BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Vicki is an Atlanta native who graduated with honors from Emory University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. A former certified public accountant, Vicki practiced tax accounting with Williams Benator & Libby, CPA’s for more than a decade, prior to assuming responsibilities for managing the financial affairs of her family’s office.

Vicki, along with her husband of 35 years, Gerry, are the proud parents of a 25 year old daughter (Elyse), a recent Emory Nursing School graduate, and a 23 year old son (Erik), a Syracuse University Newhouse School of Communications Film, Radio and Television graduate. Vicki enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with family, and taking daily walks with her 2 year old golden-doodle, Sayde.

Vicki has served on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the Anti-Defamation League, along with The Epstein Solomon Schechter School of Atlanta, where she also served as the School’s Treasurer for more than six years. Vicki is a past recipient of Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s “People Power” Award for her contributions in establishing and chairing the Epstein’s School Chesed Committee for many years. Vicki has been active in a wide variety of local community organizations focused on Jewish Philanthropy, Education, Pet Rescue, and Child Safety Advocacy.

WHY JFF?

Vicki wanted to work with JFF because she went through 5 long years of infertility while trying to get pregnant with her daughter.  At the time, she felt no one else had the problems she was having and she felt all alone in the world. Vicki didn’t want anyone else to go through what she did on their own and was relieved to see that JFF existed to support individuals and couples going through what she did both financially and emotionally.  

Elie Engler was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2005, he decided to move down to Atlanta to be closer to family.  He currently works as a financial professional at Ashford Advisors. 

WHY JFF?

Elie has worked closely with clients who have struggled with the financial burden of fertility treatments.  It is a struggle he is all too familiar with.  He and his wife Elisheva underwent various IUI and IVF cycles and have been blessed with three children.

Lynn Goldman is a leader in creating Georgia’s public policies and laws affecting children. She joined the Claiborne, Fox, Bradley, Goldman Law firm in 2014 after building a career as a child welfare attorney and mediator for the previous 17 years. After experiencing infertility herself in 2002 she was excited to work with other families on their family building journey.

Lynn’s passion for family law began long before attending law school. Upon graduation from the University of Alabama with a degree in Social Work, Lynn worked as a child protection case manager with the Clayton County Department of Family and Children Services. As a case manager, Lynn approved the first same sex adoption in Clayton County in 1994.

Wanting to be a greater advocate for Georgia’s children, Lynn attended law school at the University of Georgia. While at UGA, she published an article on Munchausen by Proxy in the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Journal.

Upon graduation, Lynn began her legal career as an attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, where she handled a variety of cases including domestic violence divorces, child welfare cases, public benefit appeals and landlord tenant issues. During her years at Legal Aid, Ms. Goldman successfully defended a dependency case before the Georgia Court of Appeals.

From 2005 until 2010 Lynn served as the Managing Attorney for the One Child, One Lawyer Program where she trained, mentored, and supervised attorneys who volunteered to serve as child advocates in dependency cases.

Seeing mediation as a useful tool in domestic and juvenile court cases, Lynn became a registered dependency, delinquency and domestic relations mediator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. She has been meditating for the past 11 years throughout Georgia.

As Lynn’s reputation for being an effective mediator grew, she was given a grant with the Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children to promote the use of mediation in Georgia’s juvenile courts. Her grant has been renewed for the past five years. With this grant Lynn has drafted Georgia’s laws on juvenile mediation and developed guidelines and training requirements for juvenile mediators. She has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, helped to develop mediation programs throughout Georgia and has trained countless judges, attorneys and mediators on the use of mediation in juvenile court.

Lynn also recently served as the Program Coordinator for the Fulton Juvenile Court Deprivation Mediation Program, where she supervised mediators who handled deprivation and guardianship termination cases.

On multiple occasions Lynn served as a legal expert and guest commentator for “In Session” television on cases involving child abuse prosecutions. Lynn enjoys spending her free time with her husband and their twins. They are active members at Temple Sinai.

WHY JFF?

Lynn wanted to join the JFF board so that she could use both her personal and professional experience to give back to others with a cause that is so personal and close to her heart. She was also inspired by the efforts JFF has made to bring more Jewish children to the world to help rebuild the Jewish community. 

Maynard Grossman has been affiliated with Shalom Memorial Park and Shalom Memorial Funeral Home for over 35 years, and has served in the capacity of Executive Director for over 25 years.  In leadership roles in his industry he has served as a member and Past President of the Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Association. 

He has served as chairman for the Village of Deerfield, Illinois Cemetery Council. Mr. Grossman is an active member of the Chicago Jewish community.. He is a past member of the Board of Jewish Education. He is also Past President of Moriah Congregation, a conservative synagogue located in Deerfield, Illinois. A Trustee and Past President of the Board of Directors of the Solomon Schechter Day Schools of Metropolitan Chicago.. He is also a Past President and founding board member of the Chicagoland Jewish High School, now known today as Rochelle Zell Jewish High School.. Mr. Grossman lives in Deerfield,, Illinois with his wife Janet and has a residency in Atlanta where he visits his grandchildren often. 

WHY JFF? 

Children are regarded as the hope of the future in every society. We are taught this strong concept in Judaism when we learn that “our children will be our guarantors”. I suppose that is why I have spent many hours of volunteering with Jewish Education. I started to witness children of friends, their sadness, pain and frustration as they experienced difficulties in trying to start their families and how soft spoken and sympathetic words would not ease their pain or sadness. 

