Garet Hil

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Living Kidney Donor

Garet Hil is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Registry (NKR) and ImmunoFree. Mr. Hil became involved in transplant medicine when his daughter was diagnosed with kidney failure at age 10. After he and his wife were both deemed incompatible, a difficult and extensive donor search finally resulted in a successful living donor transplant for their daughter. That challenging process inspired them to create a better way to facilitate transplants for the thousands of people with incompatible donors in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

In 2007, the Hil family founded the NKR to organize paired exchange transplants. The NKR has become the largest paired exchange program in the world, eliminating the problem of incompatible living donors in the United States. The NKR is now expanding by improving matches for patients that have compatible donors through the Kidney for Life program. These better matches result in superior outcomes for transplant recipients and provide a pathway to reduce or eliminate lifelong immunosuppression via ImmunoFree.

In 2015, Mr. Hil donated his kidney through NKR’s newly created Voucher Program. The chain he started facilitated eight transplants and provided a voucher for his daughter should she ever need another transplant. He was the second donor to participate in the Voucher Program. Judge Howard Broadman was the first voucher donor. There are now more voucher donors in the United States than there are traditional paired donors.

Prior to founding the NKR, Mr. Hil held leadership positions in public and private companies in a variety of industries, including securities processing, technology services, logistics, digital printing, offset printing, fulfillment, steel distribution and textile manufacturing. He has successfully led five startups, three turnarounds, four acquisitions and two divestitures, including the successful $1.1 billion sale of the company he started and led for 14 years.

In 1979, at the age of 17, Mr. Hil enlisted in the Marine Corps and shipped off to Parris Island one month prior to the start of the Iranian hostage crisis. While on active duty with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC, he completed his GED and graduated at the top of his class from Field Radio Operator School. He transferred to a reserve artillery battery, where he utilized his radio operator training to call in firing coordinates for 105 Howitzers. He later achieved the 0321 MOS while serving in a Recon unit and completed Navy Combat Dive School in Panama City, FL, and Army Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA. He was honorably discharged in 1985 at the rank of Sergeant.

Mr. Hil earned his BS cum laude in three years from the University of Montana and his MBA from The Wharton School. He has authored many medical research papers and a book to help patients achieve a successful living donor transplant. Mr. Hil personally organized the largest kidney swap in world history, which included 70 participants across 25 hospitals. This swap was certified as a Guinness World Record.

His work in transplantation was featured on the front page of the Sunday New York Times and has been profiled in hundreds of media stories, including CBS Evening News, ABC World News and Nightline. He is a Donor Games champion and lives with his family in Greenwich, CT.