Staff & Advisory Board
Lauren Wagman
Executive Director
For more than 15 years, Lauren has led mission-driven organizations to achieve greater impact on urgent social issues. She is especially committed to the field of early childhood development, and two-generation strategies that focus on children and their parents. Lauren is thrilled to join Ready, Set, Read! to steward its growth and ensure Los Angeles families have access to books, resources and support to lay the foundation for their children’s lifelong learning.
Lauren has a BA from Vanderbilt University, where she was an Ingram Scholar, and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business, where she was a Society and Business Fellow.
Lauren is a devoted library advocate, a 15-year member of her beloved book club, and genuinely believes in the simple yet profound power of books to change lives.
Ashely Lewis Hunter
Board Chair
Ashley currently works as a primary care physician at UCLA in Santa Monica and supervises resident physicians at Venice Family Clinic. She also co-teaches an advocacy course for resident physicians at UCLA. When she isn’t working, she loves spending time with her family and reading with her children.
Joyce Chang
Board Member
Joyce currently serves as Director HR Strategy and Operations at Activision. In this role, she helps create and deliver the strategic people agenda, ensuring it’s tied to the company’s long-term business goals; leads cross-functional initiatives focused on company culture, employee engagement, diversity & inclusion, talent development, and organizational design.
Prior to joining Activision, Joyce was AVP of Transformation and Communications at Frontier Communications where she was responsible for HR initiatives. For the majority of her career, Joyce was a human capital consultant with Deloitte Consulting, where she delivered large-scale organizational transformations.
Joyce graduated with a B.A. in Communications and Film Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned an MBA from UCLA Anderson’s School of Management.
Kyle Forrest
Board Member
Kyle currently works as a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting, where he partners with senior leaders in organizations on human capital considerations related to mergers and acquisitions. Kyle is also responsible for the delivery of Deloitte’s Next Generation CHRO Academy and facilitating senior executive transition labs.
Outside of work, Kyle enjoys spending his time with his wife, daughter, and dog taking advantage of the L.A. outdoors, exercising, and of course, reading. Kyle graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and Sports Management from Rice University. Kyle earned an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Ravi Gill
Board Member
Ravi is an equity research analyst at Wellington Management. He has twelve years of investment industry experience. Prior to Wellington, Ravi worked at Capital Group and Goldman Sachs.
He holds the CFA and CPA designations and earned his bachelor’s in finance and master’s in accounting from Baruch College of the City University of New York.
Alex Gostomelsky
Board Member
Alex is a serial entrepreneur, startup advisor, and investor. He has led venture and corporate development projects with early stage startups up to the F1000, bringing corporate strategy and go-to-market expertise to critical initiatives. Previously, Alex launched, and later exited, a cryptocurrency hedge fund, where he served as COO and led fundraising. He began his career in banking and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson.
Matt Kaplan
Matt has been a children’s entertainment marketing executive for over 10 years. Currently, Matt leads Sales Development for WildBrain, spearheading the development, packaging and execution of ad sales content solutions for brands and sponsors across WildBrain’s many digital platforms including YouTube and Roblox.
Matt received his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BS from Boston University. In his spare time, he enjoys the rewards of reading with his two daughters.
Jen Nguyen
Jen currently works in Product Pricing and Packaging Strategy at Salesforce where she works at the intersection of strategy, analytics, and product to develop data driven and customer centric monetization strategies. Her key areas of expertise include: Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, SaaS and Sustainability.
In addition to her board service at Ready, Set, Read, Jen extends her expertise through her service on the boards of Salesforce Women in Product and the Tiyya Foundation.
Jen graduated with a double B.S. in Pure Mathematics and Statistics from UCLA. She earned an M.S. in Pure Mathematics from RPI.
Nishi T. Panchal
Board Member
Nishi is a Project Manager in the Investment Operations group where she helps manage and execute short and long term strategic initiatives.
Nishi has over 10 years of experience in investment management in back and front office roles. Nishi holds a BA in Economics from the University of California, Irvine and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Karen Sack
Karen is the Executive Vice President of Finance for FX Networks and FX Productions (FX’s in-house studio). In this role, Karen oversees Financial Planning & Analysis, Business Strategy and Production Finance. Prior to joining FX in 2009, she worked at Fox Filmed Entertainment in various Finance roles, starting out in International Home Entertainment, then as VP, Finance at Fox Atomic (film production/distribution label) and then as VP, Operations Strategy.
Prior to joining Fox in 2000, Karen spent 2 years as a Financial Analyst in the High Yield Fixed Income group of Trust Company of the West.
Karen has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from UCLA. She lives in Pacific Palisades with her husband and daughter.
Heidi Thompson
Board Member
After working in international finance for Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers and then starting a family, Heidi shifted her focus entirely to large nonprofits in an effort to get more involved in impacting the community.
Heidi currently owns and runs Hire Motives, a boutique executive recruiting firm serving a broad range of industries. Heidi has her MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School and her BBA in finance from the University of Kentucky. She lives with her husband and three boys in Manhattan Beach.
Bianca Coker
Board Member
Dr. Bianca Coker has 30 years of experience in education. She taught math and STEM courses from grades 7 – college for over 20 years. Then she served families at the district and regional levels as a math and science coordinator. Bianca is currently the owner/operator of a new Sylvan Learning Center serving Brentwood, Santa Monica, and Pacific Palisades. She understand how critical early literacy is to a child’s current and future academic success. She believes in the mission of Ready Set Read and supports the mission as a member of the program committee. Bianca and her husband Jerry new to Santa Monica and love their new location. They look forward to contributing to the community and being able to explore more of what California has to offer.
Alfredo Valverde
Board Member
Alfredo is a strong proponent of education. He brings many years of tutoring and instruction experience. He has served as an advocate for STEM, and wider adoption of the International Baccalaureate program.
Alfredo is a Quantitative Research Associate at Capital Group, focusing on systematic portfolio construction. Prior to joining Capital, he worked as a Guidance & Control Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, where he developed and implemented flight control algorithms.
Alfredo holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, with an emphasis in spacecraft control, from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Merrily Weiss
Founder
Merrily Weiss founded Ready, Set, Read! in 1999 to address the need for literacy resources and training in Los Angeles area preschools. To develop the organization and programs, she drew upon her years of experience as a multimedia producer/developer and as a mother and classroom volunteer.