Healing Arizona Veterans Board, Team and Specialists
Volunteer Board Members
Robert Sexton, M.D.
Board Chairman
Dr. Sexton has been a resident of Tucson since 1989 where he was in private practice until 2008. At that point, he rejoined the military after an almost 38 year break. Once again a U.S. Soldier, he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan where he was a physician with Civil Affairs and a Field Surgeon attached to a forward deployed unit. In 2009, during his Iraq deployment, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome and was treated with plasmapheresis for the acute phase of the disease. Four years later, he once again began experiencing severe symptoms similar to his prior GBS experience. After neurological evaluation, he was then treated with HBOT, which resulted in a very significant clinical improvement — “a life changer.” Dr. Sexton’s military, medical and personal experience with this therapy gives him a unique perspective as a strong advocate for HBOT.
Hugo Frausto, Bachelors in Political Science and Business
Corporate and Fiduciary Oversight
Hugo joined the United States Marine Corps in 2004 and served on active duty for ten years. As a Marine, he went on two combat deployments to Al Fallujah, Iraq, and one Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) deployment to the Asian Pacific. He also served as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor and trained over 500 new Marines. After his service, he obtained a bachelor’s in political science with a minor in Business from Arizona State University. After college, he accepted a role with Morgan Stanley as a Portfolio Manager. He is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration at Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife Regina have three children and two dogs. In 2020, he underwent HBOT treatment for PTSD and experienced significant improvements in quality of life. Hugo is passionate about helping other Veterans get the treatment they deserve.
Niomi Galindo
Board Secretary
Niomi Galindo has extensive experience in retail banking and team leadership with a primary focus in customer service and developing client relationships. She has fifteen years of banking experience and five years in the lending industry. Niomi has held a number of supervisory, managerial and executive positions in Arizona with Primary Residential Mortgage, WAFD Bank, Western National Bank, and First National Bank of Arizona.
Born and raised in Phoenix but currently living in Tucson, Niomi is fluent in Spanish. She is the former chairperson for the Oro Valley Rotary and an advocate of HM3, a non-profit organization that’s mission is to help victims of domestic violence abuse.
Matt Riley, MBA
Finance Support
Matt is a Phoenix-area native who graduated from the University of Arizona in 2008. He subsequently took a commission in the Unites States Marine Corps where he served for 7 years as a Communications Officer. During this time, he had the privilege to deploy to Afghanistan with 1st Marine Division, command a platoon with 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, and serve as a Company Commander at Weapons Field Training Battalion, Parris Island among many other duties.
Matt currently manages a team of marketers to innovate healthcare technology to better treat venous and peripheral arterial disease at Becton Dickinson in Tempe, AZ. He and his team research the disease-state, understand where new tools are needed, and work with physician-customers to ultimately allow patients to receive better care. Additionally, he leads the business segment’s chapter of the Veterans Associate Resource Group, connecting over 900 employees to veteran-related causes.
Marc Snow
Strategy Support
Marc is a retired Director from Raytheon Company with 32 years experience as a professional and manager in the Defense industry. During his career and in retirement, Marc has served as President of the Rotary Club of Oro Valley AZ and is a Past Rotary Assistant Governor for the northwest Pima County region. Marc has served on the Board of the Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona. He continues to consult in the Defense Industry. As past development lead of various non-profit organizations, he brings years of non-profit fundraising and project management experience to the HAV mission.
Mary T. Yaconiello, BSc., CPA, PFS
Board Treasurer
Mary Yaconiello is a Senior Tax Manager at BeachFleischman PC. Working in public accounting since 1988, she has extensive experience providing tax planning and compliance services.
Mary’s education includes Virginia Tech (Bachelor of Science in Mathematics), University of Southern Indiana (Certificate in Accounting), and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Personal Financial Specialist Accreditation).
Her past associations include Finance and Executive committee member as well as Past audit committee chair and board member for Intermountain Centers for Human Development.
