dream with Van Jones, and served as Digital Director for President Obama’s Organizing for America – a leading partner in winning transformative healthcare reform. A daughter of a preacher from Kansas, Natalie draws on the values of community, dignity, and optimism to build a better America. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and two kids.

Ryan Friedrichs

Vice President, Related Companies

Ryan Friedrichs is Vice President of Development at the Related Companies, working with founder Stephen Ross and CEO Jeff Blau to help lead its initiatives in Detroit and Michigan, including the University of Michigan’s Center for Innovation. Previously, Ryan served as the Chief Development Officer for the City of Detroit from 2015 to 2020, where he led the City’s public, private partnerships, and helped generate $1.1 billion in direct investments. Ryan is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where his master’s studies focused on civic engagement and urban planning. He has served as chief executive of several national institutions, including founding the civic engagement organization State Voices and opening its offices in sixteen states. He is also a combat veteran, having served as a paratrooper and Army infantry and intelligence team leader in Afghanistan with the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Becca Graves

Executive Director, Perigee Foundation

In leading a young philanthropic organization, Becca Graves’ role has been to build the early partnerships and team that makes up Perigee Fund. She finds joy and challenge in forming connections and partnerships, in bringing visibility and resources to the intersectional issues that impact the well-being of caregivers and babies, and in making sure that the organization operates in a way that fuels partners’ progress. Becca spent over 15 years as a founding staff member and managing director at FSG. She learned a lot working alongside philanthropic leaders in diverse communities across the U.S. – listening to partners, weighing hard choices, and exploring different pathways toward meaningful social change. She is also a mother and began her career toggling between corporate work and grassroots community service. She thinks that both of those things help me look at how change happens from a lot of different perspectives.

Kennyle Johnson

Director, Wayne County Health, Human & Veterans Services

Kennyle Johnson, MPH is an experienced, community-centric, and vision-driven professional with extensive experience in program management and operational strategy across diverse organizations. Her work has consistently focused on improving efficiency, scalability, and operational excellence to drive meaningful community impact. Kennyle is widely recognized for her ability to develop and implement strategic program solutions, with a strong track record of influence, innovation, and measurable growth throughout her career. Her areas of expertise include nonprofit leadership, compliance, service delivery, C-level operations, and continuous improvement. She currently serves as the Interim Director of the Department of Health, Human, and Veterans Services for Wayne County, Michigan, where she leads high-impact initiatives and system-wide improvements to enhance health and human services delivery. In this role, she brings forward-thinking leadership, strong relationship-building skills, and a deep commitment to equity and operational excellence.

Dan Kildee

President & CEO, Community Foundation of Greater Flint

Dan Kildee is the President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. Kildee also serves as the Griffin Endowed Chair of American Government at Central Michigan University. He served as a Member of the U.S. Congress from 2013-2025, representing Michigan’s 8th and previously Michigan’s 5th congressional district. He served on the Ways and Means Committee and the Budget Committee. He also co-chaired the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force to more urgently clean up toxic PFAS chemicals. Kildee served in the House Democratic Leadership as Chief Deputy Whip and later a key member of Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership team as Co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Prior to being elected to Congress, Kildee co-founded and served as President of the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit organization, where he was one of the nation’s leading voices on urban land reform and revitalization. He also founded Michigan’s first land bank – the Genesee County Land Bank—which is responsible for over $100 million in redevelopment in the city of Flint. Dan previously served as a Genesee County Commissioner and as County Treasurer. He also previously served as a member of the Flint Board of Education after being elected at age 18, one of the youngest elected officials in the country at the time. Dan is a graduate of Central Michigan University. He is married to Jennifer Kildee and has three adult children and two grandchildren.  He enjoys hunting, fishing, cycling, golf, and is an avid drummer.

Dana Linnane 

Foundation Liaison, Governor’s Office of the Foundation Liaison (OFL)

Dana Linnane is the Foundation Liaison, Governor’s Office of the Foundation Liaison (OFL). She is formerly the director of research and planning for OFL. In this role, she identifies and brokers innovative funding partnerships and strategic collaborations between the state and grant makers. Prior to joining the OFL in February 2022, Dana served as policy and communications officer for more than a decade at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) where she successfully managed an array of policy, advocacy, and communications strategies, working to raise the profile of WKKF and its grantees with policymakers, community influencers, business leaders and with national and local media outlets. Her work was to establish credibility, gain influence, build awareness and understanding, and ultimately advance policies that give children, families, and communities increased access to opportunity. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has a master’s degree in public policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.

Austin Lowes

Chairperson, Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Chairman Lowes is in his first full term as Chairperson of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He was first elected to the Sault Tribe Board of Directors in 2020. In 2022, he was elected by the Sault Tribe membership to complete the previous Chairperson’s vacated term. Chairman Lowes received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Lake Superior State University, along with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from Michigan State University. As a graduate student, he was awarded a graduate health fellowship from the National Congress of American Indians. Chairman Lowes began his career as a social worker. He has worked on the Sault Tribe, the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. This experience provided valuable insight into the needs of Indigenous communities. Chairman Lowes is passionate about increasing the Sault Tribe’s land base, meeting the Sault Tribe’s housing needs, emergency and transitional housing services, substance abuse services, and an equitable distribution of resources for members living outside the Sault Tribe’s service area. Chairman Lowes was appointed by Governor Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Community Service Commission to represent Native American Tribes for the term February 27, 2025 thru October 1, 2026. Chairman Lowes resides in Sault Ste. Marie with his wife, Tara Maudrie-Lowes, and his two daughters, Emilia and Eden.

