Become a Leader in Our Community
Together we are building a congregation of thought-leaders, spiritual seekers, and engaged Jewish change-makers. Temple Emanu-El is infused with the dedication and hard work of its members.
Executive Committee
Bill Kellert
Bill grew up in Hollywood Florida where he met his wife Elyse. He moved to Atlanta to go to school at Emory and has never left. Out of college, he joined The Temple and was active with the young adults group there. In 1993 Elyse and Bill, along with their two boys Greg and Bryan joined Temple Emanu-El. Both Greg and Bryan had their bar mitzvah and confirmation at Emanu-El.
As a member of Temple Emanu-El, Bill has, among other things, participated in the leadership training program, served as a Jr. TEFTY advisor, gabbai, board member, Brotherhood treasurer, financial secretary, vice-president and treasurer.
Bill has been a CPA for 35 years and has had his own practice for 20 years. Outside of work, Bill enjoys running, horses and as of March 3 – spending time with his first grandchild – Collin Kellert.
Dana Neiger
Dana and her husband, Dustin, and son, Deagan, are new members of Temple Emanu-El, joining in January of 2020. Originally from Los Angeles, California, Dana relocated to Gainesville, Georgia in 1994 with her family. She is a graduate of the private women’s college, Agnes Scott, and remained in the Greater Atlanta area where she was an active young adult, involved heavily with Atlanta Jewish Federation through various volunteer efforts and donor opportunities.
Dana has remained active in Atlanta Jewish life through remaining an avid donor, as well as volunteer work with Federation Innovation Wisdom Pairings events and JFF, the Jewish Fertility Foundation. She sits on the Federation Innovation Advisory Committee as a member and mentor.
Within the Atlanta community, Dana is a successful business owner, cofounding HIVE Talent Acquisition Firm, in Sandy Springs, GA, where she is the CHRO, Chief Human Resources Officer, currently. Dana's recruiting and human resources experience covers a wide range of industries such as accounting and finance, transportation/infrastructure and construction, engineering, light industrial and warehousing, sales and marketing, with a specialty in legal recruiting. Her human resources consulting background includes, training, payroll, sponsorship, HRIS, networking, social media and branding. Dana looks forward to assisting the Board and Temple Emanu-El with long term goals and best interests for a long time to come.
Wendy Frank
Wendy is a clinical social worker and has had a psychotherapy practice for 20 years in Sandy Springs. She and her husband, Nick, have been married 17 years and have 3 sons who have all gone to Schiff preschool at Temple Emanu-El. They have been active members at Temple Emanu-El for over 15 years.
Mitch Lewis
Mitch and his family have been members of Temple Emanuel for over 25 years. Mitch and Kathy met at Emory University, and after graduate school at the University of Michigan with detours in California and Texas, ended up back in Atlanta in 1996. Their children, Dr. Rebecca Leslie (who lives in Atlanta) and Renee Lewis (who is in New York…but they’re working on it), had their Bat Mitzvahs at Temple Emanu-El.
Mitch has served previously on the Board, the Finance Committee and Strategic Committees and was a proud member of the five consecutive synagogue softball championships that Temple Emanu-El won in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.
Mitch was an attorney at Alston & Bird before moving into business leadership roles. He was the CEO of Euramax International, and most recently, retired as the CEO of BlueLinx in 2021. He remains on the Board of Directors of BlueLinx as well as GMS Inc., is on the Core Partner Allocation Committee of the Atlanta Jewish Federation and is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for the Emory Brain Health Center. In his spare time, he loves to exercise, play pickleball and spend time on the water at Lake Lanier.
Eric Warshal
Eric and his family have been members of Temple Emanu-El for 12 years. He and his wife Stephanie have lived in Atlanta since 1995 and in Dunwoody since 2005. They have a daughter at the University of Georgia and two sons at Dunwoody High School, all of whom attended religious school and had their B’nai Mitzvot at Temple Emanu-El. Eric graduated from University of Florida with a degree in Marketing, and earned an MBA from Emory University. He spent 12 years with Cox Enterprises before starting a hedge fund administration services firm, Fund Associate, more than 10 years ago. He also started a second company, Emjan Services, a merchant credit card processing firm, in 2015. Eric grew up in South Florida, where his father was a Rabbi and Jewish Federation Director and instilled in him the importance of involvement in the Jewish community.
Perry Walter
Perry grew up in Virginia Beach, VA and moved to Atlanta (with his then fiancé at the time, Deb) from Tampa in 1996. He and my family have been members of Temple Emanu-El since 2003. Perry’s wife, Deb, and he have three children, all of whom had their B’nai mitzvahs at the Temple.
