Company Founders

Stefan Hochfilzer – (Co-Founder & Executive Director)

Stefan Hochfilzer

As the founder of Club Xcite, LLC, and co-founder of Xcite Steps, LLC Stefan Hochfilzer has succeeded in creating a two youth mentorship program parents and children crave participation in. Inspiring and motivated, Stefan has set high standards and continues on his purpose, to help others.

Stefan’s passion for working with children stems from an empathy for the kids he serves. As a child challenged with a stutter, he, like so many of the children his program assists, was struggling academically, athletically and socially. Youthful role modeling and confidence building through sports was as much the antidote to his stutter as professional speech therapy. He emerged with a maturity that only children who have encountered difficulties can know, and surmounting these challenges paved the way for the future advent of Club Xcite and Xcite Steps.

The result was a young man eager to employ his own mentoring approach in the community. At fifteen, Stefan began teaching tennis, apprenticing under his former coach before setting off on his own. As so many of his clients know, his excitement is infectious and he quickly garnered a stable of clients seeking to enroll their children under him. Just as it had for him, tennis served as a catalyst for Stefan to discover who the children were and who they wanted to become. His youth enabled him to form a fraternal connection that thrives both Xcite programs today.

On the strength of his previous success, Stefan launched his first company in 2002, the Inspired Learning Institute, LLC. This program endorsed the coupling of sports instruction and comprehensive mentoring and offered an assortment of athletic opportunities.

Shortly thereafter Stefan entered the Hass School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and the Inspired Learning Institute would serve as the antecedent of what would become Club Xcite. Upon graduating from Berkeley he entered the corporate world for a year, then a real estate certificate program, and finally returned to his first passion, working with children. Club Xcite was founded in 2004 with the vision to provide a balanced one-on-one mentoring service to families. Today, Stefan and Club Xcite remain unique in the way they serve children and the success they have found. Stefan’s own experiences have taught him that schools lack the resources and the ability to innovate in a way that is necessary to reach every child. Club Xcite, conversely, is fortunate in its ability to customize services to each child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Piggy backing on the success of Club Xcite!, Stefan has founded Xcite Steps, dedicated to serving children with autism and other cognitive or developmental disabilities under the same tenets of customization and mentoring. This program’s growth and strength have been equal to its sister’s and he continues to find new ways to innovate and improve children’s opportunities.

Nearly five years into Club Xcite’s evolution and three years into Xcite Steps Stefan remains a driving force behind his program’s success. Intimately involved with every detail, he continues to treat each new client as his first and his persistent enthusiasm for what he does makes everyone around him excited to participate in the program.

Matthew Winkley BSW, MDIV (Co-Founder & Executive Director)

Mathew Winkley

As the Executive Director and Co founder of Xcite Steps Matt Winkley brings a host of personal and professional experiences that make him ideally suited to serve our members. Matt’s initial experience with developmentally challenged young adults began as a child. In the early eighties his parents founded a human service agency dedicated to serving those struggling with severe cognitive disorders through integrated employment and community based residential programs. Recognizing the need for passionate people to better the lives of those around him, Matt gained insight into the nature of cognitive disorders and effective means of reaching those afflicted.

While his early years granted Matt certain insights and comfort with the developmentally challenged, it was his own struggles with learning that provided the empathy so critical to reaching our members. He spent his formative years coming to terms with his own learning difficulties and his experience led him to coin the phrase, “a foot in both worlds.” Put simply, his experience middling between the “normal kids,” yet feeling marginalized due to his own difficulties, further enhanced his desire to serve others. He decided men and women needed a place free of stigmatization where they could acquire new skills free of external judgment.

With athletics, hard work, and the appropriate tutelage, Matt surmounted his difficulties and graduated with a B.S. in social work from Salve Regina University and a M.A.of Divinity from the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism. As the co-founder and director of Xcite Steps, Matt has incorporated one-on-one mentoring for those with autism, aspergers, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other severe physical or cognitive disorders. Youth and adult social clubs, bowling teams, basketball teams, and field trips, have become a fundamental component to providing our members with the most comprehensive approach. Additionally, Matt’s junior counselor program and collegiate programs has enjoyed great success and merits special recognition.

With trips to Padre’s games, beach camp, ski trips, and much more, Matt is thrilled to acknowledge that “there is very little difference in my life between work and play. I am grateful for the opportunity that Xcite Steps has given me to work hard and play hard, side by side the most inspiring and exciting people I know.”

With a tireless work ethic, loads of experience, and the pedigree to serve those around him, Xcite Steps is overjoyed to have Matt heading a program that is so obviously needed. His incredible desire to make a difference coupled with his own dream to broker hope and acceptance is truly inspiring, and we invite all current and prospective members to seek Matt’s assistance.

Pamela Machala (Program Director)

Pamela Machala

As the Program Director for Xcite Steps, Pam Machala has grown with the company and truly has a passion for working with people who experience disabilities. Pam has her degree in Special Education and has worked with people with disabilities since she was a teenager.

Her passion for the field began when she volunteered for a summer camp on the East coast for kids who experience severe and profound disabilities. From that point forward she knew this was her calling in life and chose to pursue it as her career. Pam got a teaching position straight out of college at that very school where she first volunteered to work with this population. After teaching for a couple of years she had the desire to move to San Diego.

After her big move to California Pam was in the search of a teaching position and came across Xcite Steps. At the time the company was just about 2 years old. She started as a mentor for the company and absolutely loved the heart behind the company. As Xcite Steps grew Pam grew with them and ultimately became their Program Director.

Pam believes in Xcite Steps’ mission in helping people of all ages who experience special needs and she is very excited to grow further in order to help as many people as possible.

Claire Moore (Program Manager)

Originally from Australia, Claire Moore has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology and completed her postgraduate diploma in Psychology.  She obtained first class honors for her postgraduate thesis, which examined neuropsychological evidence of co-morbidity in children with Autism and AD/HD.
Her studies aligned well with her experience in the field, working as an ABA tutor for children with developmental disorders.  Seeing the tremendous difference this kind of therapy can make, not only in a child’s life, but in the lives of the whole family Claire was inspired to pursue a career in ABA therapy.  Understanding that each individual child has different needs, Claire sees the value in both modifying behaviors as well as teaching social skills and using the natural opportunity model to help children and teens reach their full potential.  She is the Program Manager at XciteSteps and an ABA tutor.