Caitlin McEvilly-Rosenbach

Director, Healthy Kids, Michigan Health Endowment Fund

Caitlin McEvilly Rosenbach is the Director of the Healthy Kids Initiative at the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, where she leads statewide grantmaking, policy, and systems change efforts to improve health outcomes for children and families. The work of the Healthy Kids team spans maternal and infant health, nutrition, physical activity, behavioral health, and other important community conditions that shape health, with a focus on equity, cross sector collaboration, and long-term impact. Caitlin has more than a decade of experience in public and community health in Michigan. She holds a master’s degree in health and risk communication and a bachelor’s degree in nutritional science from Michigan State University.

Jenny Montoya Tansey

Senior Program Officer, Just Democracy, Skyline Foundation

Jenny Montoya Tansey is inspired and energized by the work of organizations advancing justice and equity. She sees her work as redistributing power and resources and feels blessed to support movements that inspire social change. As Senior Program Officer for Just Democracy, she leads grantmaking to advance economic security policies, increase democratic participation, and ensure access to news and information, especially for communities that have historically been excluded. Jenny earned a law degree at Stanford University and studied English Literature and Latino Studies at Columbia University. Prior to Skyline, she worked to advance criminal justice reform, workers’ rights, and civil rights through leadership roles in nonprofits and government and served in the Obama Administration. In her previous roles, Jenny focused on criminal justice reform, including building support for sweeping criminal sentencing reform at Californians for Safety and Justice, as well as increasing access to those reforms through creating a model for automated record change at Code for America. At Public Rights Project, she developed a legal case that helped return millions of dollars in stolen wages to house cleaners in California.

R. Alan Mussman

Donor Advisor, Sam Fund

Al Mussman is the current donor advisor of the Sam Fund, (the Indianapolis Foundation, fiduciary).  The Sam Fund has concentrated its efforts in areas of supporting those who support others in the non-profit sector. In concert with the Berrien   Community Foundation (Al’s home county in Michigan), it created and is the funder of the Alamar Grant, awarded to organizations which show, not increased capacity or programming, but greater potential sustainability with special emphasis on human assets (people) who serve in the not-for-profit sector. It’s grant history also reflects a high priority on social/emotional/experiential learning with a complimentary emphasis on environmental issues.   Since late 2024 the fund has explored Direct Cash Transfers as an ethical and efficient way to help people and save money.  Rx Kids checks all the boxes for Al as the donor advisor of the Sam Fund. After getting a BA from Indiana University in 1979 he has (in no strict chronological order) coached basketball and cross country at the middle and high school levels, worked as owner and franchisor of Dairy Queens, Biggby and Zoup, participated in and created some pretty silly endurance events, facilitated social/emotional learning programming for adults and youth, served on a dozen or so non-profit boards, and taught surfing on Lake Michigan in Saint Joseph. With his wife, he has five total children/step children and four, (almost five), grand–children. 

Aisha Nyandoro

CEO, Springboard to Opportunities

Poverty disruptor Aisha Nyandoro is the Chief Executive Officer of Springboard To Opportunities, which houses the Magnolia Mother’s Trust project in Jackson, Mississippi. In her work, Aisha uses a “radically resident-driven” approach that is designed to improve the quality of life and end the generational poverty trajectory. She is a storyteller whose work and words have been featured in The New York Times, Essence, CNN, MSNBC, and Fast Company. She is a trailblazer and dream chaser who’s been recognized with fellowships at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Leadership Network and Ascend at the Aspen Institute.

Tyonka Perkins-Rimawi

Managing Director of Programs, Families & Workers Fund

Tyonka is a program director with the Families and Workers Fund, a coalition of more than 25 diverse philanthropies working together to build an economy that uplifts everyone. Tyonka leads the Fund’s 21st Century Benefits impact area, collaborating with leaders across the public and private sectors to strengthen delivery of key services, such as public benefits, that effectively reduce poverty and propel economic opportunity when they are shaped to guarantee a base of economic security for all people. She also collaborates with the Fund’s Essential Leaders Council of diverse frontline workers and leaders who provide guidance on the Fund’s priorities and weigh in on grant prospects. Tyonka has a track record leading innovative philanthropic initiatives focused on economic security, including a public-private partnership that launched the first fully funded flexible cash program for families working to overcome public benefits cliffs. She also led economic opportunity initiatives at Goodwill Industries International and the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning.

Aron Sousa

President, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Aron Sousa, MD, took office as RFU president on Nov. 10, 2025, bringing with him a distinguished record of academic leadership and a deep commitment to community health. Nationally recognized for his leadership in medical education, he has advanced public health research and strengthened the role of academic medicine in serving society. Dr. Sousa most recently served as dean of Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine (MSU CHM) and executive dean of the MSU Health Colleges. A self-described teacher at heart, Dr. Sousa is a strong advocate for students, prioritizing their success and well-being as they prepare to become the next generation of health leaders. Throughout his 30-year career at MSU, Dr. Sousa established innovation-based partnerships, demonstrating how a university can closely collaborate with local partners to strengthen healthcare delivery and improve community well-being. His most transformative project while at MSU greatly advanced public health initiatives in Flint, Michigan. A general internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Sousa earned his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine, before completing his residency, chief residency and fellowship in primary care internal medicine at MSU.

Dorian Warren

Co-President, Community Change

Dorian Warren is Co-President of Community Change & Community Change Action, and co-chair of the Economic Security Project. A progressive scholar, organizer, and media personality, Dorian has worked to advance racial, economic, and social justice for over two decades. He previously held the position of vice president at Community Change. He taught for over a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where he was co-director of the Columbia University Program on Labor Law and Policy. He also worked at MSNBC, where he was a contributor and host, as well as the executive producer of “Nerding Out” on MSNBC’s digital platform. He serves on the boards of Working Partnerships USA, the Leadership Conference Education Fund Board, the National Employment Law Project, and The Nation magazine, among others.