Perry served on the Board for four years between 2011 and 2014 and the Executive Board from 2014 t0 2017. He has been active in several committees and the religious school over the years.
Perry has a long history of working in finance – as a securities analyst, venture capitalist, and business valuation expert. Currently, Perry works for the Capital Group Private Client Services as a Private Wealth Advisor.
Perry also serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Capital Forum, a forum for venture capitalists and private equity firms to discuss ideas and network. He is also a volunteer diver at the GA Aquarium and has over 2,100 hours of service. With fellow volunteers, Perry participated in Reef Restoration Foundation trips where the team literally rebuilt coral reefs around the world.
Perry is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a degree in Economics and Communications and has an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill. Perry is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He loves to travel with his family and is an avid Atlanta Braves and UVA basketball fan.
Ellen Lindemann
Ellen Lindemann and her husband Bruce have been Temple Emanu-El members since 1989. They are both Chicago natives but have been in Georgia since 1978. Ellen retired from Southern Company after 30 years and currently works as the Assistant Director of Lekotek of Georgia; a nonprofit providing adapted toys and technology for children with disabilities. She also is the owner of LN Consulting, an HR consulting business. Ellen has experience in various areas of line and executive management with Southern Company. She has held line positions in engineering, human resources, marketing, construction and supply chain. Most recently she had served as Senior Vice President of Environmental Projects and Construction with responsibility for a $6B construction program. Just prior to that, she was the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Southern Company, responsible for strategy, planning, design and implementation of all Human Resource services for the corporation. She has served on the Board of Directors for 21st Century Leaders, a Georgia high school leadership program and the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia. Ellen has co-chaired the Temple Emanu-El Family and Religious Education Committee, is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta and has been actively involved in disability issues. She currently is a Board member for IVP Plastics manufacturing company. Ellen holds a BS in Architecture from the University of Illinois and an MS in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University. Ellen and Bruce have three grown children; Carla, Andrea and Mark and live in Dunwoody, Georgia.
Board of Trustees
David Bieber
David is a native New Yorker and grew up very involved in Temple activities. He went to the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) and received a BA in Economics and met his wife Dorte there. David and Dorte settled in Atlanta in 1995 and where he earned an MBA from Emory University and has been here ever since. They moved to Dunwoody in 1997 and joined Temple Emanu-El in 2004. They are proud parents to three adult sons, Matthew, Joshua and Max, who all attended religious school, had their B’nai Mitzvot, and confirmations at Temple Emanu-El. David became more involved with Temple social justice activities in 2021 and joined the committee in 2022. He currently leads Mary Hall Freedom Dinner efforts and is looking to become more involved. David works for Panasonic Connect where he leads their business development efforts on a global basis.
Jackie Beres
I was born and raised in Atlanta and a graduate of the University of Georgia. After my first trip to Israel on a singles mission, I wanted to get more involved in pro-Israel advocacy so I took a job with the Atlanta office of AIPAC. It was there that I started my career in nonprofit fundraising. After a few years, I packed up and moved to Washington, DC where I got my dream job working for the Saban Center for Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution. It was also in DC where I met my husband Keith, who is from Rockville. A year after we were married, we moved back to my hometown of Atlanta and four years later we had our amazing son, Morgan, who is now 6 years old. During that time, I was the director of development for the Atlanta office at ADL and most recently the Senior Director of Major Gifts for Make-A-Wish GA. In my spare time, I serve on my son’s elementary school fundraising committee and volunteer as much as possible for his classroom. Pre-Covid, I served as a fertility buddy for the Jewish Fertility Foundation. I am currently a co-captain for the Response and Caring committee for the TE initiative to combat antisemitism and I recently signed up for the TE pro-Israel advocacy group.
Matt Bernstein
Matt and Robyn joined Temple Emanu-El in the fall of 1979. As a family they were active as Robyn taught classes with Rabbi Tam and Matt got involved with the shows produced and directed by George Fox. Over the years, Matt served as President of the Mens Club and was a board member back in the late 1980s. Danny, Matt and Robyn’s son, was Bar Mitzvahed and confirmed at Temple Emanu-El. Matt is the Chief Planned Giving Officer for Jewish National Fund where he is responsible for the endowments, investments, trusts and estates, and all facets of lifetime and estate gifts.
