Meet our Board of Directors

Rhodes B. Ritenour is a native of New Market, Virginia and is the vice president for External and Regulatory Affairs with Bon Secours Health System. He represents the system before local, state, and federal governments; in communities it serves; and to corporations. He also provides regulatory legal counsel and manages governance, serving as the corporate secretary of the Richmond Market Board. 

Prior to joining Bon Secours, Rhodes served as the Deputy Attorney General of Virginia for civil litigation. Before joining the office of the attorney general, he was a partner in the Richmond office of LeClairRyan, where he focused on intellectual property litigation, regulated industries, and counseling campaigns and elected officials. He served as the firm’s Hospitality and Tourism Industry team leader and was a member of the Energy Industry team. Preceding his time in private practice, Ritenour clerked for U.S. District Judge Jackson L. Kiser in the Western District of Virginia, served in the policy office of Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner, and worked in the press office of Vice President Al Gore. 

Ritenour earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia. He serves on the Virginia Business Council, and the Boards of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Longwood University, Lead Virginia (chairman), ChamberRVA, The Richmond Forum, and project:Homes. Having type 1 diabetes since the age of five, he has served the diabetes community as chairman of the ADA board in Central Virginia, a member of the ADA National Advocacy Committee, a member of the ADA Legal Advocacy Network, Fund-A-Cure co-chair for the 2019 JDRF Richmond Gala, and now serves on the National ADA Board of Directors. Rhodes and his wife Alana are co-founders of TheDiabetesSupportGroup.org, a national online diabetes community, and have published their first children’s book in a series, The Adventures of Rhodes and Alana: School Bus Secret. He lives in Henrico County, Virginia with his wife and two spirited children. 

Charles D. “Chuck” Henderson is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Diabetes Association® (ADA).

Chuck joined the ADA in January 2020 after spending 24-plus years in for-profit sectors and volunteering in the non-profit sector. Philanthropy and Sales/Fundraising are threaded through the fabric of his DNA. Chuck comes to the ADA from Champion Life Safety Solutions where he was CEO and President. Before that, he was a Field Sales Executive running multi-billion-dollar territories across the country for Dell Healthcare, Common ground Marketing (including executing special events in the field), and Viacom. His professional skill set and success, coupled with his passion and desire to give back, make this a perfect time to lead a non-profit organization. He is passionate about spending the balance of his career in a space that will make a significant impact on the lives of millions across the country.

Chuck is skilled in building trusted and collegial working relationships, relationship selling/fundraising, driving productivity, leading, and supporting change-management initiatives. He has deep experience developing best-of-breed, solution-selling leaders who think as strategic business partners, with a culture of winning as a team and over-delivering results.

A native Texan, Chuck has a strong commitment to his family, community, and church. An avid golfer, Chuck is also involved with his alma mater, Texas A&M where he serves on boards and leverages his professional skills to raise money for the school in different capacities. When he is not working on fundraising for A&M causes, he is working on raising capital funds for his church, where he serves on the Board of Trustees. Chuck is married to his beautiful wife Courtney, and together they have a bright teenage daughter, Charlie.

James’ broad healthcare experience spans a wide array of outpatient provider services for chronic diseases to life sciences venture capital. He is a managing partner for a life sciences venture capital fund and sits on the Board of Directors for a variety of innovative healthcare companies that aim to improve health equity and access for underserved communities. James is an advocate for combining innovations in healthcare technology with changes to public health policy in order to transform healthcare. He is currently the chair of both the ADA Innovation Committee and the ADA Finance Committee. 

Dr. Mandeep Bajaj is the vice chair for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Medicine and a professor of medicine and molecular and cellular biology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is the chief of the Section of Endocrinology at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center, as well as medical director of the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center Diabetes Program and Baylor Medicine Endocrinology and Diabetes. Dr. Bajaj is a medical graduate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and received his fellowship training in endocrinology and diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. 

