Ria Berger is the CEO of Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit oral health care providers for children. Since 2014, Berger has spearheaded the growth of Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County. Under her leadership, the organization has doubled in revenue, tripled in employees, and cut the employee turnover rate by half, all while maintaining low administrative costs and piloting an innovative teledentistry program that is one of the largest in the U.S. Healthy Smiles was named one of Orange County’s Top Workplaces by the Orange County Register in 2017 and 2018. 

Berger holds more than 25 years of operations, human resources and business development experience in multi-cultural, multi-site locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Previously, she was a Vice President of Human Resources for several Fortune 500 companies, and is a co-owner and co-founder of CMM Europe (Art 4 Fun), a 21-year-old retail establishment in London where she served as Managing Director for eight years.

Berger has a master’s degree in Public Administration, specializing in Organizational Development, from USC, and has taught HR and business courses at UCI and USC. Berger currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors at CalOptima (Orange County’s single largest health insurer, with $3.2 billion in revenue).  She is a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Governance Fellow. 

Her greatest strengths as an executive are in strategically planning, and clearly focusing on the successful execution of world class organizational and leadership development programs.  She possesses extensive and current experience in strategy, operations, fund development, board recruitment and development, leadership revamp, change management, culture transformation, mergers and acquisitions, and building effective systems integration and analytics within the healthcare, retail, and service industries.

She brings strategic as well as tactical acumen to all facets of leading Fortune 500 companies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Harvey Lee is the Chief Dental Officer for Healthy Smiles for Kids of OC. He is a pediatric dentist by specialty training and board certified by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.  Dr. Harvey obtained a Masters of Public Health with the emphasis in Healthcare Administration at Loma Linda University, prior to earning his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree.  Dr. Harvey also holds an MBA from the Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University.

After receiving his DDS from Loma Linda University, he completed a pediatric dental residency program at the Cornell University-affiliated St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, New York.

After residency, in conjunction with private practice he also held a faculty appointment at Columbia University and served as the Chief/Program Director of Pediatric Dentistry at Harlem Hospital, New York.  During his employment at Harlem Hospital Center, he served on the medical executive board as the Treasurer.

Dr. Harvey is active with organized dentistry, currently serving as Past President of the Board of Directors at the Orange County Dental Society. 

His connections in the dental industry, and more importantly, his experience as the Chief Dental Officer of a successful multi-location DSO is invaluable.

At Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County, Dr. Harvey oversees all clinical programs, including Smiles X-Press Teledentistry, an innovative new dental initiative serving classrooms and community sites. Before serving as Chief Dental Officer for Healthy Smiles, Dr. Harvey served on the Board of Directors of Healthy Smiles.

In addition to his dedication to Healthy Smiles, Dr. Harvey has a private practice in Irvine with his wife who is an Endodontist. Weekends are just as busy if not busier than the week by keeping their three boys entertained. 

Kim has over 30 years of experience in Finance and Accounting. Her background includes public experience with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and 15+ years of private experience in Health Care and other service industries. She led the finance and accounting departments for UST Global, an international organization, assisting the company with obtaining their initial round of financing and subsequently overseeing a period of significant growth. She also worked for a division of The Mentor Network, overseeing accounting for 24 residential facilities that provide rehabilitation services for patients with catastrophic illnesses and injuries.

Kim earned her Masters of Business Administration from U.C. Irvine, graduating cum laude. She earned a B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from California State University at Fullerton. She holds an Active California CPA license.

Dr. Ligia Hallstrom was a past principal of Wilson Elementary School, where Healthy Smiles provided services to her students. She then joined our Board of Directors and later joined our executive leadership team. Her areas of expertise include staff development, project-based learning, data analysis and applications, and curriculum and instruction. As Principal, her duties included teacher evaluation and program development.

Ligia has served as Principal at Los Alisos Middle School and John Glenn High School, with special assignments in the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

 Ligia received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and her Master of Science in Counseling from California State University, Fullerton. She received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy from the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Richard Spaulding is a Board Certified Pediatric Dentist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. He graduated from the USC School of Dentistry and earned his Master’s Degree in Medical Nutrition from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. Dr. Spaulding completed his pediatric dentistry residency training at Children’s Medical Center-Dallas/Baylor/ College of Dentistry, with a medical staff appointment at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. Dr. Spaulding’s private dental office, Torrance Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, offers nine chairs for consultations and operative care for infants, children, and special needs patients.