Harvey Berss
I am a native Atlantan, and somehow managed to stay in Atlanta for college (Emory) and law school (Georgia State). For most of my career, I have worked in-house doing litigation for insurance companies. My wife, Beth, and I have a 15 year-old son (Charlie) and a 12 year-old daughter (Olivia). Both of our kids attended Schiff Preschool and Davis Academy. We have belonged to TE for about 10 years, and we love the culture and community that Rabbi Spike, Rabbi Rachael, Rabbi Max and Cantor Adesnik have developed and grown over the years. While I have dipped my toe in the volunteer waters at TE with activities such as High Holiday ushering for several years and helping with the Brotherhood Mitzvah for Welcome ATL program, I am excited to become more involved by serving on the Board of Trustees. In my spare time, I enjoy playing drums and guitar in a struggling garage band, and also play league basketball at the JCC.
Jaimie Chausmer
Jaimie was born and raised in Florida and attended the University of Florida for undergrad. She spent many summers at Camp Barney and knew she wanted Atlanta to be her home. She moved here in 1999 to go to grad school at Emory and became a Cardiac Nurse Practitioner.
She loves Temple Emanu-El and has met some wonderful friends. She does not have any relatives here, and she truly feels at home and among family when she walks through the doors. Jaimie serves as Ambassador for new members. She is on the religious school committee, room mom for sons’ class, planned the Purim Carnival this year with three other amazing members, and participates on the TRIBE committee. Her biggest honor was being awarded the Shirley Schiffer Volunteerism award a few weeks ago.
She loves spending time with her husband Aaron. Fun fact, he is from her hometown, they went to the same temple growing up, but they did not know each other. They met here via his neighbor who happened to be Jaimie’s best friend. Besharat!! They have two kids Leah (11 yrs.) and Asher (6 yrs.), and two amazing dogs.
Stuart Dunowitz
Stuart and his wife Ingrid joined Temple Emanu-El in 2015. Their children Alex and Sharla attend The Davis Academy, Camp Barney, and will be celebrating their bnai-mitzvah in 2020 at Temple Emanu-El. Stuart and his family were on the Emanu-el Israel trip in 2019, and Stuart attended his first AIPAC conference in early 2020. Stuart is co-owner of Southern Medical Linen Service since 2004, providing healthcare facilities throughout Georgia with linen, laundry, scrubs, and lab coats. Stuart grew up in New York, graduated from State University of New York at Albany, and moved to Atlanta in 1996.
Mark Feinberg
Mark E. Feinberg and his wife Robyn have been active members of Temple Emanu-El since 1997. Mark is President and Executive Producer of Fine Productions, Inc, a video production company that has produced a wide variety of videos on behalf of the synagogue over his many years as a member. Mark previously served on the TE Board of Trustees and has volunteered his time and efforts for many projects over the years. During covid, he organized and staffed the video streaming of all TE services and was instrumental in the realization of the present streaming platform now enjoyed by our members.
Mark and Robyn are the proud parents of two children, Joel 31, a resident of New York City and Amy 27, who resides in Atlanta’s 4th Ward.
Lori Goldberg
Lori and her family have been a part of the Temple Emanu-El community since 2008. Lori grew up across the Eastern US (Trumbull, Connecticut; Syracuse, New York; Memphis, Tennessee), earning her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Florida, and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. She began her consulting career in Talent Management in New York City, where she met her husband, Stanley. They moved to the Dunwoody area in 2008, and have two boys, Max (13 yrs.) and Henry (11yrs.).
Lori is currently the Global Vice President of Talent for AGCO Corporation, where she manages the employee experience (talent acquisition, onboarding, learning and development, performance management, talent and succession planning, talent data and analytics, employee listening) for 25K employees across 17 countries. She has served on multiple Boards (The Packaged Good, Kingsley PTO), is currently part of the synagogue’s Onboarding Committee, and is excited to join the Temple Emanu-El Board to serve the community further.
Ben Halpern
As a new member of Temple Emanu-El, I’m honored to be nominated to this Board. I look forward to the opportunity to listen, learn, and offer fresh perspectives with the hopes of my engagement adding support to our beautiful community.
Growing up in Sandy Springs and having attended Jewish day school, Camp Barney for 11 consecutive summers and several trips to Israel, Judaism has always been central within my life.
I graduated from Tulane University in 2018 as a double major in Business Management & Marketing and enjoyed my involvement as a fraternity brother in the ZBT Sigma Chapter. Since then, I have been working hard with my father in building our family business, Farmers & Fishermen Purveyors, and we’re having fun doing what we’re doing. In my free time, I enjoy rollerblading, playing with my mini golden doodle, Nola, and working with people with special needs.
I’m excited to get more involved at Temple Emanu-El and get to know the people that help make it as special as it is.