Dr. Bajaj is a reputed clinical and translational researcher in obesity and type 2 diabetes and has over 100 publications. His patient-oriented research work has delineated the metabolic and molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. He is currently the editor in chief of British Medical Journal (BMJ), Open Diabetes Research and Care, published jointly by the ADA and the BMJ Group. He has served on the ADA Scientific Sessions Meeting Planning Committee, Finance Committee, and the Research Grant Review Committee. He has been awarded the Master Clinician Lifetime Award as well as the Fulbright & Jaworski Faculty Excellence Teaching Award by Baylor College of Medicine.

Patti is a certified diabetes care and education specialist and registered dietitian, currently working as diabetes staff development coordinator at St. Luke’s Hospital Diabetes Care Program in Duluth, Minnesota. Patti was a member of the ADA Nutrition Science Review Committee and the writing committee for the 2019 ADA nutrition consensus statement. She currently serves on the Science and Health Care Executive Council and has served on the ADA Professional Practice Committee and ADA Scientific Sessions Committee. She is a past chair of the Diabetes Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is a frequent author and international speaker on nutrition and diabetes education topics. Patti has a master’s degree in adult education from the University of Minnesota, a Bachelor of Science degree in applied nutrition from the Pennsylvania State University and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics. She lives in Cloquet, Minnesota with her husband Tom.

Todd F. Brown is the founder and chief executive officer of Urban Edge Network, LLC, a Black-owned media company focused on serving 101 Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs). Prior to starting his firm, Todd was the chief executive officer of TheGrio, a former division of NBC News and the largest online media company geared toward African American audiences. He also held an executive and management board-level positions at Johnson Publishing Company, where he increased the digital footprint of Ebony, Jet, and Fashion Fair Cosmetics by investing in technology to increase sales and audience engagement. He also helped revitalize the public’s perception of the publications by building an experiential marketing division for the business. Earlier in his career, Todd held senior executive leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies including Comcast, Viacom, GE Capital, Comdisco, Capgemini, Dell, and HP, where he streamlined processes and drove tangible financial results. He is an expert in the development and implementation of corporate strategy and cultural transformation initiatives, management operations, and technology disruption. Todd was recognized by Cable Fax magazine as a key executive in cable for several years during his tenure at Viacom, Comcast, and NBC. Todd holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University. He completed executive management programs at Harvard Business School and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. Todd is the ADA’s 2023 secretary/treasurer and serves on the finance, investment, and board development committees. As a diverse executive, Todd founded the Diversity Special Interest Group at the Project Management Institute that now has seven chapters at historically Black colleges and universities. He has served on nonprofit boards at Boulder Special Transit, Oklahoma University, and the University of Texas and is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. He is also long-term member of the Executive Leadership Council. Todd is a member of National Association for Child Development and BoardProspects. He was also an honored participant of the early two rounds of Deloitte’s Executive Leadership Council (ELC) CEO and Board Cohorts seminars.

An ardent cyclist, Robin sets the healthy-living-standard for his colleagues by regularly traveling on two wheels. His daily commute takes him across the mighty Columbia River, to and from his home in Washington state. As a senior vice president at Moda, Robin leads the organization’s key Medicare and Medicaid departments. He is also responsible for Moda’s major state accounts, including the Oregon Educators Benefit Board, the Public Employees Retirement System, the Public Employees Benefit Board, and all strategic Systems of Care initiatives. 

Among his many innovations at Moda, Robin was the founder and continues to be the chairman of the Board of the Eastern Oregon Coordinated Care Organization (EOCCO) and the co-founder of the Portland Metropolitan region’s Oregon Health and Sciences University’s Integrated Delivery System (OHSU IDS). Combined, the organizations serve over 120,000 Medicaid members. Both organizations were formed to operate under a global budget incorporating value based payment methodologies, to have accountability for meeting specific quality metrics, and to recognize and address social determinants of health. Robin also established the NW Prescription Drug Consortium, pooling prescription drug purchasing and lowering costs, especially for the uninsured and underinsured, throughout Oregon and Washington. A graduate of Oregon State University, Robin is also a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Dr. Rita Rastogi Kalyani is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. She has a national and international reputation as a clinician-investigator conducting epidemiological and patient-oriented research focused on the geriatric and cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Dr. Kalyani’s work has led to fundamental discoveries regarding the development of skeletal muscle loss, physical disability, and frailty in diabetes. She has spearheaded studies investigating sex differences in cardiovascular disease and diabetes which have influenced primary prevention guidelines. Dr. Kalyani has served as PI or Core Director for multiple research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

