Patrick Ronan

CEO, Greenleaf Health and Vice Chair, Validant Group

Patrick Ronan is the founder and CEO of Greenleaf Health, Inc. (Greenleaf) and Vice Chair of the Validant Group. He was appointed Vice Chair in February 2023, having served as the CEO of Validant — a life science regulatory, compliance, and quality consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco — since April 2021. Prior to his leadership of Validant, he led Greenleaf as CEO from its founding in 2007. Patrick brings a sharp strategic perspective and deep knowledge of life sciences regulation from nearly 30 years of experience leading and growing expert regulatory consulting businesses and working in key roles for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency), on Capitol Hill, and at a major global pharmaceutical company.

Before starting Greenleaf, Patrick was Vice President of Regulatory Policy & External Affairs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he oversaw U.S. regulatory policy issues and advised all therapeutic areas on FDA-related regulatory matters. In addition, Patrick supervised state regulatory and coverage policy and advocacy activities. He formulated and implemented the company’s U.S. regulatory policy agenda, working on policy matters and providing strategic direction to all therapeutic development teams to guide their interactions with the FDA on a full range of pre- and postmarket product-specific matters.

Patrick served as the FDA’s Chief of Staff from 2005 to 2007 and in other leadership roles throughout his four years at the Agency. As Chief of Staff, Patrick was the principal advisor on all agency issues to former Commissioners Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach and Dr. Lester M. Crawford. Patrick’s FDA career began with his appointment as Assistant Commissioner of Legislation by then-Commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan. The following year, Patrick was elevated to Associate Commissioner of Legislation before being appointed Chief of Staff. His work with Congress on behalf of the FDA contributed to the enactment of important modernizations of public health laws governing the regulation of drugs, biologics, medical devices, and foods. 

Patrick’s work to advance FDA-related legislation began on Capitol Hill, where he served on the professional staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce for then Chairman W.J. “Billy” Tauzin and Chairman Joe Barton from 2002–2004. In this capacity, Patrick was one of the lead drafters of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 and the author of numerous pieces of legislation affecting food and drugs that were signed into law. Prior to this, Patrick was Director of Government Relations at the Washington, D.C.-based Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and worked for several Members of Congress who represented the constituents of Nevada and Pennsylvania. 

Elleigh Morris

Associate Director of Operations, Regulatory Compliance and Finance

Elleigh Morris came to Greenleaf with a background in client services, event planning, and project management and experience working with the pharmaceutical industry that she applies in her role as an Associate Director of Operations at Greenleaf Health. She previously worked at Caudex, part of IPG Medical Communications, where she was responsible for managing medical communications campaigns for clients with a focus on peer-to-peer engagements. Before that, she assisted with the planning and management of pharmaceutical congress sponsorships with various associations internationally and domestically.

Elleigh’s educational background has a significant emphasis on project management; she earned her Project Management Professional Certification (PMP) in the Fall of 2021. Elleigh graduated from Elon University with a B.S. in business administration. 

Rachel Cunningham

Senior Accountant

Rachel Cunningham serves as Greenleaf Health’s Senior Accountant. Rachel provides accounting and analytical support to Greenleaf’s Finance Team. Her role includes assisting the Finance Team with annual budgeting, financial reports, and analysis of appropriate accounting policies. Rachel works alongside Greenleaf’s Executive Director of Finance and reports directly to the firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining Greenleaf, Rachel worked for several years in public accounting.

Rachel earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration in accounting from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. 

Robin Johnkins

Office Manager

Robin Johnkins operates as the Office Manager for Greenleaf Health. She manages the calendar for client and team meetings. She oversees the procurement of office supplies for internal and external staff members. Additionally, she is the liaison for building-related issues.

Robin is a native Washingtonian, and before joining Greenleaf Health, she provided administrative and office management support to many reputable D.C.-based organizations such as the American Psychological Association, Ankura, and two Witt O’Brien’s consulting firms. But in her 20-plus years of work, her most gratifying position was rendering direct patient care to Alzheimer’s patients at Providence Hospital, a health care facility in D.C.

Robin has completed several programs in health care and has received certifications in that field. She is now pursuing a degree in Business Management from Catholic University of America. 

Katherine Macaulay Mueller

Deputy General Counsel

Katherine Mueller has more than a decade of legal experience in the private sector, most recently as First Vice President and Senior Counsel at SunTrust Banks, Inc., where she managed litigation nationally and advised default constituencies on risk mitigation.

Prior to working at SunTrust, Katherine was a partner at an Am Law 200 firm, where she had both corporate and litigation practices. In her corporate practice, she focused on asset sales and acquisitions and corporate tax planning. Katherine also represented financial institutions in secured lending transactions, including loan workouts and corporate restructurings. She also managed a national Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, leading a team that resolved hundreds of preference actions and bankruptcy claims.

Prior to law school, Katherine worked on Capitol Hill and at a government contracting firm where she was a technical writer and editor.

Katherine received a B.A. in history, with honors, from Trinity College and a J.D. from William and Mary Law School.

Lyndsey Beasley, CPA

Director, Finance and Accounting

Lyndsey Beasley serves as Director of Finance and Accounting at Greenleaf Health. Lyndsey provides assistance on all of the firm’s financial matters including annual budgeting, financial reporting, and analysis of appropriate accounting treatment and policies. Lyndsey works alongside Greenleaf’s Executive Director of Finance and reports directly to the firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

Lyndsey’s extensive background in financial services encompasses accounting, audit and tax reporting, financial statement preparation, ledger transaction recording, trial balance preparation, and journal entry adjustments. Prior to joining Greenleaf, Lyndsey served as CPA at Wegley, Higginbotham & Associates, a small public accounting firm specializing in closely held businesses. In this role, Lyndsey performed audit and review procedures including financial statement and footnote preparations, ledger transactions, and trial balances. In addition, Lyndsey prepared corporate and individual income tax, trust, and payroll tax returns.

