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Cesar Garrido was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He has two sons, one of whom has hemophilia A, which was the impetus for him becoming a committed member of the bleeding disorders community—a commitment which began over two decades ago.
In 1996, Garrido became a member of the Venezuelan Association for Hemophilia (AVH). He has held a number of roles in that organization, including being a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer and Project Manager. At the AVH, he has been key member of several endeavours, including the creation of new diagnostic laboratories in Venezuela, and campaigns for testing and diagnosis of people with hemophilia (PWH) in Venezuela and Latin America. He was also part of national programs which increased access to factor, developed outreach and identification campaigns, increased access to education, and set up regional medical workshops for PWH.
At the international level, Garrido was an Advisory Board member of the International Alliance Patient Organization (IAPO) and has been a member of HERO (Haemophilia Experiences, Results and Opportunities) since 2010. He was also a development manager for a strategic alliance of 27 countries from the Americas—called the Coalition of the Americas (CoA)— that was set up to influence public policies.
The WFH has been a big part of Cesar Garrido’s life since 1999. He was a member of the Board of Directors from 2002 to 2010 and was most recently lay member from 2014 until his election as President in 2020. He has held a number of important roles at the WFH, including chair of the Accreditation Committee, chair of the Hemophilia Organization Twinnings (HOT) Committee, co-chair of Capacity Building Committee, national member organization (NMO) Vice President, and member of the President’s Strategic Council.
Paul Wilton was born in London Ontario, Canada with severe hemophilia A. He has a Bachelor of Education and an MPA from the University of Western Ontario, and is currently working towards a PhD in Higher Education Governance from the University of Toronto. He is a past President of both the Canadian Hemophilia Society and Hemophilia Ontario. Wilton is currently a member of the Canadian Blood Services National Liaison Committee and the CHS Blood Safety and Supply Committee. He is also on the Congress Organizing Committee for the WFH 2022 World Congress in Montreal, Canada.
Barry Flynn has been Vice-President, Finance, for the WFH since 2018. A father of three, Flynn was born with severe hemophilia A. He graduated with first class honours degree in Biochemistry from Liverpool University, became a Chartered Accountant (CA) soon thereafter and then completed an MBA with distinction from IMC in 1991. Flynn was an audit partner for EY for 21 years until his retirement in 2015. He is a qualified executive coach and mentor, and currently has non-executive director roles at the WFH, with Liverpool University, the UK Haemophilia Society and the Manchester Growth Company.
Alain Baumann is the CEO of the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and has held this position since 2015. Alain brings with him a proven track record leading nonprofit as well as for-profit healthcare organizations. Early on in his career, he worked for a major pharmaceutical company holding marketing and general manager positions. Within the nonprofit sector he worked for the World Economic Forum as well as for the AO Foundation, a global nonprofit organization focusing on education and research in orthopedic surgery.
Kasia is a creative senior executive with career experience in public and private
business, and not for profit sectors. She has been specializing for 5 years in
Interim Executive roles, supporting Boards in times of executive transition, and
providing executive coaching. Her core expertise is strategy, marketing, multi stakeholder environments, and customer experience.
Kasia has held interim CEO and senior/vice president roles at Diabetes Canada,
Trillium Health Partners Foundation, and Alzheimer’s Society – Ontario and has/is
providing executive coaching to confidential clients. Her permanent senior
executive roles have been at Foresters Financial, Heart and Stroke, and Speedy
Muffler.
Kasia’s Board experience includes her current position on the founding Board of
The Ontario Caregiver Organization, and numerous industry associations,
including the American Fraternal Alliance, LIMRA, Canadian Marketing
Association, and the CMA Ethics and Privacy committee. She has served as the
president of the Foresters Prevention for Child Abuse charity, as well as varied
roles with Children’s Miracle Network, Kaboom Children’s Playground, Heart and
Stroke, and within her children’s schools.
Kasia holds a business degree from Ivey at Western University and lives in Toronto
with her husband, Fred Glady, her Bichon, Archie, and their coming and going ‘20
something’ kids– Eliza and Samuel.
Michael is a longstanding and passionate member of the Canadian Hemophilia Society having served in several different roles over the years. When he’s not serving the hemophilia community he is a Director of Product with 10+ years of experience growing users, growing dollars, and bringing ideas to life for Fortune 50 companies. He has experience leading Agile development teams, growing sales in a B2B environment, and creating marketing and operations strategies in a direct to consumer e-commerce environment.
Milena is a mother of a son who has mild hemophilia A. Milena is founder of “Hemophilia Mother”- Facebook group (9.3 K members) that supports mothers and women with bleeding disorders internationally. She is Code Rouge Ambassador and Chair of the Women and Girls with BD Committee in Manitoba also passionately advocates for Women’s bleeding disorders clinic in Manitoba. She is currently a President of the CHS – Manitoba Chapter. She is also a Chair of the Education Committee and she was a Chair of the CHS-MC / Mongolia Twinning Committee, which was awarded 2017 with a Twins of the year award. She sits on the International Project Committee for Canadian Hemophilia Society and also serves on Organization Twinning Committee for WFH. She was involved in CHS-Bangladesh Twinning as a committee member for 4 years and she sits on CHS – Philippine Twinning presently. She chair CHS MC / Serbian Twinning and also involved In 2016th she was awarded by Volunteer Manitoba with “Women in Leadership Award” and in 2019 the “International Contribution Award” by CHS. ” I am firm believer that we have to have open forum/platform for women carriers/ caregivers and women with BD-s and that women can support each other in their BD journey. Sharing information, education material and emotional support are fundamental for better coping with their chronic condition and also their child’s. Bleeding disorders community is small and very connected community, nationally and internationally and I am so happy to be part of it.”