A graduate of Harvard College, she completed all of her medical training at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Kalyani has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including a pivotal review on contemporary treatments for type 2 diabetes published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She founded and serves as Director of the Diabetes Management Service for the Johns Hopkins Total Pancreatectomy Islet Auto Transplant program.

Dr. Kalyani has been a dedicated ADA volunteer for two decades and served on multiple committees. Notably, she was Chair of the ADA’s Professional Practice Committee, responsible for authoring the ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes—2018. Dr. Kalyani has served as President of ADA Maryland’s Community Leadership Board. She was previously on the editorial board of Diabetes Care and is currently an Associate Editor for British Medical Journal Open Diabetes Research & Care.  

Dr. Kalyani has coauthored two award-winning books for people with diabetes and is Editor-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Patient Guide to Diabetes website. In recognition of her dedication to public awareness in support of the field of endocrinology, she was the recipient of the Endocrine Society’s Laureate Award for Outstanding Public Service in 2022. 

Joshua J. Neumiller, PharmD, CDCES, FADCES, FASCP is Vice-Chair and Allen I. White Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy at Washington State University and Lead Pharmacist Researcher at Providence Medical Research Center in Spokane, Washington. Josh is a contributing author for the ADA books Medications for the Treatment of Diabetes and Practical Insulin, and past Editor-in-Chief for the ADA journal Diabetes Spectrum. Josh has served on multiple ADA committees and work groups, and notably served as Chairman of the ADA’s Professional Practice Committee from 2018-2019, whose primary responsibility is revising the ADA Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes each year. Josh’s clinical, research, and service interests involve improving uptake and use of guideline-directed medical therapies in people with diabetes and chronic kidney disease, and he is an investigator with the Center for Kidney Disease Research, Education and Hope (CURE-CKD). Josh was awarded with the 2016 Albert B. Prescott Pharmacy Leadership Award and was named the 2021 ADCES Diabetes Care & Education Specialist of the Year for his work in diabetes care, research, and education.

Janet Brown-Friday, RN, MSN, MPH, has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years and is most recently the project director of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) / Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) Combined Cohort Study Bronx site at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine under the Division of General and Internal Medicine. Mrs. Brown-Friday has previously served on the National Board of the ADA from January 2017 to December 2019. She remains a current member of the NYC Community Leadership Board for the ADA. 

Mrs. Brown-Friday has also served on the ADA’s African American Committee from 1995 to 1998 in NYC. From 2002 to 2009, Mrs. Brown-Friday served as a committee member for the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) and was her workgroup’s vice chair and chair during that period. From 2009 to 2013 Mrs. Brown-Friday served on the Operations Committee for NDEP. From 2005 to 2008, she served as a special government employee and council member for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) Advisory Council. She is also a volunteer with her church in Spring Valley, NY. Mrs. Brown-Friday is married to Clement E. Friday Jr. and has one son, Vahn J. Friday, who attends Stonehill College. Mrs. Brown-Friday holds an MPH in community health education and an MSN in community health nursing from Hunter College in New York, NY.

Rodica Busui is the Larry D. Soderquist professor of diabetes and a recognized national and international leader in the field of diabetes and diabetes complications. She is the vice chair for Clinical & Health Outcomes Research in the Department of Internal Medicine, and director of Clinical Research, Mentoring, and Development of the Caswell Diabetes Institute at the University of Michigan. 

