MEET OUR TEAM

Alison Abbo, M.B.A. has a professional background in finance and over 30 years of volunteer experience focused on education and youth well-being. She is currently a trustee at Woodside Priory School. Alison lives in Woodside with her husband and is the proud mom of three daughters.

Dr. Soundhari is a clinical psychologist and Founder of Integrated SEL, a coaching, training, and consulting business that supports educators center social-emotional wellness and belonging, to shift school culture and climate in positive directions. She helps schools integrate Social-Emotional Learning, Restorative Discipline, Culturally Affirming Practices, and Educator Wellness, so that SEL is not a boxed curriculum, but lives dynamically throughout the school-day. Her child-centered approach, paired with a systems perspective, provides educators with practical tools for engagement and implementation. After working in schools for 18+ years, she believes that for students to meet their full potential, schools need to prioritize relationships, validate and affirm their students’ identities, and support students and adults to grow and learn from their mistakes. Dr. Soundhari is working towards a future where schools can promote what is therapeutic, even if it’s not therapy, and all students are valued and affirmed.  She is also a member of the SEL4CA Steering Committee, an organization that advocates for the wellbeing of schools, educators, and students through the advancement of transformative SEL as the cornerstone for education.

Lisa Busby is the Senior Strategy Advisor at Phillips Brooks School (PBS) in Menlo Park, a role she stepped into after serving as PBS’s Associate Head of School. Prior to PBS, Lisa spent sixteen years at San Francisco Day School as an 8th grade English teacher, Department Chair, Director of High School Placement, and Strategic Plan Implementation Coordinator. This role followed several years of teaching high school English, first at Cushing Academy in MA and next at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. Lisa previously served on the Challenge Success board for six years.

Diana is a first-generation bilingual college student who always knew she wanted to be an educator. She started her educational journey as a high school Humanities teacher with San Diego Unified. After teaching, she joined the University of San Diego’s Jacob’s Institute for Innovation in Education, where she supported large urban school districts in strategic thinking to bring about systemic change to provide students with active learning experiences. Her work here led her to lead change as a school director transforming a charter school to project-based learning. Her passion for supporting teachers all throughout her journey brought her back to High Tech High, where she currently serves as Interim CEO.

Christine Fairless is a proud Bay Area native, born in San Francisco and raised in the East Bay. She currently resides on the peninsula and is the Head of School at The Girls’ Middle School in Palo Alto. She is committed to leading the school in its important mission of empowering students in finding their voices while seeking out and valuing the perspectives of others. Before joining The Girls’ Middle School, she was the Middle School Director at St. Paul’s School in downtown Oakland. Christine is passionate about creating positive experiences for middle schoolers – especially in math and science as both areas can be gatekeepers for future opportunities. Christine is also dedicated to providing experiences for students to explore their identities, find their passions, and learn how to problem solve across differences.

Kenneth R. Ginsburg, M.D. is a pediatrician specializing in Adolescent Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and founder and program director at the Center for Parent and Teen Communication. He is a Director of Health Services at Covenant House Pennsylvania, a shelter for homeless and marginalized youth. He has written extensively promoting teen health and resilience, including the books Reaching Teens: Strength-based, Trauma-sensitive, Resilience-building Communication Strategies Rooted in Positive Youth Development. He has also produced and edited the multimedia professional toolkit, Reaching Teens: Strength-based Communication Strategies to Build Resilience and Support Healthy Adolescent Development. His definitive memorandum for the American Academy of Pediatrics, The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, formed the basis for his congressional testimony in May 2007.

Aditi Goel brings over 20 years of nonprofit and education expertise to the work of solving critical problems around equity and opportunity. The unique multi-sector experience Aditi has from her leadership at Google where she designed + launched CodeNext, leading the education policy and program portfolio at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, WestEd and as a Teach for America teacher enables her to provide strategic advisory services through P16 Partners for clients across school systems and the nonprofit, private, ed tech and philanthropic sectors.

Calla Griffith is a committed ambassador for the health and well-being of kids in the local community and beyond. She has over 20 years of fundraising and event planning experience, and significant expertise in making an impact in the non-profit sector through building awareness, developing allies, and raising funds for organizations across the Bay Area, including the Children’s Health Council, Menlo Park City School District, and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. She currently lives in Menlo Park, CA.

