BRANDON PHILLIPS
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Brandon Phillips is a professional polo player. During his career, Phillips has won many of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments. However, winning these tournaments is not the biggest victory he has achieved…surviving stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is.
Everything seemed to be falling into place for the young Phillips until the day he woke up with severe swelling and aching pain in his left leg. Twenty-four hours later, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and given a prognosis of six weeks to live. Phillips was just 14 years old.
Phillips endured five grueling months of intensive chemotherapy sessions yet never lost his spirit nor accepted death as an option. He beat the odds and went into remission.
Brandon vowed to dedicate his life to pursuing what he loved most…polo. Later, he would fuse his passion for polo with his desire to help families facing the dreadful challenge of surviving childhood cancers.
Barbara Bell Cook
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Prior to joining Polo for Life, Barbara had been at Lincoln Center for over 20 years creating and implementing a broad range of fundraising events generating $12 million in annual revenue. Her role included working very closely with the Chair and members of the Lincoln Center Board of Directors as well as representatives of Lincoln Center’s resident organizations.
Barbara directed and expanded events portfolio and had consistently grown net income. Her attention to detail, creative problem-solving skills, and passionate commitment will serve her well partnering with local organizations to meet the needs of patients and their families.
Christine Aylward
BOARD MEMBER
Christine is the Founder of Magnetic Ventures and has worked at the forefront of healthcare innovation since the beginning of her career at Roche. She has been in venture capital business since 2011. As a founder, business executive and investor, Christine evaluates companies through a unique lens, making her an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs.
She has a proven track record of investing in healthcare leaders, and her meaningful relationships and expertise span pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, genomics, technology, and finance. Her experience commercializing global franchises and building companies has awarded her deep domain and industry operating expertise. She has helped launch more than 20 products in the pharmaceutical, genomics, healthcare technology and diagnostic sectors.
Christine began her career at Roche, where she launched the revolutionary technology polymerase chain reaction (PCR), formed the first cross collaboration between the pharmaceutical and diagnostic divisions, was a key member of several marketing teams, and was placed on the Executive Development Track.
Most recently, Christine was a Managing Director at Foresite Capital, which she joined at its founding. There she was instrumental in building the firm to $1.2 billion in assets under management and helped identify and grow some of the most valuable companies within the portfolio. Christine has also been an entrepreneur in the media sector and was a partner at a technology-focused investment bank acquired by Goldman Sachs. Christine currently sits on the boards of Branch Biosciences, Relation Therapeutics, SameSky Health, Amydis, and UCSF Health Hub.
Rob Gray
BOARD MEMBER
Rob Gray is the co-founder of T&R Development. He was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. Rob grew up in a family of competitive riders and spent his entire life in the equestrian industry. He had an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age. Rob moved to Wellington, FL, at 18 years old and started his first company, Gray Equestrian Services LLC. In 2015, while managing Vlock Show Stables, Rob teamed up with fellow equestrian, Teddy Vlock, and co-founded T&R Development. Their real estate firm has vastly grown with holdings of more than $50 million. The knowledge and network that Rob has developed over the past 10 years is what makes him key in analyzing opportunities within the market and developing premier equestrian property..
RITA A. REIK, MD
BOARD MEMBER
Dr. Reik is the Chief Medical Officer for America’s Blood Centers. In her role at ABC, Dr. Reik interacts with international blood bankers to address emerging global threats to the safety of the blood supply and maintain worldwide standards for transfusion safety. Dr. Reik serves as Chief Medical Office for OneBlood, Inc., where she oversees OneBlood’s board-certified Transfusion Medicine physicians, and the operational areas of Therapeutic Apheresis, Cellular Therapy, Education and Research. She is board-certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, as well as Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine, and Forensic Pathology.
Dr. Reik’s experience includes serving as Senior Medical Officer for the American Red Cross (ARC) Biomedical Services at its National Headquarters in Washington, DC. She was ARC’s Director of National Operations for the Center for Cell Therapy and Chief Medical Officer of the Pacific Northwest Region. Dr. Reik served as Vice-Chair of the Department of Pathology at Memorial Regional Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale Florida and was Director of Transfusion Medicine Services for the system’s six hospitals. She is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine, and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She received her post-graduate training at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. Her areas of special interest include Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy, and new emerging diseases and their impact on the blood supply. She is a regional Principal Investigator for the NIH/NHLBI Transfusion-Transmissible Infections Monitoring System and served on task forces for Zika Virus.
She serves on multiple national and international committees in the field of transfusion medicine and had authored research papers on new emerging diseases and their significance to the blood supply, including the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
PJ RIZVI
BOARD MEMBER
PJ Rizvi has been involved with Polo for Life since the beginning. As Event Co-chair for the past seven years, PJ has been instrumental in producing PFL’s flagship fundraising event, Polo for a Purpose.
PJ tirelessly contributes to the event resulting in exponential growth year after year. Having lost her sister, Penny, to leukemia, PJ is motivated to help find a cure for blood cancers as well as help families facing the exact same challenge her family experienced.
“All the money in the world could not save my sister, but maybe the money we raise at this event might prevent another family from the tragedy and heartache we suffered”, said Rizvi.