February 14, 2022

Since joining us in January 2015 as Director of Financial Operations, Jasna has been a bold and tenacious leader who made the success of KidWorks Job #1. Moreover, she’s been personally generous to KidWorks with time, talent and financial giving.  

“Jasna is leaving a lasting legacy at KidWorks and I will miss her as a colleague and a friend. Her wealth of knowledge and keen insights in all things finance, operations, and human resources have been invaluable to KidWorks. She has been a key member of our leadership team and we are a better and stronger organization because of her service” said David Benavides, KidWorks Executive Director and CEO.

Among her many contributions as our top financial officer, Jasna created financial stability, strengthened the operational infrastructure for employees by adding policies and procedures and strengthened the financial sustainability at KidWorks. She also serves as the financial liaison to our board, finance committee and technology committee.

A true educator at heart, she also loved investing in the student at KidWorks. Every year, she read books to our preschool students during Dr. Seuss Reading Week. She also led resume workshops for our youth so that they were better prepared to enter the workforce.

Jasna played a big role in KidWorks earning a prestigious four-star rating on Charity Navigator, the highest ranking possible.  She was also instrumental in ensuring KidWorks was fully funded during the pandemic by securing almost a million dollars in PPP loans for our organization. 

Michael Baron, KidWorks Accounting Associate shared, “When I first started working with Jasna, I was very nervous. I was not sure if we could separate our personal and professional relationships, but we managed it very quickly.

I was amazed to see how respected and loved Jasna is by her coworkers and how much she has accomplished. I know that I have learned so much from her in the past few months, and I also know I have so much more to learn. I will very much miss working with Jasna, but I know she will have fun in her retirement.”

Jasna plans to travel in Europe for several months with her husband and is looking forward to celebrating her daughter’s wedding.

KidWorks is actively engaged in the process to fill our top financial leadership role and will announce that decision once it’s finalized.

Lizvette Halbert, KidWorks Operations Manager said it best, “Jasna is an incredible mentor and leader, who really redefined the title “boss” She always provided support in difficult times and showed patience when mistakes were made. To say she is leaving behind big shoes to fill is an understatement. She will be greatly missed.”