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann came to Stanford University in 1996. She was the first university chaplain from a tradition other than Christianity in Stanford’s history. In 2001, she was appointed Senior Associate Dean for Religious Life. She taught and lectured widely on Jewish feminism, rabbinical ethics, the relationship between religion and education, and social justice. She was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1982. She has been a Hillel director and Jewish chaplain at UCLA and at the Claremont Colleges, a congregational rabbi in Alameda, California, and a Regional Director for the Union for Reform Judaism, the congregational arm of the Reform Movement. At Stanford, she taught courses including “Spirituality and Nonviolent Social Transformation” and “Rereading Judaism in Light of Feminism.” She is married and has two children.

Andy Housiaux has taught in public and private schools in Massachusetts and New York City since 2004. He is currently the Currie Family Director of the Tang Institute at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, where he also teaches philosophy and religious studies. His work focuses on supporting faculty learning and curriculum development at Andover and with other schools and educational organizations. He has taught courses in religious studies throughout his career and graduated from the Program in Religion and Secondary Education at Harvard Divinity School.

Nick Kovacs spent seven years as Head of Upper School and is currently the Deputy Headmaster at Crescent; an all-boys school located in Toronto, Canada. Nick oversees the day-to-day operations of the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools and is responsible for launching and leading strategic initiatives in the areas of academic planning, health and well-being, and community diversity. Previously, Nick worked as a teacher and Vice-Principal at St. Michael’s Choir School (Toronto), taught and held various leadership positions at Neil McNeil High School (Toronto), Mentor College (Mississauga), and Vandyke Upper School (Leighton Buzzard, UK).

Brad Sachs, Ph.D., is a psychologist, educator, consultant, lecturer, and best-selling author specializing in clinical work with children, adolescents, couples, and families. He is the Founder and Director of The Father Center, a program designed to meet the needs of new, expectant, and experienced fathers. He has published numerous books and articles for both professional and lay readers, including The Good Enough Child: How to Have an Imperfect Family and Be Perfectly Satisfied and Family Centered Treatment with Struggling Young Adults. Brad is also a published poet, composer, and performer. He wrote Hard Tales to Tell, a cycle of sixteen original songs based on stories his patients have told him and a book of poetry, Why Am I Telling You This? And Other Poems From Psychotherapy.

Leigh Sherwood Matthes is a native New Yorker with a 15-year history in marketing and advertising between NYC and Los Angeles. Currently she is an active philanthropist and real estate developer. She serves on the National Advisory Board of the Haas School of Public Service based at Stanford University as well as the Advisory Board of Every Mother Counts, a NYC-based global organization whose mission is equitable maternal health care for all. Leigh also serves on the Slide Ranch Advisory Board whose mission is to connect children to nature to foster future environmental stewards. She is a past Director of Holsted Marketing, a NYC-based direct marketing firm and a past trustee at the UCSF Foundation, the Katherine Delmar Burke School, and the Bay Area Discovery Museum.  She was also a member of the UCSF Cancer Council, the Center for Childhood Creativity, and Convent of the Sacred Heart Advancement committee. Leigh lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.

Catherine Steiner-Adair, Ed.D., is a leading expert specializing in child development, education, and family relationships. She speaks and consults on a wide range of topics, including social and emotional intelligence, health and well-being, leadership education, and nourishing healthy relationships in the digital age and developing a thoughtful approach to technology in school and life. She is a longtime “fan” and colleague of Challenge Success, Denise Pope, and Madeline Levine, as well as a CS Conference keynote presenter.

Matt Wulfstat served as the head of Stratford School for nearly a decade leading the private independent school’s growth from 6 to 18 campuses and 200+ to 800+ faculty and staff.  He currently serves on educational boards including ISG (a subsidiary of International Student Services, ISS has served private schools around the world for over 60 years), KSS (a growing group of immersion language schools in the US) and Brandeis Marin (a K-8 private school in Northern California).  Matt is a former Wexner Heritage Fellow and Young Presidents Organization (YPO) member and has been a speaker at national conferences on educational investment and innovation.  Matt earned an MBA, MA in Education and BA.  He has four children and is a longtime fan of Challenge Success’ work as both a professional and a parent.