President – Jennifer Riley
Treasurer – Laurissa Cardenas
Laurissa Cardenas is the Co-owner and President of the Cardenas Oil & Vinegar Taproom, a Philadelphia based gourmet food store specializing in olive oils and vinegars. She also works as the Director of Customer Development for Symphony EYC, a technology company that partners with grocery retailers and packaged good manufacturers to use customer analytics and shopper behavior to improve sales and execution. She received her Masters in Business Administration from Drexel University, and her undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics from The Pennsylvania State University in 2004. Laurissa is committed to a holistic lifestyle and knows the effect yoga and meditation can have on health, happiness and wellbeing. She received her 200 hour yoga teacher training certification from Raja Yoga in the 2012 inaugural teacher trainee program. Laurissa lives in South Philadelphia with her husband and son and is an active member of her community.
Board Member – Marc Hammarberg
Marc Hammarberg has been a licensed real estate agent for over 20 years, and is the team leader for the Hammarberg Real Estate Group at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach Realtors. He is an Accredited Buyer’s and Seller’s Representative, a Senior Specialist, and a GREEN Realtor. Marc has received numerous awards for sales production including the GPAR Diamond Award, BHHS Fox & Roach Chairman’s Circle Gold (top 2% nationally) and is a five time Recipient of the Five Star Professional Award for outstanding service as seen in Philadelphia magazine and voted by his clients. Marc is a member of several professional Realtor Associations, the Center City Residence Association, South of South Neighbors Association, and has been active in his local Fitzwater 2000 Community Garden. He has renovated and rebuilt several homes in his neighborhood as both investment vehicles and to hone his design and planning skills. Marc is a native Philadelphian who grew up at the edge of the city in the historic Overbrook Farms neighborhood. He has lived overseas and in the Midwest and loves to travel internationally. Marc is a 30-year Center City resident, living in the Graduate neighborhood for the last 22 years with his partner and their family of pets. He practices yoga as often as possible at Raja Yoga!
Executive Director – Wes Tudor
Wes Tudor founded Raja Yoga of Philadelphia in 2010, and supervised its transformation into the non-profit Raja Yoga and Meditation Center of Greater Philadelphia in 2015. On top of the day to day operations of the studio, he now works full time developing charitable outreach programs which allow our yoga instructors to serve the broader community, and fundraising for these programs. He has been practicing yoga since 1992 and became a Himalayan Institute trained yoga teacher in 2006. Prior to that, he studied meditation and biofeedback in San Francisco, while also completing a masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. In 2001, he traveled to India for the Maha Kumba Mela festival and did intensive practices on the Ganges for one month. He teaches in the Hatha yoga style, and brings an expertise in meditation and guided relaxation to his classes. Wes has an undergraduate degree in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of music.
Secretary – Katherine Okonak
Katherine Okonak is a Licensed Social Worker currently working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, DE. In this role, she helps to develop, coordinate, and collect and interpret data on a number of psychosocial research studies with a focus on trauma informed pediatric care. She previously worked as a Clinical Social Worker in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Hershey Medical Center. She received her Masters in Social Work from The University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and her Bachelors in Sociology from Susquehanna University in 2010. Katherine has completed two yoga teacher training programs, one in a vinyasa style yoga, and the other in hatha yoga as a part of the Raja Yoga teacher training program. Katherine is currently a vinyasa yoga instructor and will return to teaching yoga as one of Raja’s Non-Profit Outreach instructors in Philadelphia schools this fall.