Her research interests involve chronic complications of diabetes, particularly diabetic neuropathy, diabetic foot complications, diabetic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, and novel technologies for treating type 1 diabetes. She has been a PI and member of the Steering Committee in many landmark diabetes clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or Pharma, including: Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes trial; The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications; Preventing Early Renal Loss in Type 1 Diabetes; Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Diabetes 2; Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Type 2 Diabetes-A Comparative Effectiveness Study; and DEVOTE, REPLACE-BG, WISDM, and MOBILE. In addition, she designed and leads several investigator-initiated studies to unveil disease modifying agents for diabetic complications, and on the use of diabetes technologies to improve patients’ outcomes and diabetes care delivery funded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and Pharma. 

She is the chair of the Steering Committee of the NIDDK Diabetes Foot Consortium. Dr. Busui has published more than 275 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and received awards from the Fulbright Foundation, ADA, and the University of Michigan. She has been an elected member of the ADA Clinical Practice Committee, chaired the 2017 ADA position statement on diabetic neuropathy, chaired the ADA Scientific Research Review Clinical, the ADA Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Interest Group, the ADA/ACC Heart Failure in Diabetes Consensus, and chairs the Precision Prognostic in Type 1 Diabetes Working Group of the ADA/European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

Rone Luczynski has spent most of his career helping major corporations manage and reengineer their supply chains to operate more efficiently and profitably. Currently, Rone is the chief vision officer at Revurbia Consulting. Revurbia is an environmental, social, governance, and supply chain optimization firm. Rone was formerly the assistant vice president of Supply Chain Management at Service Corporation International, Inc. (SCI), North America’s largest single provider of funeral, cremation, and cemetery services. He also held the title of president of SCI Shared Resources, LLC, which is SCI’s procurement corporation. SCI has ~2,000 locations and 25,000 employees in 44 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Rone was responsible for all procurement and supply chain activities at SCI. Rone has been involved with the ADA for 15 years, having served as chair-elect, chairman of the ADA’s initial Fundraising Committee, the Board & Talent Development and Compensation Committee, as well as served on the Finance Committee for the National Board. Rone was previously chairman of the Houston and South Texas Community Leadership Boards and a leading fund raiser for both the Houston Tour de Cure® and Step Out Walk®.

Sean Pittman is the senior attorney and managing partner of Pittman Law Group, P.L., which specializes in the areas of government, administrative, education, and corporate law. Sean represents a diverse client list of private citizens, local governments, small businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Sean serves as trusted legal counsel to cities, counties, hospitals, banking institutions, aviation and port authorities, universities, industries, corporations, and various professional associations.

As a local government lawyer, Sean represents Florida counties and municipalities before the Florida Cabinet, Florida Legislature, and other tribunals. As an administrative lawyer, Sean has a strong understanding of the Florida Administrative Procedures Act, advising clients on matters before the Department of Administrative Hearings and various State of Florida boards and agencies. 

Sean received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science in 1990 and earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1994 from the Florida State University (FSU) College of Law. While at FSU, Sean’s leadership qualities led him to become the student body president and two-time chairman of the Florida Student Association Board of Directors, and member of the Florida Board of Regents. In 2021, in recognition of his many years of work and service, Sean was selected to interview for and ultimately became a semi-finalist for the Presidency at Florida State University.

Sean served as the 2018–2019 president of the Orange Bowl Committee (OBC) and currently serves on the OBC Board of Directors. Sean also serves on the National Football Foundation’s Board of Trustees, the Big 10 Equality Coalition formed by Commissioner Kevin Warren, is a member of the Florida State University Hall of Fame Committee, and is the founder and chairman of the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Sean most recently served as general counsel of the National Bar Association and was presented the 2022 Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. Lawyer of the Year Award by the National Bar Association.

For his contributions to the Orange Bowl Committee and his tireless efforts to bring Glades Pioneer Park to Palm Beach County, Sean was awarded with special recognition by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission in 2019. Sean was also selected to serve on the FSU Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2018 and the Jim Moran Institute Advisory Board. In 2017, Sean was inducted into the Tallahassee Barristers Legal Hall of Fame and in 2015, Sean received the Distinguished Member Award for Leadership Florida. In 2022 Pittman Law Group was awarded the Seminole 100 award in recognition as one of the fastest-growing alumni-owned businesses by the FSU Alumni Association. During the Spring 2022 Alumni Awards ceremony, Sean received the FSU Alumni Association and Omicron Delta Kappa’s Grads Made Good Award.

