Leadership Type: Trustees

Katherine Chapin has served on the Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees since 2021.

A native of Champaign, Illinois, Katherine has held a variety of executive positions for Fortune 500 companies, including Mattel, The Limited, and General Mills. In her various responsibilities, she has spearheaded all aspects of creating new businesses, overseen product development for 325 specialty retail stores and helped re-position the beloved Barbie doll brand.

Currently, Chapin is co-founder and general partner at Chapin Ventures, a boutique private equity fund, investing in self-run and other start-ups.

Chapin has Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Illinois. She studied Japanese at Konan University in Kobe, Japan. She speaks both Japanese and Greek. She is also a former professional dancer and has performed around the world.

Other Areas of Involvement

University of California San Diego (UCSD) Division of Arts and Humanities
La Jolla Music Society, Chairman of the Board (formerly held)
San Diego Youth Symphony
Boys and Girls Club of Carlsbad (Honorary)

William A. Roper has served on the Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees since 2019.

He is president of Roper Capital Company, a private investment firm that provides management services and growth capital to help small-to-midsize businesses, offering significant leadership experience in operational and financial management, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and strategic restructurings across a broad spectrum of industries and markets.

Roper has held a number of executive positions throughout his career, including chief financial officer of Human Longevity, Inc., president of ADS, Inc, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Leidos (formerly known as SAIC) and president and CEO of VeriSign, Inc.

He has been board chair of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation and a trustee of the San Diego County Employee Retirement System.

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Mississippi and graduated from Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. He also completed the Financial Management Program at Stanford University.

David L. Szekeres has served on the Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees since 2019.

He is president of Connect Biopharma, a global, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies that treat inflammatory diseases.

Previously, Szekeres had been executive vice president and chief operating officer of Heron Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotechnology company developing best-in-class treatments in oncology and pain. Prior to that, he was chief business officer, principal financial officer and general counsel at Regulus Therapeutics; head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Life Technologies Corporation; a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins; and a senior associate in investment banking at Robertson Stephens.

Szekeres serves as chairman of the board of GRI Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on inflammatory and autoimmune disease treatment; and an executive advisory board member at Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology and genetic engineering company working to genetically resurrect extinct animal species.

He is also a board member of CureMatch, a software company focused on personalized medicine and combination therapy in oncology; and chairman of the board of Animantis, a software company focused on automated, cloud-based, artificial intelligence applications to improve drug discovery and development.

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology, law and society from the University of California Irvine and a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University School of Law.

Stuart A. Tanz has served on the Sanford Burnham Prebys Board of Trustees since 2005.

Mr. Tanz is a 42-year commercial real estate (CRE) industry veteran, including 23 years as CEO of two public, investment-grade rated, real estate investment trusts (REIT). He is recognized as one the REIT industry’s leading executives and one the foremost experts in the grocery-anchored shopping center retail sector. During his career, he has led the acquisition, management, leasing and financing of over 30 million square feet of grocery-anchored shopping centers, aggregating over $8 billion, predominately located in the Western U.S.

Tanz is a member of the advisory council of University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, a member of International Council of Shopping Centers and the Young Presidents’ Organization.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California.