Board of Directors

Karen Yarkin
President
A native of New York, Karen Yarkin is an experienced marketing professional with expertise in financial services. She has worked with Bank of America, Charles Schwab and smaller financial institutions to create marketing and advertising campaigns to attract new clients, and develop loyalty programs to retain those clients. An active volunteer for a number of years, since 2001 Karen has concentrated her efforts on community service, volunteering with countless community organizations as well as serving on the board of the National Charity League. Presently she is volunteering at her daughter's high school in the College and Career Center. Karen holds an MBA from New York University.

BethAnn Berliner, MA, MPA
Secretary
BethAnn Berliner is Senior Researcher and Director of School and Community Partnerships at WestEd. For nearly two decades she has provided research, management, and clinical support to youth-serving nonprofit organizations. Her areas of expertise include educational reform, youth development programming, and community building, and has worked with homeless, abused/neglected, disabled, and traumatized youth. BethAnn joined the B:E board in 2006. She enjoys gardening, reading, world travel, and spending time with her family.

Andrew Kho
Treasurer
Andrew Kho is the Vice President, National Cleantech Lending Group at Wells Fargo. He has over 20 years of experience in the banking and financial sector. Andrew graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a degree in Finance, Investment and Banking. He is an avid cyclist and a long-standing member of the Peloton Project, the grass-roots fund raising effort of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Scott Amyx
Scott Amyx, Clariity's Chief Executive Officer, has spent 13 years in financial services and technology with focus on consumer finance and self-directed advice. Prior to Clariity, he was the VP of Product Management and Professional Services at AdviceAmerica (acquired by Fiserv), a leading enterprise wealth management software company, which garnered industry accolades from Forrester, Celent, Aite, ActiFi, and Forbes. During his career, Scott has consulted to Charles Schwab, Prudential, Lincoln Financial Group, UBS, Citibank, USAA, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Federal Home Loan Bank of California, GuideStone Financial, AARP, Harris Investor Services, Enterprise Bank, Thrivent Financial and America First Credit Union, working on some of the largest direct-to-consumer advice projects in the financial services industry. Scott has served on the Board of Directors at two consumer technology startups. A national Sloan/Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, he earned a M.P.P. with emphasis in Business from the University of Chicago.

Ken Epstein
Coming soon!

Christina Feliciana, MSW, PPSC
Christina Feliciana is a field consultant at UC Berkeley's School of Social Welfare and a lecturer/coordinator of the PPSC program at San Francisco State University's School of Social Work. For more than a decade she has served as a social worker in school- and community-based settings, specializing in the delivery of wraparound services for foster youth and emancipating foster youth. Christina joined the B:E board in 1999, after interning for ILSP during graduate school. She enjoys spending time with her infant daughters, playing softball, watching the SF Giants, and making customized greeting cards.

Helene Hoenig, LCSW, PPSC
Helene Hoenig is a psychiatric social worker for Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services. She previously worked on behalf of foster youth as a child welfare worker in Contra Costa County and then served as the Foster Care Liaison for Oakland Unified School District. Helene's connection with B:E's mission started when she interned for ILSP during graduate school and continued on when she served as interim Educational Specialist and Program Director for B:E in 2007. She loves travel, reading, movies, music, and good food.

Dr. Ronald Kimmons
Dr. Kimmons is currently working as a clinical psychologist for the University of California at Berkeley in the Counseling, Psychological, and Social Service offices providing assessment, counseling and support to students. He received his BA in Social Work from Hope College in Michigan, a Master's in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley, a second Master's degree in Sport Psychology, and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. Ronald has vast experience working with students, families, and couples, and also possesses a specialized skill set in working with elite performers and performance issues. He maintains a special interest in working with black men and women, all other people of color, and anyone encountering difficulties related to diversity and multicultural circumstances, privilege and power perspectives, and/or social justice issues. Outside of work, when not chilling with his wife and 2 year old son, you can either find Ronald behind the 1's and 2's spinning vinyl with his crew, or on the golf course refining his game.

C. Joy Ricardo
C. Joy Ricardo is the Managing Attorney with East Bay Children's Law Offices, a non-profit law firm that represents children and youth in the foster care system in Alameda County. Joy holds a BA in Political Economics from UC Berkeley and a Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Many of the youth that she represents are participants in the ILSP program and have reaped wonderful benefits and opportunities from this program. As a child advocate she has seen the tremendous need for maintaining, strengthening and supporting programs such as ILSP and enjoys working toward this effort.

Tony Sarsam
Tony Sarsam is President of the Nestle USA Direct Store Delivery Company. In his previous role with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, he was the Executive Vice President of Operations and Supply Chain, with responsibility for all manufacturing, procurement and supply chain. Prior to joining Dreyer's, Tony was with PepsiCo's Frito-Lay business for twenty years. Tony has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University and a MS in Management from Stanford. In his "free" time, Tony is an active member of his church and enjoys spending time with his family watching movies, traveling, taking his daughters to the emergency room, and coaching the kids' sports teams. Tony's hobbies include fantasy baseball, being an amateur viticulturist and ethnic cooking.