Board Members

Lisa Lyon, MPH, Founder & Interim President
As the parent of a 10th grade son who has dyslexia, Lisa feels passionate about increasing public awareness of dyslexia. She enjoys connecting with other parents and sharing resources to make their journeys with dyslexia a little easier and more efficient. Currently, Lisa coordinates the monthly lecture series and supports the development of new Oregon Decoding Dyslexia chapters.

Kelly Ravsten, Treasurer
Kelly is an Independent Consultant/Advisor who provides operational expertise, organizational advice and process improvement planning to organizations and individuals. Kelly is a parent of a child with dyslexia and is passionate about raising dyslexia awareness and improving resources and access to resources for students with dyslexia in Oregon schools.

Kara Clark, Secretary
Kara Clark has two children with Dyslexia and like so many families has had to educate herself to get her children the help they need. Kara has a passion for increasing awareness around Dyslexia and helping to create a supportive parent community. She believes parents are stronger and more effective when they can advocate for systemic change and provide emotional support to each other as part of a larger community. It became evident to Kara that there are immense inequities and socioeconomic barriers to obtaining intervention within our educational systems. Over the last two years Kara has focused on advocating for Structured Literacy as well as getting teachers the tools needed to provide evidence-based practices in order to ensure that all kids have access to literacy.

Paulina Larenas
My name is Paulina Larenas, I am a Latina woman whose second language is English . I am a parent of an adult daughter who has a rare genetic disorder and a son who has ADHD and dyslexia. They both receive special education services and I know by experience how difficult this process can be. I have been working in the special education field as a professional for about 14 years, supporting families with disabilities to navigate the systems, advocating, providing resources, facilitating trainings and collaborating with other organizations across the state to provide support and information for families. As a parent I have about 20 years of experience advocating for my children in all the complex systems we have. Helping families to understand special education, giving them the tools to advocate can change the future of a student/child. The more we know, the more we can make a difference.
Mi nombre es Paulina Larenas, soy una mujer latina cuyo segundo idioma es el inglés. Soy madre de una hija adulta que tiene un trastorno genético poco común y un hijo que tiene ADHD y dislexia. Ambos reciben servicios de educación especial y sé por experiencia propia lo difícil que puede ser este proceso. He trabajado en el campo de la educación especial como profesional durante aproximadamente 14 años, apoyando a familias con discapacidades para navegar por los sistemas, defendiendo, brindando recursos, facilitando capacitaciones y colaborando con otras organizaciones en todo el estado para brindar apoyo e información a las familias. Como madre, tengo alrededor de 20 años de experiencia defendiendo a mis hijos y navegando todos los sistemas complejos que tenemos. Ayudar a las familias a comprender la educación especial y brindarles las herramientas para conocer sus derechos puede cambiar el futuro de un estudiante/niño. Cuanto más sepamos, más podremos hacer la diferencia.

Dr. Scott Smith
Dr. Scott Smith has been in education for the past 40 years. Growing up in Eastern Oregon he struggled with school. His fifth-grade teacher told his parents he needed to find a trade because he would never be able to read or spell or write and attend college. Dr. Smith is a third-generation successful dyslexic.
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Staff

Diana Sticker, MPH, Founder & Marketing Director
Diana is a former research professional with a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. She and her daughter have dyslexia. Diana is passionate about creating systematic change that supports children with dyslexia and manages the marketing, communications and operations efforts and contributes to the legislative arm of Decoding Dyslexia Oregon.