David Page is Director of Health Policy for the Canadian Hemophilia Society (CHS). His principal role is to advocate for access to optimal comprehensive care and the most efficacious coagulation therapies in Canada. He served as a volunteer with the CHS from 1982 to 2001, including a 2-year term as President in the 1990s. In 2001, he left the field of teaching and educational publishing to take a staff position with the CHS. He was National Executive Director from 2006 to 2017. David served on the Quebec Hemovigilance Committee advising the Minister of Health on blood safety issues from 1998 to 2006, including four years as president. He has been a member of the Héma-Québec (Quebec’s blood establishment) Safety Committee since 1999 and is now its chairperson. David served on the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Hemophilia from 2000 to 2008 and was chair of its Coagulation Products Safety, Supply and Access Committee from 2001 to 2016. David has severe factor IX deficiency.
Mathieu Jackson has Hemophilia B moderate. After high school, he trained in professional cuisine at the Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ). He then completed a Bachelor’s degree in French literature at University of Montreal, where he is presently writing his master’s thesis in Comparative education and fundamentals of education. Mathieu is on the boards of directors of both the Canadian Hemophilia Society Quebec Chapter (CHSQ) and the Canadian Hemophilia Society (CHS). He is patient coordinator and pedagogical counselor at the Centre for excellence in partnerships with patients and the public (CEPPP), where he co-directs the Partnership school with Alexandre Berkesse. Mathieu Jackson is a fellow of the 2017-2018 International AFFIRM Program.
Mr. Antonio José Almeida is the Senior Director of Operations at the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) in Montreal, Canada. He oversees and guides all key WFH general operation functions – Congress & Meetings, Finance & Administration, Information Technology, and Human Resources.
Previously, from March 2016 to June 2019 he was Director of Programs and Education and responsible for the planning, implementation, follow-up and evaluation of international health care development programs, as well as the delivery of medical education, training curricula, and the development of educational resources. He also supported the CEO in his work with corporate partners. From October 2008 to March 2016 he was Director of Programs and was also responsible for all WFH country programs, the Global Alliance for Progress (GAP) and Cornerstone Initiative programs.
Mr. Almeida earned his law degree from the University of Montréal where he also obtained a Master of Laws. He subsequently studied European Law at the Université Catholique of Louvain (Belgium) and obtained a D.E.A. in Public International Law from the Université Paris 2 (France).
A lawyer by training with more than 20 years of experience working in the non-for-profit NGO sector in Canada and abroad, Mr. Almeida’s areas of expertise include management, human rights, the rule of law, program design and implementation, advocacy (people and patient rights), education and capacity-building of civil society and national patient organizations.
Jeremias Rodriguez is a seasoned Meeting Planner Executive with over 20 years’ experience in leading, planning and executing Virtual and In-person Events, domestically and internationally, across a variety of businesses including Associations, PCOs and DMCs,.
Jeremias leads the Congress and Meetings department at the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) where he provides organization-wide leadership, strategic guidance and direction relating to the effective planning and execution of WFH events, in-person and virtual, as well as other educational and informational meetings world-wide.
Previous to the WFH, Jeremias worked at the International Airports Association where he ran the Events department and he had previously held various management roles at leading Canadian, US and Mexican PCOs and DMCs.
With over 30 years of event management experience and a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from Concordia University, Helene combines her knowledge and expertise with her trademark flexibility and interpersonal communication skills to assist WFH program committees in developing innovative and thought-provoking scientific programs.
Helene has been with the World Federation of Hemophilia since 2004 and has managed the scientific program for 10 consecutive World Congresses, as well as other numerous in-person and virtual events. As a senior manager in the Congress and Meetings department, she acts as a mentor to the junior staff and helps her team in problem solving and time management.
Helene enjoys food and wine pairings, travelling and playing golf with her husband of over 30 years, and spending quality time with their 4 cats.
Neha Suchak is a senior communications and partnerships expert with over 20 years of experience managing the design, development and implementation of international healthcare programs, campaigns and initiatives. She has a wide breath of experience in different focus areas, including hemophilia, HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH). Neha has collaborated with NGOs, the private sector, civil society, and public entities, including USAID, the World Bank and UN agencies. She has a proven track record of successfully managing programs and activities with overall footprints of over $200 million. Her projects have involved key stakeholders in over 50 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Neha holds a BA in Sociology from McGill University, and a MSc in Health Communications and International Public Health from Boston University’s College of Communication and School of Public Health.
