About Us

When Pat Livney was a 16-year-old two-sport varsity athlete, he broke his ankle. Shortly after it healed, he broke the same ankle again. With the second break came a diagnosis of CMT and a prediction that he would need a wheelchair by the age of 30.

While that prediction has not come to pass, it helped set the tone for Pat’s life. Determined not to let his diagnosis derail his goals, he pursued a successful career on Wall Street and in the asset management and financial services business.

Now, as a serial entrepreneur with three decades of experience, Pat has used his background as a corporate founder, CEO, and Chairman to enhance and focus the fight against CMT.

As the CEO & Chairman of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association, Pat brought a business model to this national nonprofit, including accountability metrics and real-time collaborative partnerships. He designed and implemented a Strategy to Accelerate Research (STAR) platform and increased fundraising almost ten-fold over his tenure. He also secured partnerships to advance CMT research, therapy development, and clinical care. Contractual pharmaceutical partnerships ensured accountability and maximizing donor capital in search of the first disease-specific treatment of CMT.

As Co-Founder and Chairman of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation, Pat has raised more than $15 million and funded over 20 promising research projects worldwide, which a has led to several planned clinical trials.

And now with Cure CMT, Pat intends to devote the rest of his career to continuing to drive the international research agenda in CMT research forward with a VC results-oriented focus on business essentials. In parallel, Cure-CMT, for the first time in the CMT space, will focus on the individual CMT patient level by providing direct funding for the braces and surgeries that can transform the lives of people with CMT. He believes that this two-pronged macro-micro approach to fighting CMT will be immediately impactful.

Associate Professor, Orthopedics
Co-Director, Cedars-Sinai-USC Dance Medicine Center
Director, Foot and Ankle Surgery Program

Dr. Pfeffer earned his bachelor’s from Yale and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed his surgical internship and orthopedic residency. He completed fellowships in foot and ankle surgery at the University of Texas, Houston, and hand and microvascular surgery at UC San Diego. He later volunteered overseas with Project Hope as an orthopedic surgeon.

A past president of multiple orthopedic associations, Dr. Pfeffer has authored numerous scientific articles and edited six books on foot and ankle care. He serves on the FDA advisory panel for medical devices and lectures internationally, focusing on total ankle replacement. His expertise has been featured in major media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, and Good Morning America.

Director Of Clinical Education and Customer Support at Becker Orthopedic

With extensive experience in the orthopedic and prosthetic fields, Sean McKale currently serves as the Director of Clinical Education and Customer Support at Becker Orthopedic. Prior roles include clinical specialist and operations manager for central fabrication at Becker Orthopedic and team lead for the Acute Care Team at Michigan Medicine. Previously, he was practice manager at Midwest Orthotic & Technology Center, LLC.

Sean began his career as an assistant/resident/team lead at Wright & Filippis in 2003. That same year, he earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in orthotics/prosthetics from Northwestern University. Sean holds two bachelor’s degrees in athletic training from Purdue University.

Dan Proft is a host of “Chicago’s Morning Answer,” a morning drive news-talk radio program in Chicago on AM-560 WIND, a Salem Radio Network station. After serving on the boards of numerous nonprofits, hecurrently serves on the board of Gigi’s Playhouse, a nonprofit with an international portfolio of Down Syndrome Achievement Centers.

Dan earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and his law degree from Loyola University-Chicago School of Law. He resides in Naples, Florida.

As the founder of the large marketing, print and technology firm WebbMason, Scott Bradway helped lead the company’s sale to a private equity firm in 2022. He is now active with Mason Marketing Group with similar responsibilities for growing this new firm.

As a Wake Forest University graduate, Scott believes strongly that Wake’s motto of Pro Humanitate (“For Humanity”) is a calling to use our knowledge, talents and compassion to better the lives of others.

Scott has seen the destructive nature of CMT close up ever since his closest friend developed the disease during their teen years. Inspired by how his friend has overcome many challenges and now passionately seeks a cure and relief for people with CMT, Scott is excited to help in this mission.

Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel, Loan Ecosystem LLC

Kurt Florian is the COO and general counsel of Loan Ecosystem LLC, which provides an online platform for the loan syndication process. He has extensive experience in corporate finance and previously was the COO, counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer for Vanderbilt Capital Advisors, LLC. Prior to that, he was a partner at Lord, Bissell & Brook and Katten Muchin Rosenman law firms in Chicago.

Kurt served as president and CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago for more than five years. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a law degree from the Duke University School of Law.

For more than three decades, Dr. Paul August has dedicated his career to discovering and developing new medicines for patients with rare diseases. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer at ReviR Therapeutics, where he leads groundbreaking research to develop new treatments for CMT1A and other neurological disorders. After working at Sanofi as a senior research and therapeutic area leader, he went on to serve as vice president of discovery biology at both Agios Pharmaceuticals and Icagen. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found AcuraStem, a company working on therapies for conditions like ALS and CMT.

As a founding board member of the CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF), Dr. August’sability to bridge the gap between scientific research and patient needs has helped forge important partnerships that are advancing CMT research today. For example, he presented the therapeutic concept for CMT1A to DTx Pharma and then supported their development efforts through CMTRF research grant funding. This work contributed to DTx Pharma’s successful development program, which recently led to their acquisition by Novartis.

Dr. August’s impact on medical research is reflected in his more than 30 published scientific papers and 10 patents. He has also secured over $27 million in research funding throughout his career, including a recent $4.6 million grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to develop a potential treatment for Huntington’s disease. Today, at ReviR Therapeutics, Dr. August continues his lifelong commitment to turning scientific discoveries into real treatments that can help patients.

After working for top Fortune 500 companies for the past 35+ years Felicia Schepis is now president of her own company, Marketing Advisory LLC.  Her most recent position was EVP for an $8+ billion specialty beauty business, a perpetual leader in the global supply chain. As EVP, she managed all global operations, sourcing, commercialization, development, engineering and technical services teams. Felicia successfully positioned the company for an IPO, spinning off both its beauty and apparel businesses in 2021to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Felicia graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in marketing business administration and fromRutgers University with a degree in packaging engineering. Felicia has been inspired to support this mission of finding a cure for CMT thanks to a dear friend who has the disease.