After careers in finance in New York and Connecticut, John and Dudley Macfarlane now reside in White Hall, Virginia, where John is managing member for an investment advisory firm and Dudley runs an equestrian breeding and training operation. The pair share why the technology’s potential, a personal hope, and the local connection have made them loyal supporters of the Foundation’s work.
Can you give us some brief biographical information?
Dudley is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and a graduate of Hollins University. Before starting a family, she had a career selling municipal bonds for Chemical Bank and Citibank in New York.
Dudley currently sits on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, where she is the vice chair of the finance committee. She is also a past member of the Board of Honors Carolina at the University of North Carolina.
Dudley is a competitive equestrian and runs a breeding and training operation at their farm in White Hall, Mount Fair Farm. Her top horse was ranked fourth in the country in the Amateur/Owner Over 35 Hunter Division in 2016 and 2017.
John grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, attended Hampden-Sydney College, and earned his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He started his career in finance with Solomon Brothers, where he worked for 19 years. In 1998, John joined Tudor Investment Corporation where he was the chief operating officer and co-chairman of the firm’s management committee through 2011. He is currently the managing member of Arrochar Management LLC, which specializes in investment management and financial services.
John is a member of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors and the University’s Investment Management Company (UVIMCO) board. He also serves on the boards of the UVA College Foundation, UVA Licensing & Ventures Group, Hampden-Sydney College, Nantucket Conservation Foundation, and the US Olympic and Paralympic Foundation.
He has also served on the Darden School Foundation Board and the Board of Brunswick School.
John and Dudley raised their three sons in Darien, Connecticut, and always hoped to return to Charlottesville, having fallen in love with the area during their Darden days. After they became empty nesters, they relocated to White Hall.
They have a 16-month-old grandchild.
What is your connection to the Foundation?
We initially heard about the Foundation through our friend and neighbor. We attended several Foundation events, which allowed us to learn more about the technology and the role that the Foundation plays in advancing it.
What moved you to get involved?
John: Our philanthropic priorities are education and conservation, so the Focused Ultrasound Foundation is off the beaten path for us. We typically aren’t involved in healthcare, and it is not a philanthropic priority for us. However, focused ultrasound resonated because it’s a technology based on a simple principle, and it’s fairly easy to imagine the incredible impact a noninvasive form of surgery could have on healthcare.
The Foundation – the purpose of which is to promote and advance the technology so that it can reach patients in the least amount of time – is a key driver in the industry and an essential component of enabling the technology to help people and ultimately save lives.
We also love that the Foundation is based in Charlottesville. To see a local organization drive a technology that could transform healthcare worldwide is not only good for our local community but will also ensure that Virginia continues to be a leader in the development of innovative technologies.
Also, we have gotten to know other individuals who are involved in the Foundation and that has been fun. In summary, it’s an understandable technology with clear applications that has the potential to change medicine as we know it.
What excites you most about the Foundation?
John: The hope that you can help people with focused ultrasound and limit a patient’s exposure to chemicals and invasive surgery.
It seems that many health issues that emerge later in life are a result of treatments administered earlier in life. This speaks to my interest in prevention, but in terms of this conversation, if focused ultrasound can limit a patient’s exposure to chemicals and invasive surgery, that person will likely be healthier and have a better quality of life, especially later in life.
Focused ultrasound is another tool in the tool box, and if it can treat patients in a less traumatic way, we’ll all be better off.
Why do you care about Focused Ultrasound?
Dudley: It’s personal. We all have family members, friends, and colleagues who suffer from conditions that could potentially be helped by focused ultrasound. When you see a loved one affected by an incurable disease or a friend who is suffering from the side effects of chemotherapy, you want there to be a better alternative. That is what we see in focused ultrasound.
What impact to you hope to achieve through your philanthropy?
John: When we were younger and focused on our careers and family, we were less focused on our philanthropy. Now that we have more time, we are more discriminating and want to be more involved in the organizations we support.
Dudley: We want to know where our philanthropic dollars are going and what impact they have. It is important to us that the organizations we support are transparent, well managed, and operated efficiently.
What would you tell someone who is considering making a gift to the Foundation?
John: I would emphasize that the Foundation does a great job of keeping their constituents informed of the latest developments in the field and how the activities of the Foundation – funded by its donors – help move the needle in so many clinical areas.