Executive Team
Meet our Executive and Educational Teams
Executive Team
Karen Berg |
As the founder of Success For Kids, Karen Berg has helped to enrich the lives of thousands of families through the worldwide SFK programs.
Karen’s dream is for all children to learn the tools to help them make wise choices that provide them with certainty, happiness, concern for the well-being of others, and most importantly, the knowledge that they are in control over their destinies. Drawing from her own childhood challenges, Karen understands what it would mean for a young person to be given the opportunity to discover these gifts within themselves. Reflecting the purity of her vision, the SFK programs are inclusive and diverse, offered without regard to race, religion, gender, culture, or other differences. They provide children all over the world with grounded, practical, and universal spiritual tools that they can use to overcome the challenges they face, no matter what their circumstances are. As both the co-director of the Kabbalah Centre, and the founder of SFK, Karen Berg has committed her life to expanding SEL across the global community. She has written extensively on parenting, relationships, and spirituality; and hosts lectures around the world offering wisdom and support to people in need. Karen lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, children, and grandchildren. |
Michal Berg |
As President of Success For Kids, Michal Berg works to bring the ground-breaking SFK programs to young people everywhere, by making them widely available to educators and caregivers who want to make a real difference in children’s lives.
With a commitment to the welfare of children, and her belief in Karen Berg’s revolutionary vision that the children of the world desperately need universal tools to overcome the challenges they face, Michal is actively making the mission of SFK a reality. Overseeing the global operations of SFK, Michal ensures the expansion and integrity of the programs by building in continuous improvements to the curriculum in order to serve as many children as possible, at the highest level. Constantly seeking new ways to bring awareness to the needs of children, Michal is dedicated in her pursuit to introduce universal spiritual tools into the education system. Her background in curriculum development, large-scale production and executive-level management has helped Michal to build SFK from a small classroom to an international non-profit organization now reaching thousands of children in seven countries around the world. Michal lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and five young children. |
Heath Grant |
Since 1998, Dr. Grant has helped to develop and evaluate school-based programs to promote youth resiliency in the Americas and beyond. Formerly Deputy Chair of the Law and Police Science Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Dr. Grant has provided training and technical assistance to many youth prevention programs internationally. As a senior consultant and later Associate Director, he helped develop, train teachers, and expand a curriculum to foster social responsibility that has reached thousands of youths throughout Latin America. Currently the Chief Education Officer of the Success for Kids (SFK) program, Dr. Grant ensures that this program maintains the highest quality as it expands to such diverse regions throughout Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. He is the author of Building a Culture of Lawfulness, 2006 and Law Enforcement in the Twenty-first Century, 2007. |
Jules Redlich,
General Legal Counsel
Yael Avnet,
Acting CFO
Elisa Pittman,
Donor Relations Manager
Educational Team
Wanda Webster |
Wanda Webster graduated with honors from Drake University in Des Moines, IA with a double major in Special Education and Psychology. In 2005 she completed her M.A. in Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, graduating with honors. In 2005-2006 Wanda served as Vice President at Getting Out By Going In, an organization committed to empowering at risk youth in the schools and juvenile justice system. In July of 2006 Wanda joined CosmiKids as a full time Director to oversee the curriculum and operations with their children’s empowerment program. In addition, she developed an Emotional Fluency Program for 3 to 5 year olds and wrote curricula for their Inspired Parenting program. |
Delia Vernassal |
Delia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Los Angeles and a Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California where she graduated with highest honors. Joining SFK in 2001, Delia wore many hats in the organization teaching, developing curriculum, and training at various SFK sites world-wide. After completing her M.S.Ed in 2007 she joined Revolution Prep, an educational services and software company where she directed their client relations nationwide. In February 2009 Delia re-teamed with SFK as the Educational Coordinator for Africa/Asia. She is currently supporting the growth of SFK Malawi and supervising the launch of new SFK sites in Africa and Asia
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Jessica Goldberg |
Before coming to SFK, Jessica Goldberg was a kindergarten and upper elementary school teacher in the public school system in Los Angeles for seven years. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from California State University, Northridge and a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from UCLA.
Jessica began her career in SFK as a teacher in Los Angeles, then worked as a lead teacher in both Los Angeles and Miami, Florida. Since becoming the Director of Training she has worked to support and train teachers and facilitators around the world |