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At the Business Literacy Institute we are a highly focused, passionate team. We are focused on ensuring that every engagement meets the needs of your organization and its employees, managers, and leaders. We are passionate about business literacy, as each one of us believes that everyone in an organization should understand how financial success is measured and how they make an impact.
Below is an introduction to our team of consultants. You will see that that our expertise includes finance and accounting, organization development, operations, training and facilitation, and consulting.
If you have questions for any one of us, please send an email to mail@business-literacy.com and it will be forwarded to the appropriate person.
Karen Berman, Ph.D., Founder, Co-Owner, and Sr. Consultant
Karen  Berman is a sought-after expert in the fields of business and financial literacy. She consults with leadership and management teams to integrate business literacy into the strategic plan; develops business literacy programs and processes, and facilitates business literacy sessions. She also develops Money Maps®, high impact visuals used to teach employees about the business. Clients have praised her ability to understand their business and develop meaningful and engaging programs. Karen also writes and speaks nationally about business literacy. Prior to founding the Business Literacy Institute, Karen was a Senior Consultant with two boutique Southern California consulting firms. She has also held various management positions in the banking, investment, healthcare, and graphic arts industries. Karen has a master’s and doctorate in organizational psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology and a bachelor’s of science degree in managerial economics with a minor in psychology from the University of California at Davis. She has served as an associate professor at the California School of Professional Psychology and has taught at the Claremont Graduate School.
Joe Knight, Co-Owner and Sr. Consultant
Joe  Knight is a highly regarded finance and business literacy trainer. His work at BLI includes facilitation of Finance for Leaders conferences and Finance for Managers seminars. Clients continue to praise his knowledge, style, and sense of humor. Comments from class attendees have included “we will definitely get an ROI from this program,” “the best training course I’ve ever taken,” and “everyone in our organization needs to take this class.” Joe has also served as a professor at University of Phoenix and Westminster College and is a frequent guest lecturer at Brigham Young University. Joe is also CFO of Setpoint Companies, a family of high-tech and manufacturing companies located in the Salt Lake City area. Joe spearheaded the financial education of the engineers in this Inc. 500 company. Joe’s background also includes finance at Ford Motor Company, Bell & Howell, and Arrow Dynamics, as well as consulting in the fields of finance and project management. Joe received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in business administration from University of California, Berkeley.
Rochelle Martel, Sr. Consultant
Rochelle  Martel is a highly regarded finance and business literacy trainer. Her work at BLI includes facilitation of Finance for Managers seminars and Finance for Employees courses. Clients continue to praise her knowledge, her approach, and her insight. Comments from participants have included “Rochelle has the ability to take complex information and make it interesting and applicable to our business,” “Rochelle is enthusiastic and very knowledgeable,” and “the class was unexpectedly informative and fun.” Prior to joining BLI, Rochelle was CFO with Comprehensive Medical Imaging (CMI), a healthcare company in Los Angeles. She helped grow the company from $38 million in revenue to $160 million until the company was sold in late 2002. Her background includes Director and Corporate Controller for Syncor International and Audit Manager for KPMG Peat Marwick, where she earned her CPA license. While at CMI and Syncor, Rochelle implemented financial literacy training designed for non-financial managers and employees. Rochelle has taught both undergraduate and graduate studies at Pepperdine University and California Lutheran University in financial management and auditing. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from California State University Northridge.
Stephanie Wexler, Manager Client Services
Stephanie  Wexler has valuable insight and perspective of BLI, first as a client and now as a consultant. As a client, Stephanie was the Corporate Training Manager for a multi-national manufacturer, MacDermid, Inc. She heard BLI’s founder, Karen Berman, speak at a conference, and immediately hired them to train at an upcoming sales meeting. It was a huge success, and continued to hire them for many training projects over the years. She and the company executives partnered with BLI to develop and implement a company-wide financial literacy evolution. The programs created have since become the back-bone of their corporate education, and an example upon which they have created other important programs. As a consultant for BLI, Stephanie handles a variety of functions, including marketing and branding BLI as an organization, development of online products, and coordination of classes. Prior to BLI and MacDermid, Inc., she was Manager of the Annual Telefund and Direct Mail Campaign’s for the University of Hartford, where she received her education in Business Administration.
Cathy Ivancic, Consultant
Cathy  Ivancic has helped hundreds of employees throughout the country learn about financial concepts. Her interactive style and high energy is ideal for an adult learning setting. She is a frequent speaker at national conferences and she has spoken in Russia and Hungary on financial communication. She has more than 15 years practical experience in teaching financial concepts to non-financial managers and employees. Cathy brings expertise in equity sharing, ESOPs, and other retirement plans that include company stock. She serves as a consultant and on the board of directors of Workplace Development Inc. based in Ohio. Cathy has a Master’s degree and is certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional. She spent time in her career doing initial feasibility assessments for business acquisitions. She is author of more than 50 publications including co-author of the book Open-Book Management: Developing Employees’ Business Sense.
Deborah Annes, Ph.D., Consultant
Deborah  Annes is a well known organizational psychologist specializing in professional development and organizational behavior. Clients have said to have experienced profound differences in the way they think, respond to and behave towards current organizational challenges after working with her. Her organizational and leadership development experience began in the Israeli Military where she worked with soldiers from all over the world improving their mental acuity, focus, and emotional intelligence. Deborah honed her skills working directly with Marshall Goldsmith, considered the pre-eminent U.S. executive coach. Deborah’s Ph.D. and M.S. in Organizational Psychology is from the California School of Professional Psychology. She continues to teach and conduct research on organizational change, training and development, and organizational behavior at Golden Gate University as the Director of Career Development in the Executive MBA program and in their doctoral program. She has edited two best selling books, Leaders of the Future and Organizations of the Future for the Peter Drucker foundation.
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