Before joining Wegley, Lyndsey worked as an Investment Accountant at the North Carolina State University Foundation’s Accounting and Investments Office. This office provides services to sixteen entities that provide resources to the students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and others associated with NC State University. Lyndsey prepared annual audit work papers and drafted financial statements for the NC State Investment Fund and four university-affiliated foundations. She also performed all accounting tasks related to the NC State Investment Fund, NC State Intermediate Fund, NC State University Foundation Socially Responsible Investment Pool, as well as operating cash funds, and performed monthly and quarterly reconciliations of both foundation and manager accounts, contributions, spending withdrawals, fees, etc.

Lyndsey earned her B.S. in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Kathleen Sonntag

Chief Operating Officer

Kathleen Sonntag serves as Chief Operating Officer at Greenleaf Health. Kathleen’s broad career experience spans financial services and the legal profession, with an emphasis on information technology and data analysis. This unique blend brings strong analytical, technical and business skills to her role at Greenleaf.

At Greenleaf, Kathleen is responsible for financial and operational aspects of the business. This includes oversight of accounting, financial reporting, human resources, and information technology.

Before joining Greenleaf Health in 2011, Kathleen spent much of her career at The Capital Group, where she served as a liaison between sales organization and the technology team. Her work at the Capital Group included strategic planning, requirements and design, data modeling and data analytics. She was instrumental in the development of and strategic planning for key applications in the American Funds’ portfolio, including enterprise-wide business intelligence, customer relationship management, and call center technologies. She also performed financial analysis for Sales and Marketing management, providing insights into sales territory restructuring, new product rollouts, and overall business measurement.

Kathleen’s additional business experience includes management of financial operations at a law firm, and an accounting analyst role at Merrill Lynch.

Kathleen holds Bachelors of Science in Accounting and History from the University of Notre Dame. Kathleen has also completed coursework in Global Affairs at New York University.

Brooke Roth

Executive Director, Finance

Brooke Roth serves as the Executive Director of Finance at Greenleaf Health and reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO). In collaboration with Greenleaf’s finance team, Brooke manages the firm’s financial matters, focusing on its Accounts Receivables. Brooke’s experience spans numerous aspects of financial services and fundraising, bringing strong fiscal, analytical, and business expertise to her work at Greenleaf.

Before joining Greenleaf Health, Brooke was the Managing Director of Fundraising at the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), the nation’s largest trade association. The REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC) is the #1 contributor to federal candidates in the country. Brooke also oversaw the growth of the President’s Circle Program—a direct-giver program that raised more than $1.3 million and is the nation’s largest direct-giver program to candidates. She also managed RPAC’s corporate, soft dollar fundraising, which was used for the association’s independent expenditures at the national, state, and local levels. In addition to fundraising, Brooke managed a $3M+ budget, fundraising staff, and consultants.

Before joining NAR, Brooke worked at a Washington, D.C. firm that raised money to support numerous candidates for the United States Senate. She also spearheaded D.C. events for candidates such as former Governors Matt Blunt (MO) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA). Additionally, Brooke consulted with nonprofit organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and National Football Foundation, on their fundraising strategies. In Washington, Brooke worked on Capitol Hill for then Congressman Robin Hayes (R-NC).

Earlier in her career, Brooke worked for a political consulting firm in Atlanta, GA, where she consulted for congressional campaigns regarding their fundraising strategies. She planned fundraising events with VIPs such as President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and the late Senator Fred Thompson. Brooke’s first foray into politics was as Finance Director for Senator Saxby Chambliss’s last congressional race before running for the U.S. Senate.

Brooke earned her B.A. from Mercer University in Macon, GA. Brooke also completed coursework at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management in Washington, D.C.

Christina Karas

Executive Director, Research

Christina Karas has conducted regulatory and industry research for Greenleaf since 2012. Her work informs Greenleaf’s due diligence and competitive and regulatory landscape analyses for advisory services clients, as well as the firm’s strategic guidance to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Christina also writes and edits content used to develop and expand Greenleaf’s business, generate awareness of our services, and enhance our value to clients.

Christina has served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she supported the Agency’s policy and regulatory initiatives.

From 2006 to 2010, Christina was Manager of Health Policy at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). In this role, she contributed research, analysis, and writing to advance BIO’s policy development and advocacy across a range of issues, including the FDA review processes for biological products and molecular diagnostics, biomedical research funding, personalized medicine, and bioethics.

Additionally, she managed all governance operations and board relations for BIO’s Health Section, and helped launch and coordinate the policy activities of the board-level Working Group on Research Tools and Molecular Diagnostics.

Christina began her research career as a senior research analyst for a national political organization in Washington, D.C.

Christina has a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, a Master’s in English from Boston College, and a Bachelor’s in political science from the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor. She serves on the development and communications committee for U-M’s Clements Library, a renowned archival research library, and previously taught college writing in the Boston area.

9 records

Connect With an Expert

Greenleaf’s experts are available for consultation on strategic and technical FDA regulatory matters. Please provide the information below and a team member will be in contact.

Connect with an Expert - Advisory