For his philanthropic endeavors, Sean was presented the 2016 Heman Sweatt Award by the National Bar Association, the Tallahassee Servant Leadership Award by the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and the Founders Award in 2014 from the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce. Sean is the former Chairman of Children’s Home Society and has served on the boards of the Apalachee Center, Leon County Civic Center Authority, United Way of the Big Bend, and Children’s Campaign. Sean committed $100,000 to the Smokey Hollow Historic Neighborhood and in 2010, Sean contributed $100,000 to the Florida State University College of Law to fund the Sean Pittman Scholarship for minority students. 

The Tallahassee Democrat named Sean one of the “Top Twenty-Five Most Influential People in Tallahassee” and featured him in the article, “Capitol Clout” for being a significant political insider within the constantly changing environs of Florida’s State Capitol. Sean was ranked twice as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Florida Politics” by Influence magazine. Florida Trend magazine says Sean is “one to look for” in the new wave of politics in Florida and lists him as a “Must Know Contact” in Tallahassee. He was also included in Florida Trend’s “Top 500 Business Leaders in Florida.”

Sean is a co-host of the popular television talk show The Usual Suspects, airing on one of the highest watched CBS affiliates in the country. On the show, he analyzes and provides commentary on the latest happenings in state and national politics. Sean also hosts his own radio show and podcast series, The Sean Pittman Show, which is widely acclaimed for its meritorious guests and significant insights into politics, business, sports, and more. In recent years, Sean has also made appearances on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, while also being published in USA Today, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Palm Beach Post, and more.

Francisco Prieto was born in Chicago, IL as one of nine children of Jorge and Luz Maria Prieto. He has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago and received his MD from the University of Minnesota in 1980. He trained in family medicine at the University of Arizona, serving as chief resident in 1983 before serving three years in the National Health Service Corps. He has practiced in Sacramento, California since 1986. 

Dr. Prieto has been a longtime volunteer for the ADA, including serving as president of the Sacramento Community Leadership Board.  An avid bicyclist, he also chaired the Tour de Cure^® committee and currently serves as the chair of the ADA’s National Advocacy Committee. In 2004, when California passed a citizen-led initiative to fund stem cell research, State Treasurer Phil Angelides named him to serve as a patient advocate member of the Independent Citizens Organizing Committee, the governing board of the new state agency created by the initiative, The Calif. Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). 

Dr. Prieto served two eight-year terms at CIRM, where he was a member of the Scientific and Medical Accountability Standards Working Group, the Grants Evaluation Working Group, and chaired the Evaluation Subcommittee.  Dr. Prieto and his wife, Yolanda Valle, MD, have two wonderful children, Miguel and Marisol.

Christopher K. Ralston, JD, is a partner and practice coordinator in the New Orleans litigation practice at Phelps Dunbar LLP. Mr. Ralston handles a range of commercial litigation and focuses in the areas of antitrust law, business torts, trade secret litigation and contract disputes, tax litigation, securities litigation and arbitration, direct selling, and intellectual property litigation. He also serves as a part of the firm’s appellate practice. 

Mr. Ralston’s work in the legal field has received recognition in numerous forms: In 2012, he was named to the New Orleans City Business Hall of Fame; in 2016, he received both the Federal Bar Association’s New Orleans Chapter President’s Award and the Louisiana State Bar Association’s President’s Award; in 2013 and 2016, he received the Louisiana Bar Foundation’s President’s Award; and in 2021 he received the David A. Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana State Bar Association.  After recognizing the devastating impact of diabetes in New Orleans, Mr. Ralston joined the ADA’s New Orleans Community Leadership Board (CLB) in 2009, and he has served as Chair of the CLB since 2014.