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The Board of Directors

HealthCorps® is excited to be working with such an accomplished and inspirational Board. Working together, HealthCorps’ message can be brought to students, schools, and communities across the nation.

Jordan S. Davis

Jordan S. DavisJordan S. Davis is a Managing Partner of Radius Ventures, which acts as the Investment Advisor to the Radius Funds. Prior to Radius, Jordan served as a Managing Director at KBL Healthcare, Inc., a health and life sciences venture capital and investment banking organization, and co-founded and served as Vice President and Director of KBL Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded Specified Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Read More

Previously, Jordan was primarily engaged in financial advisory and money management having served for five years in the Private Client Services and International Equity divisions of Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. He was a founder of Cambridge Heart, Inc., a cardiology device company, and Voxware, Inc., a speech technology company, both companies that achieved IPOs in 1996. Jordan currently serves on the board of directors of Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), Health Language, Inc., Heartscape Technologies, Inc., Impliant, Inc., Medingo Ltd. and ZettaCore, Inc., each portfolio companies of Radius. He also currently serves as a mentor in the Kauffman Fellows Program. Jordan earned an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Economics from The State University of New York at Binghamton.

T.J. Higgins

T. J. HigginsThomas J. Higgins is currently Group Vice President of Marketing for Schering-Plough Consumer Healthcare. He is responsible for the strategic marketing planning and execution for the Suncare, Footcare and OTC businesses. Previously, he led the OTC Marketing efforts, including the Rx to OTC switch of Claritin. Read More

Mr. Higgins joined Schering-Plough in April 2000 after holding various positions at Vlasic Foods International (formerly of Campbell's Soup Company), London International Group, Johnson & Johnson, McNeil Consumer Products, and Frito-Lay, Inc. At Vlasic Foods, Mr. Higgins served as Vice President of Marketing for the company's Swanson Frozen Division.

Mr. Higgins graduated summa cum laude from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. He also holds a master's in business administration from Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. Before pursuing his MBA, Mr. Higgins worked in the Litigation Support Group of Arthur Anderson & Co. in New York City.

Chris Lighty

Chris LightyIn an era when label CEO's drop albums, romance pop-stars and parlay their mogul-dum into multiple endorsement deals Chris Lighty, the 36-year-old CEO of Violator Records/Management is a bit of an anomaly. Since 1989, his company has been stealthily creating strategic multi-million dollar opportunities for its artists - among them 50 Cent, Missy Elliott, Three 6 Mafia, LL Cool J and Diddy - in film, television, advertising, sports and finance with little media fanfare. Read More

Why so under the radar? Lighty's preference has always been to let Violator's numbers - 70 million plus in combined record sales and millions in brand related ventures - speak for the company.

But in 2006, when Forbes magazine's outed him as "one of the industry's most influential talent managers" and the business mastermind that helped transform 50 Cent from multi-platinum artist to a $200 million dollar industry encompassing CD's, films, tours, video games, book deals, G-unit clothing and an unprecedented investment/endorsement deal with Glaceau's Vitamin Water - the cloak of anonymity was pulled off. And inquiring minds want to know, "Who is Chris Lighty?" More importantly how did a guy with no college or B School degree emerge as one of the most formidable businessmen of the hip-hop generation.

"I earned my MBA," says Lighty. "In hell."

Turns out the grisly streets of the South Bronx in the late '70's and '80's those streets provided one hell of an education.

Raised a single mother of seven in the notorious Bronx River Projects Lighty was no stranger to poverty or the desperation it fostered. "My mother worked two jobs and still struggled to make ends meet. We were changing price stickers on groceries just so our family could eat." Violence, fueled by the explosion of the crack trade, was rampant. "Friends were dropping like flies. People were dropping out of school, trying to get jobs or hustling to make money on the side. This was the era of Reaganomics. They were no programs, no clear-cut educational directives on how to survive or how to get out."

Some like his mother believed that education was the best escape route and she tried her best to instill those values in her children. As the eldest, Lighty was charged with making sure his siblings were dressed, fed, taken to and picked up from school and completed their homework. No great fan of school but appreciative of the daily escape it provided, he attended regularly and got good grades. But he was always acutely aware that those accomplishments did not solve the immediate dilemma of putting food on the table. So when an economics course conflicted with an after school job Lighty told his teacher to give him the textbook and let him take it as an independent study. His teacher warned him he would undoubtedly fail. In typically Lighty fashion, he ignored him and ended up with an A. Eventually he turned down a college scholarship. An acute observer of the streets around him, Lighty knew that education was not the only exit strategy.

Others may have dismissed the Bronx as a cauldron of urban blight but Lighty saw flourishing businesses - from the barely legal to the felonious - and businessmen. Number runners. Bottle collectors. Drug dealers. Salesmen who specialized in goods that happened to fall off the truck. "The streets taught me that as impoverished as that environment was, it was really possible to make something out of nothing."

"Street entrepreneurs had set hours," he explains. "They created sales and cultivated a viable product. They had to advertise, market and promote to make themselves distinguishable from the next man who was always ready to move in on a competitor's territory. They had to be provocative enough, and productive enough to find ways not only to create repeat customers but loyal ones too. And given the volatile nature of most the hood's enterprises, businessmen had to have the leadership skills necessary to run an organization that could easily run amok if left to its own devices."

