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One Mind Supporter Profile – Gwill York

GWILL YORK

Gwill York – Celebrating her 10 years as a One Mind Board Director

Like many other advocates, it was a personal family experience that led Gwill York to become the dedicated brain health supporter that she is. As a young adult, Gwill was first exposed to brain illnesses via her brother’s schizophrenia diagnosis and his related death that occurred when he was 22. Influenced by their tragic loss and motivated to help families just like their own, Gwill’s mother redirected her already well-established cause-focused career to focus on brain health advocacy, eventually becoming the President of a major nationally known brain health non-profit. It was through this non-profit and their support as Board members in the late 1990’s that Garen and Shari Staglin, the founders of One Mind, met Gwill’s mother as well as Gwill.

For the 10 years prior, Shari and Garen Staglin had been advancing their own family-influenced brain health advocacy efforts as a response to their son Brandon’s schizophrenia diagnosis. Having launched an annually held non-profit music festival in 1995 at their winery in Napa Valley that supported brain health, by the mid 2000’s, the Staglins were wanting to expand their brain health efforts and the scope and structure of their non-profit. Leveraging her skills in corporate structure and business finance, Gwill played an integral part in the formulation and incorporation of the music festival into IMHRO, the International Mental Health Research Organization that launched in 2008. During this time, Gwill helped the Staglins recruit more Board members to the non-profit and became one herself.

Since joining the Board in 2008 to the present, Gwill has helped IMHRO grow and advance as it transitioned to become the One Mind Institute and now One Mind. During her 10+ years as a One Mind Board Director, Gwill has been an active and dedicated supporter of One Mind and our brain health initiatives. She routinely attends our quarterly board meetings in person, and she has a long history of providing valued impactful advice. Currently, Gwill serves as the Secretary of our Board of Directors and is a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee.

Beyond her Board support of One Mind, Gwill works as the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Lighthouse Capital Partners, a leading venture debt firm that provides capital to early- and growth-stage technology, life science and clean tech companies. She also serves as the Museum of Science Board of Trustees Chair, the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows Chair, the Treasurer of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and is a Sofina Board Member.

Earlier this month at our most recent Board Meeting, Gwill was given a special award from Garen and Shari Staglin to recognize her 10+ years of dedicated support.

“We are honored to have Gwill as a member on our One Mind Board,” states One Mind co-founder Shari Staglin. “Her efforts over the last 10 years to help our non-profit become what it is has been top notch, as is her passion and dedication to the brain health community as a whole.”

Including a former U.S. Congressman; multiple CEOs; a law firm partner; a former Under Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and more, the twelve individuals who serve on our One Mind Board of Directors are all very experienced business professionals who collectively work together to guide the activities of our non-profit. Leveraging their extensive business skills and their passion for brain health that is most often motivated by a personal connection to the cause, we remain delighted for the work they have done and continue to do.