When I learned about the Jewish Fertility Foundation from the Engler Family, and the many families that needed assistance on their individual journey to building a Jewish home, I felt an overwhelming desire to try and help these individuals as they try to either start or extend their family. When asked to give a toast at a Jewish wedding, I always express my excitement that we have another Jewish Home starting. My hope that the work that JFF does that toast and that dream can come true for all couples that desire it. 

Rachel Loftspring is a Partner at Essig & Evans, LLP, where she practices Fertility Law exclusively. As a Fertility Law attorney, Rachel counsels clients from the United States and around the world on family-building through surrogacy as well as egg, sperm, and embryo donation. Her clients are intended parents and gestational carriers, recipients and donors, married and single, and of all sexual orientations. 

Rachel is a Fellow of the prestigious Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and a member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and the American Bar Association's Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee. Rachel posts about Fertility Law on Instagram at @FertilityLawAttorney.

Rachel received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and earned her BA from Emory University, where she graduated magna cum laude and as an alumna served as President of the Emory College Alumni Board. Between college and law school, Rachel earned her culinary arts degree from Mausi Sebess in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship awarded to her by the Buckhead Rotary Club.

Outside of her legal practice, Rachel is an active participant and advocate in her community. She is on the board of the American Jewish Committee Cincinnati, Chair of the Jewish Fertility Foundation - Cincinnati, and regularly organizes and hosts events for an array of organizations and causes. Rachel and her husband, a cardiologist, live in Cincinnati, Ohio with their 4 year old Lady Gaga loving daughter and airplanes obsessed 2 year old son. In her spare time, Rachel is teaching her kids (and herself) how to grow a vegetable garden and is working on her Peloton groupie status.

WHY JFF? 

In her Fertility Law practice, Rachel provides legal counsel for clients experiencing infertility who are building their families through third party reproduction. But Rachel felt a need to do more. When she learned of Jewish Fertility Foundation and its incredible work in Atlanta, she immediately thought the Cincinnati community would benefit from having Jewish Fertility Foundation in Cincinnati. She is now working to achieve that. 

Amy is an Atlanta native who went as far away as Athens for college.  She dismissed her very wise dad’s suggestion that she major in accounting and instead got a B.A. degree in economics.  After a couple of different jobs out of college, she decided that she should try a job in accounting. She loved accounting so much (yes, dad was right) that she went on to get a Master of Taxation at Georgia State University.  She has been a tax professional in the Atlanta area for 18 years and currently is a Partner at Levy Tax & Consulting LLC. Amy works mostly with individuals and small businesses but also has experience with trusts, estates, and nonprofit organizations.  She enjoys working in an area that some people find overwhelming and trying to make it an easy process for them.

Amy and her husband, Doug, have two children, Aiden and Hannah.  Aiden was born in 2009 at 24 weeks gestation, weighing a pound and a half, and spent 18 weeks in the NICUs at Northside Hospital and Scottish Rite.  Although it was a very difficult experience, it has given Amy and Doug a life perspective that they likely would not otherwise have and for which they are grateful.  Amy and her husband organize a support group for parents with children on the autism spectrum. The group’s members especially strive to guide families with a recent diagnosis. 

WHY JFF?

Amy is very excited about the opportunity to work with JFF in a capacity that can combine her financial background with her passion for helping people and families.

Naomi Korb Weiss is a Senior Consultant at TCC Group, a national social sector consulting firm. She brings over 14 years of experience in nonprofit management and executive leadership with expertise in strategic planning, program design, operations, and training and professional development. Since beginning at TCC Group, she has worked with a range of clients including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Jewish Education Project, Honeymoon Israel, the Jewish Funders Network, Bard Prison Initiative, the Danville Regional Foundation, and The Actors Fund. 

Naomi is a frequent speaker, facilitator and consultant to organizations and entrepreneurs across the country.  Before joining TCC, she was CEO of the PresenTense Group – an international nonprofit focused on training and mentoring Jewish social entrepreneurs – where she led the organization through a period of strategic growth over five years, expanding its reach into new markets and new products to meet evolving customer demand. Naomi managed and developed PresenTense’s Design Thinking curriculum and built a Train-the-Trainer model to scale its reach. 

Previously Naomi worked in experiential education, managing training and leadership development at the Foundation for Jewish Camp and JEXNET, and serving as Special Assistant to the President at Hillel’s International Center.

Naomi earned her MBA in Strategy and MPA in Nonprofit Management from NYU’s Stern School of Business and Wagner School of Public Service, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Naomi also holds a B.S. in Marketing and Rhetoric from the University of Maryland. She is a graduate of Babson College’s Symposium on Entrepreneurship Education and of Advanced Education’s Transformational Leadership Program. 

WHY JFF? 

Jewish family is at the core of Jewish community life. Increasingly, Jewish families are looking more and more diverse, and for many - having biological children easily is not a given. For my husband and me, it has taken a 6-year journey and many many procedures and injections to bring two beautiful children into the world. Infertility can be incredibly isolating and even bring about feelings of shame; support and community help to counter those challenging realities. The Jewish Fertility Foundation takes a strategic, community-based approach to supporting individuals financially and emotionally, and I would be honored to help it grow its incredible impact! I believe my experience and connections running a Jewish organization and partnering with countless agencies and philanthropists would be an asset to JFF.