NRF Adds Four New Board Members in 2022
Jon Kawaja rowed at Princeton where he graduated with a degree in Architecture, cum laude, in 1994. Jon earned medals at IRAs, Nationals and Eastern Sprints. He rowed for Oxford in the 1995 Boat Race, and subsequently won Henley with Isis Boat Club. Jon was a finalist at the 1996 Canadian Olympic Trials. He earned an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School, and later competed in triathlon, at the Ironman World Championships.
Jon is currently President at his family’s business, Furlani Foods. Furlani is a leading commercial baker of frozen, value-added breads. Prior to joining his family’s business, Jon worked in biotechnology in the SF Bay Area, at Genentech and at Durect, a start-up he helped to found and take public.
Jon lives with his wife, Emma, a physician, and three sons, in Portola Valley, California. Jon’s eldest is an accomplished junior sculler. Jon is working on getting his two younger boys, who are swimmers, into rowing.
Thomas Andrew (Andy) Rogers became involved with rowing at the University of California, Berkeley and competed with the Golden Bears from 1985-89. After graduating from Cal he became involved with the Friends of Cal Crew the alumni support group for Cal Rowing. The Friends currently raise over 1 million dollars per year to cover Cal rowing’s annual expenses and to expand the programs partial endowment. He was the club’s president from 2014-2019 and currently remains on the board.
In 2017 Andy became the Chairman of the California Rowing Club. Andy guided the CRC through its transition into the US Men’s Training Center and is continuing to lead the club as it embraces US Rowing’s new Athlete/Club focused model. The California rowing club was a dream of Andy’s late father T. Gary Rogers also an oarsman at the University of California Berkeley. Gary attempted to make the 1964 Olympic crew with fellow Cal oarsmen, but found few options for Olympic level training on the west coast. Though he and his teammates were unable to fulfill their Olympic dreams, the CRC was formed so others who accept the challenge to chase their Olympic dreams will.
Professionally Andy began his career in construction, enjoyed a transition into copywriting at Arnold Ingalls Moranville advertising in San Francisco and now is an investor with a focus on residential and commercial real estate. His wife and two children live in Marin county California.
Timothy A. Ryan rowed competitively for 14 years. He won two National Championships for Redwood High School (Marin Rowing Association) and was on the 1985 and 1986 Junior National teams, winning two silver medals at the Junior Worlds. Tim rowed four years for Cal-Berkeley and was named Cal’s Outstanding Senior Scholar-Athlete. He was a member of the 1989 and 1993 World University Games teams, winning a silver medal in the pair in 1993. Tim and his brother came second in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Trials and were spares on the 1994 National Team.
Tim graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1998 and was named an Arjay Miller Scholar. After receiving his MBA, he spent 13 years at HBK Capital Management as an analyst and portfolio manager. During the second half of his tenure at HBK, he was a managing director and partner overseeing the US Equity and Global Volatility teams. Tim created the US Equity Long-Short business and grew it to over $3 bln and seven sector portfolio managers.
After retiring from HBK, Tim founded Ironbark Advisors and developed options trading techniques based on the fundamental characteristics of the underlying securities. The results of that process are options strategies that have delivered over 100% returns on the founder’s capital.
Tim is married with three teenage sons who all row. His wife, Missy, won Olympic medals in 1996 and 2000. He is actively involved with both the Marin Rowing Association and the Friends of Cal Crew and serves on the advisory board of Ophiriex; a startup focused on developing cost-effective snakebite treatments for developing countries.
Monica Tranel grew up on a ranch in eastern Montana with her 9 siblings, where her first real experience with water was learning to swim in the Yellowstone River in Miles City. Her childhood included stacking hay bales that weighed as much as she did, and making snowmen using a front end loader. At Gonzaga University she first came across rowing, fell in love, and never looked back. Monica went on to live and train at the Vesper Boat Club in Philadelphia while attending law school across the river at Rutgers University School of Law in Camden.
In 1993 Monica was a member of the first women’s quad to medal at the World Championships. In 1994 Monica doubled up in the four and the eight, winning silver in both events on the same day (due to weather). In 1995 Monica was a member of the first women’s eight to win gold at 2,000 meters. Monica rowed in the eight in the 1996 Olympics, rowed the single in 1997 where she finished 7th, and then won silver again in the eight in 1999. In 2000 Monica rowed the single in the Olympics.
Monica practices law in her home state of Montana, focusing on energy, regulatory, and environmental issues. Monica has argued to the Montana Supreme Court, and spent her legal career standing up for the people she grew up with, Montana ranchers and working families. She has also worked with renewable energy companies to bring multi-million dollar projects to her home state.
Monica is a candidate for Congress in Montana’s new 1st Congressional District. If elected, Monica would be the first female Olympian and first Olympic rower to ever serve in Congress. She would be the second woman from the state of Montana to serve, following Jeanette Rankin, the first woman ever elected to Congress.
Monica lives in Missoula, Montana, with her husband Greg.They have three daughters. She has served on the board of the Helena Symphony Orchestra, Missoula Youth Homes, and was on the Board of Trustees for the Montana State Bar Association. Monica is constantly inspired by her rowing teammates and her time in the engine room, and carries those lessons with her as she takes on new endeavors.