About Us

Lindsey Kozberg founded Koz + Effect, LLC in 2024 to put her three decades of experience in the public, private and nonprofit sector to work for philanthropists and nonprofits looking for strategic counsel. She was most recently with The Smidt Foundation, a private charitable foundation supporting courageous people building, repairing and making communities safe. Lindsey has led strategic communications and government relations at the nonpartisan RAND Corporation and at Truth Initiative, the public health foundation dedicated to ending tobacco use. During the George W. Bush Administration she was Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Education and a White House special assistant responsible for advancing national service and civic engagement. Lindsey supports the growth of excellent and equitable schools and systems by serving on the boards of ExED, GPSN, the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, and Coro Southern California.

Brian Bauer is the founding Executive Director of Granada Hills Charter School, a TK-12 independent charter school serving approximately 6,000 students. Mr. Bauer began his career at Granada in 2000 as the high school’s principal, and led the school’s successful conversion to an independent charter school in 2003. Mr. Bauer began his teaching career in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1991, teaching ESL, English, and Spanish at Bell and Manual Arts High Schools, and then as an Assistant Principal at Locke and Franklin High Schools. Mr. Bauer served on the California State Board of Education’s Advisory Commission on Charter Schools (ACCS) from 2008 to 2018, and as its chair since 2009. Prior to joining the CCSA Board of Directors, he was Chair of CCSA’s Member Council, and since its founding in 2012 he has been Chair of the CEO Council of the LAUSD Charter Operated Programs for Special Education. Mr. Bauer serves as a trustee on several education, community service, and family philanthropic boards, including GPSN and Excellent Education Development (ExEd).

Oscar E. Cruz, chief executive officer of Citizen Schools, has more than 20 years of non-profit experience. Most recently, Oscar served as chief operating officer at United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Previously, Oscar was the president and chief executive officer of Families In Schools. He also served as a program director for Community Partners, and as senior program manager at the Center for Civic Education. He holds a Master of Arts in Latin American studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and Latin American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Oscar currently serves as a board member with the following organizations: Community Partners, Diversity in Leadership Institute and The National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement (NASFCE).

Ari Engelberg has expertise in educational leadership and fundraising and has been teaching and coaching at Harvard-Westlake School for the past 14 years. He was also the Executive Director at Bright Star Schools from 2007 to 2015. Prior to being a teacher at Harvard, he co-founded Archive and served as its SVP of Corporate Development. Before Archive, he also co-founded Stamps.com, a website that provides all the functions of the Post Office to users’ desktops. As the VP of Product Development and Web Operation, he was responsible for developing product specifications for Internet Postage v1.0 and for managing the specification, design, implementation, and deployment of Stamps.com’s website, including its online commerce and customer support components. Ari holds a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, a JD from the UCLA School of Law, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Magaly Lavadenz, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor and founding Executive Director of the Center for Equity for English Learners in the School of Education at Loyola Marymount University. Her K-12 teaching career includes serving as a Bilingual Paraprofessional, Elementary Bilingual Educator, and as a K-12 English as a Second Language Teacher Specialist. She has held various leadership positions as President of Californians Together, California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Education, and the California Council on Teacher Education. Her work is published in numerous articles, chapters and books, including Questioning our Practices: Bilingual Teacher-Researchers and Transformative Inquiry and Latino Civil Rights in Education: La Lucha Sigue, co-edited with Anaida Colón Muñiz.

Erica Lim is a Senior Program Officer at The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, managing the Skills for the New Economy portfolio to equip Los Angeles youth with the skills and experiences necessary to thrive and achieve upward economic mobility. Erica previously served as the Senior Advisor to the Chief Academic Officer of the Los Angeles Unified School District, advising on strategic planning and policy. She is a National Board-certified teacher and former High School Dean of Curriculum and Instruction with Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn, NY, where she launched the AP Capstone Diploma program across the network’s high schools and consulted for the College Board on program development. Erica began her career as a Teach For America corps member in rural South Louisiana. Erica holds a Doctor of Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, an MA in Teaching from the Relay Graduate School of Education, and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Azad is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Global School Leaders (GSL), a non-profit that strengthens school leadership to improve learning outcomes for marginalized students across the Global South. A seasoned leader in venture philanthropy and systemic reform, Azad previously served as the founding Executive Director of the Central Square Foundation (CSF) in India. His early career was defined by a commitment to civil society leadership, where he directed major fellowship programs for the American India Foundation, City Year South Africa, and the Congressional Hunger Center. Currently, Azad leverages his expertise through several high-impact governance roles. He serves on the Boards of Global School Leaders, the Congressional Hunger Center, and the International Foundation for Social Impact, and acts as an Advisor to Centro Lemann in Brazil and the Central Leadership Academy in Liberia, as well as Saarthi and Alokit in India. Azad holds a Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelor’s in International Economics from Georgetown University.

Archana Patel is the Vice President of Parent Programming for Jeremiah Program. She is also an executive coach who works with senior and executive-level leaders of color to help them define their personal brand of leadership. Archana’s over 20 year career in education and postsecondary success started in K-12 schools, where she taught, led, and supported school systems across the country, most recently as the Senior Director of the Broad Academy Program, with the Broad Center. She serves on the boards of GPSN and Citizens of the World Charter Los Angeles and volunteers as a Crisis Text Counselor and Adult Literacy Tutor.