Perhaps the most important lesson Lighty learned was that in an environment where everyone has nothing, the most valuable commodity is time. "If you frittered it away, you were left with nothing. Use it wisely and you can make a lot of money." Young, hungry and looking for a way out, Lighty invested his time in the one industry with stronger growth potential than the crack trade. Hip-hop. In many ways the decision was an easy one. "It was all I cared about. I didn't listen to the Jackson 5 and Marvin Gaye. I was listening to Bambaata and break beats. I searched it out, stayed up till two in the morning to hear it. So when people around me like Scott La Rock and the Jungle Brothers were getting signed, I knew I wanted to be a part of that,"

His first job in the industry was carrying crates for DJ Red Alert. His second was road managing a tour for the Jungle Brothers. But what should have been a heady, lucrative time was consistently marred with financial with disappointments. When the Jungle Brothers got signed to Warner Brothers for 1.7 million and ended up with a paltry $35,000 a piece, Lighty realized he had to get into management. "Even artists like Scott La Rock, who went to college, were at a disadvantage when it came to the contracts because they didn't know the business side. So I became the person who would read the contracts and ask a lot questions. I read books on the business. And books I could apply to building business strategies like The Art of War, the Bible, the Koran. I considered it my investment. And it paid off."

In 1989 Lighty joined Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen at RUSH Management. Shortly after, he started the indie label Violator signing Fat Joe and Beatnuts. In the early 90's he moved the label to Def Jam, inking multi-platinum artists like Warren G and Foxy Brown. In 1999, while maintaining his management position, Lighty sold the Violator Records roster to Def Jam and relaunched the label at Jive Records.

Today Violator Records/Management is multi- million-dollar company, with 14 employees. Many of them are from environments strikingly similar to the neighborhood where Chris Lighty got his start. Everyone, from his employees to the artists he represents, learns what Lighty considers the cornerstones of wealth building; the importance of investments, career diversification and the building the strength of the brand.

But it's dedication to putting his artists first that has given him the most success. "I pay my artists before I pay myself. My philosophy is that if I'm doing my job correctly, if the artist is paid and happy, then I'll make what I'm supposed to make. If I make less it's because I've made a mistake. I'll learn from it and it won't happen again."

It is this trust, the ability to speak both the language of the streets and the boardroom that make Lighty so valuable to both his clients and the industries anxious to work with them. "I've learned to speak to people in their own dialect. If I'm going to the bank, I dress like the banker. If I'm going to the show, I dress like the audience. When you're dealing with multi-million dollar corporate entities, being the hip-hop guy is not enough. Because nobody wants to give a million dollars to a guy they think can't give it back - tenfold."

Deborah Martz Lysaght, Esq.

No Photo AvailableDeborah Martz Lysaght, currently works as a Managing Member and Supervising Attorney for Intracoastal Title, LLC and is President, Executive Shareholder and Attorney at Law at Lysaght & Lysaght, P.A., both based in Jupiter, Florida. Deborah has a broad legal and business background as a multi-jurisdictional licensed attorney, specializing in all aspects of real estate, land use and real property development law. Read More

She has also worked closely with municipal planning and zoning law; administrative appellate law; title examination and title insurance law; condominium and homeowners' association law; and commercial and residential real estate transactions. She drafted the comprehensive revision of the Zoning Code of the Incorporated Village of Valley Stream, New York, which was adopted and implemented in 1992.

As to education, Deborah holds a Master of Laws Degree in Real Property Development for the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Florida. She hold a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Hofstra University School of Law in Uniondale, New York and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with honors, from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Among professional qualifications, Deborah is licensed with the New York State Bar (1978); the

Federal District Courts, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York (1979); the Florida State Bar (2001) and as a New York State Life, Health and Annuities Insurance Agent (1992.)

Professional memberships and affiliations include the Florida State Bar: Real Property, Probate and Trust Section; the American Bar Association: Real Property, Probate and Trust Section; the Palm Beach County Bar Association; the Florida Association of Women Lawyers; the Attorneys Title Insurance Fund as a Member Agent; the State of Florida as an Attorney ad Litem and Guardian ad Litem in the 15th Judicial District.

Alexander Markowits

Alexander MarkowtisAlex Markowits is Founder/President and CEO of Spring Hills Senior Communities. Spring Hills funded in 2001, has grown and now operates in multiple States. He was responsible for the creation of the company's innovative "Signature Touches" approach which incorporates an integrated healthy living approach the foundation for every aspect of a Spring Hills community resident's life. Read More

Mr. Markowits is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator and has a reputation for turning around troubled senior communities. Mr. Markowits is an Executive Board Member for the Health Care Association of New Jersey. HCANJ represents more then 350 nursing, subacute care, assisted living, adult day health care, comprehensive personal care and residential health care facilities. He also, is the Chairman of HCANJ's Education and serves on their Legislative Committee.

Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.

Dr. Mehmet OzDr. Mehmet Oz is the Professor and Vice Chairman of Surgery at Columbia University, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, and Founder and Director for the Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, complementary medicine, and health care policy. Read More

Morgan R. Poncy, M.D.

No Photo AvailableDr. Poncy is presently a medical director at Sunrise Detoxification Center in Lake Worth, Florida and runs a private practice in internal medicine and "addictionology." Prior to this position, he spent a year in Forth Worth at All Saints Hospital as a hospitalist in the Inpatient Medicine Division. Read More

He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Addiction Medicine as a Buprenorphine Administrator, and holds a Suboxone License from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Regarding education, in 1996 Dr. Poncy received his M.D. from the University of Miami in Miami, Florida and in 1992 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester. He carried out his internship/residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida from 1996 to 1999.

As to professional memberships, Dr. Poncy belongs to the American Medical Association, the Florida Medical Association, the Palm Beach County Medical Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Addition Medicine. He resides in Jupiter, Florida.