MEET THE SLEA TEAM

CEO

Rina Barak joined SLEA in May of 2012 as a Speech Language Pathologist. She obtained her M.A. in Communication Disorders from Montclair State University. As a therapist, Rina focused on providing highly individualized care and pushed for dynamic collaboration across all service providers and all team members including families, teachers, and multiple disciplines. She was promoted to Director of the Speech Therapy program in 2015, managing Speech Language Pathologists and Speech Language Pathology Assistants in the clinic, school, and virtual settings. Rina played a critical role in developing collaboration across all disciplines while in the Director role and built a strong culture of teamwork, trust, accountability, quality, and having fun. In 2021, Rina was promoted to CEO of SLEA Therapies, overseeing all programs including Behavior Intervention, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Educational Therapy, and Child Development. Rina has continued to develop a strong culture throughout the employee-owned company since her time as CEO and has instilled a sense of ownership in all of her employees.  She strongly believes that regardless of your role in the company, every employee adds tremendous value. She also emphasizes that communication, consistent feedback, and a strong accountability structure is the key to ensuring quality and growth as a clinician and professional.

COO

Lauren Henderson began working for SLEA as a Speech-Language Pathologist in January 2012. She graduated from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services and dual minors in Psychology and Sociology. Lauren completed her Master’s degree in Communicative Disorders at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Following the completion of her graduate program at West Chester University, she returned to California to pursue her career and passion as a Speech-Language Pathologist. She holds a certification in Assistive Technology Applications through CSUN, is trained in the Lidcombe Program, as well as PROMPT.

CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER

Ashley Johnson is the SLEA Therapies Director of Human Resources.  Ashley comes to us with over 12 years of experience in the Human Resources field, with a concentration in Organizational Development. She graduated from California Polytechnic University with her Bachelor's in English and History, and went on to receive a Senior Professional of Human Resources Certification from HRCI. Prior to her work at SLEA, Ashley worked in the ABA, Service, and Hospitality industries.

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SPEECH AND OT PROGRAMS

Dr. Baily Zubel is an occupational therapist and serves as the OT Program Director at SLEA. She obtained both her masters and doctoral degrees in Occupational Therapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Baily’s doctoral research focused on intentional communication and relationships within the pediatric setting, pediatric mental health, and scholarship of practice propelling theory, research, and practice.

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF BEHAVIOR OPERATIONS

Benjamin Gonzalez is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Benjamin has been working in the field of ABA for 15 years, starting off as an RBT working in the home, school, and clinic settings. Benjamin has been the Director of Center based programs and is currently the Director of Behavior Operations for SLEA Therapies. In his career he has worked with hundreds of families, students, children and adults with a wide variety of backgrounds and areas of need. Benjamin has specialized in reducing challenging behaviors in the school, home,  clinic settings and has specialized in treating self-injurious behaviors, aggressive behaviors, non-compliance and refusal and has supported families in implementing reinforcement-based strategies to increase positive behaviors. Benjamin has worked across multiple school districts in California and has specialized in working with teachers and on-site teams in implementing treatment plans to support the reduction of challenging behavior and to teach replacement behavior skills to support IEP goal progress. 

DIRECTOR OF SPEECH SCHOOL PROGRAMS & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Sara is an Speech-Language Pathologist and began working with SLEA in 2016. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) with degrees in both Psychology and Economics. She completed her post-baccalaureate program at California State University Long Beach (CSULB) and earned her master’s degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences at California State University Northridge (CSUN). Sara is licensed by the board of California and has her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She is a PROMPT trained SLP.