(November 21, 2024, New York, NY) — The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Board of Directors announces Anne Davidson Barr, Co-Founder and Managing Partner for Counterpoint Advisors, LLC from the San Francisco Bay Area to be the new Board Chair, beginning her term in October 2024.
Barr brings a wealth of experience to this role. She has been serving on the Northern California NKF Board since 2014, including three years as Board Chair. In 2019, she joined the National NKF Board. Barr graduated from Dartmouth College and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has over 25 years of experience as a senior executive leveraging technology at high-profile organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, and Charles Schwab. As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Counterpoint Advisors, she advises healthcare organizations on digital transformation, strategy, cyber security, and data.
“It is truly an honor to serve as the board Chair of NKF since the organization has had such a significant impact on improving the lives of kidney patients. I am looking forward to working more closely with NKF’s high caliber directors and management team.” Barr said. “We are at one of the most exciting times in addressing kidney disease, because there is so much innovation going on in this space now. NKF has been a leader advocating for changes in the kidney transplant system, making investments in innovation, and supporting research in new drugs and therapies.”
Working in health care, Barr’s engagement with NKF began as part of her passion for improving patient outcomes and the quality of care. “Kidney disease is so prevalent; it was only a matter of time before it became personal” Barr said. It became more personal when a close friend of hers became a kidney donor in 2008 and it hit even closer to home when her mother was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney disease in 2021.
“With her extensive experience and unwavering commitment to excellence, we are confident that we are in great hands help guide the organization into an exciting new chapter,” said Kevin Longino, CEO of NKF and a kidney transplant recipient. “Her background and deep understanding of health care align perfectly with our mission, and we look forward to the innovative contributions she will bring to the table.”
As an NKF Board Member, Anne has supported fundraising efforts, recruiting several Northern California kidney walk chairs. She also serves on the KidneyCARE Study Steering Committee, which is the first nationwide kidney disease patient registry that will advance both patient education and kidney disease treatment. In addition to her passion for leveraging technology to transform healthcare and patient outcomes, she loves to travel and visit friends around the world. Anne Barr succeeds Tracy McKibben, Founder and CEO of New York-based MAC Energy Advisors LLC, in her role as NKF Chair.
About Kidney Disease
In the United States, more than 35 million adults are estimated to have kidney disease, also known as chronic kidney disease (CKD)—and approximately 90 percent don’t know they have it. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. are at risk for kidney disease. Risk factors for kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and family history. People of Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. Black or African American people are about four times as likely as White people to have kidney failure. Hispanics experience kidney failure at about double the rate of White people.
About the National Kidney Foundation
The National Kidney Foundation is revolutionizing the fight to save lives by eliminating preventable kidney disease, accelerating innovation for the dignity of the patient experience, and dismantling structural inequities in kidney care, dialysis, and transplantation. For more information about NKF, visit www.kidney.org.
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