Volunteer Senior Team
Sa’ad J. Allawi, MBA
Strategy and Operations
Mr. Allawi is the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Performance Logic Inc. He has 35 years experience in consulting, 20 of those to healthcare organizations in various capacities. Prior to co-founding Performance Logic, Mr. Allawi led Nextera’s healthcare practice. Before that, he built and was the chairman of William Mercer’s healthcare provider practice. Prior to that, he built and was the director of APM’s Operations Improvement program.
In addition to healthcare, Mr. Allawi worked in other industries. He was the Director of Business Development for AI industries and worked for McKinsey and Co., where he was a consultant to Fortune 100 companies and public sector organizations. He was an engineer with CA Parsons, the turbine generator manufacturers, and a section leader for MW Kellogg, petrochemical design engineers. He served on the Advisory Boards of a number of Healthcare Service and Technology companies and the Private Sector Development in Iraq for the CPA. He was a prior president of Oro Valley Rotary and Board member for Healing Arizona Veterans. He is an extensive public speaker on management and the Middle East.
Richard (Rick) Chimblo, Ph.D.
Finance Advisor
Rick is a retired geophysicist and active Rotarian. He has over 40 years of experience as a professional, a manager and an executive in the petroleum industry. Since his retirement, Rick has served as President of Rotary Clubs in Texas and Arizona. He has worked on various committees to develop and fund projects to assist the underprivileged children and families of Mozambique, Cameroon, Morocco, Mexico and Guatemala. Rick has used his industry experience to develop financial models and budgets for non-profit groups and Rotary Clubs, successfully registering these entities as 501(c)(3) organizations with the IRS.
Specialists
Chandra Au, MBA
Grant Lead
Chandra was born on an Army base in Nuremburg, Germany and raised in Hawai’i. She has four generations of military service in her family and her children aspire to be the fifth. Her spouse has been serving in the military for the past 18 years. She has had nearly 15 years of Finance/Accounting experience and 5 years with military, non-profit organization. She served as a Board member for Healing Arizona Veterans for three years.
Chandra has recently decided to bring a bit of Aloha into the financial services realm and has started her own bookkeeping business. Additionally, she has had a variety of roles to include; customer service, online marketing, sales, and other activities. She graduated from Stevens-Henager College in 2014 with a Master’s in Business Administration with an emphasis/minor in Asset Management.
Carol Henricks, M.D.
Medicine, Behavioral Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, Psychology
Dr. Henricks has been a practicing neurologist in Tucson, Arizona, since 1999, focusing on coordinating all the best traditional and alternative therapies to optimize patient outcome. In 2004, she added the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as an adjunctive neurological therapy for my patients as part of a complex neurological recovery program. Her private practice is dual: hyperbaric oxygen therapy and neurology. TBI is a focus of her work with our military veterans. As a regular writer for the blog, she discusses HBOT as an effective treatment for TBI, the misdiagnoses of PTSD that can lead to unnecessary medication, and the hard-won triumphs over TBI and PTSD. She believes it is a tremendous honor to work with our servicemen and women, helping them recover and to improve their quality of life.
Lori Klauber AS, BS, AART, CHT, ICHT
Hyperbaric Technology and Operations
Lori Klauber is an accomplished professional who has 48 years experience in the medical field. She is an entrepreneur, manager, administrator, accountant, paralegal, consultant and creative health care worker. Her diverse professional background includes both mainstream and alternative medicine. She has had experience in radiology technology, endocrinology, chiropractic, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, business management, finance, and billing, made the Heritage Registry of Who’s Who and much more.
For the last 19 years Klauber has been the supervisor, office manager and right hand associate of Dr. Al Reach, the avant-garde founder and principle who founded Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy of Arizona (HBOT of AZ) in 1998. Lori, as the professional liaison, coordinator and director of HBOT of AZ, interacts with professionals and helps patients who come to the facility from all over the United States. Lori’s ability to communicate helps her clients feel well informed and comfortable around her.