Gerri Penn
Gerri Penn grew up in a Conservative Synagogue in Philadelphia, PA. She was very active in USY as her Chapter President. Gerri completed her religious education as a senior in Hebrew High School. Gerri was an elementary school teacher for the School District of Philadelphia. Gerri and Roger moved to Cincinnati in 1977 when they got married. Gerri taught both at Yavneh Hebrew Day School and at her Temple’s Religious School. Gerri and Roger moved to Atlanta in 1981. Gerri taught at Temple Emanu-El’s Religious School for 10 years. Gerri and Roger joined Temple Emanu-El in 1998 after being members at B’nai Torah. Gerri has been on the Caring Committee since 2000 and has Co-Chaired it with Ann Fine for 16 years. Gerri is also on the Membership Committee. Gerri has been in the Sisterhood Book Club since it was established, and enjoys taking classes with our clergy.
In addition to Gerri’s Temple activities, Gerri has been involved in her community serving on the City of Dunwoody’s Zoning Board of Appeals as well as on Sounding Boards for the City. She is currently an Ambassador for the City of Dunwoody. Gerri has been on the Dunwoody Homeowners Association Board and Executive Board on which she is currently serving for the third time. Gerri was the President of the Dunwoody North Civic Association twice for a total of 12 years and is currently on that Board as a Member at Large. When Gerri was a member of the Dunwoody Woman’s Club, she was on the Sponsorship Committee for the Annual Home Tour.
Gerri and Roger have two children, Jennifer and Jason, and have six grandchildren. Jason is a member of Temple Emanu-El and Jennifer is a member of the Temple in Athens, GA. Gerri is passionate about football in particular the Philadelphia Eagles and Penn State Nittany Lions. Gerri loves to take pictures and enjoys sharing her photos on Facebook as good morning and goodnight greetings with hope that it brightens my family and friends’ days. She loves to crochet, read, and is taking up a new hobby of painting. Gerri is so excited to serve on the Temple Emanu-El Board so she can contribute more to her spiritual home.
Beverly Stahl
Beverly was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Miami, Florida. She received her B.S. in Nursing at the University of Alabama and a MSN at the University of California. She was always interested in education and focused her nursing career as a member of a teaching faculty and 30 plus years as a childbirth educator. She also taught these classes at Northside Hospital for 10 years.
Mickey and Bev have been married for 48 years. They lived in Miami, Columbia, SC and now in the Atlanta area for 25 years. Her main focus of community activity has been with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. She is retired and is an enthusiastic learner at the Marcus Jewish Community Center Adult Education for 20 years. She plays bridge and mahjong. Both of them are active with AIPAC. She and husband Mickey love to travel. They have a daughter and 2 grandchildren who live in Dunwoody and a son in Israel.
They are members of Temple Emanuel since 2000. She currently co-chairs the Sababa group and serves on the Caring committee and newly formed Chavurah Committee.
Julie Weiser
Julie is currently employed at The Davis Academy, where she has worked for over twenty years. Currently, Julie is serving as the first and second grade teacher in The Davis Learning Center. Previously, she worked with the fourth and fifth graders in The Davis Learning Center. Before joining The Davis Learning Center, she was a kindergarten teacher/grade chair, first grade teacher, second grade teacher, and assistant to the media specialist. While working in The Davis Learning Center, Julie was the recipient The Power of One award through the Greater Atlanta Jewish Abilities Alliance in January 2019.
Julie and has been married for twenty-five years and has three sons, Jake-23, Noah-21, and Eli-16, all of which attended Schiff Preschool. While her boys attended Schiff Preschool, Julie taught at Schiff. She has also participated in Temple Emanu-El’s Leadership class during their previous membership.
Julie and her family returned to Temple Emanu-El in August 2019. Julie returned to Temple Emanu-El to find comfort in Shabbat services; however, Julie has found a home and community for her family. Julie co-chairs the Backpack Buddy Program with her husband, David. She was a recipient of the Shirley Schiffer Volunteerism Award. Their youngest son is on the executive board of TEFTY, a participant in Confirmation Class, and member of NFTY.
Jeff Wilensky
Jeff and his wife Traci joined Temple Emanu-El in 2017. Their daughter Ava attends The Davis Academy, goes to Camp Barney Medintz,and celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in 2021 at Temple Emanu-El. Their son, Dylan, also attends The Davis Academy and will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel in 2025. Jeff has been an Ambassador for new Temple Emanuel members since 2021 and previously served on the board of Tampa Jewish Family Services while living there. Jeff is an executive for GyanSys, Inc., a global technology consulting company, and has been a partner in another successful technology services startup that was acquired in 2018. Jeff grew up in Tampa, Florida and graduated with a Masters Degree in Accounting from the University of Florida before moving to Atlanta in 2000.
Danny Summerfield
Danny and his wife Laura Beth have been active members of Temple Emanu-El since 2008. They have 2 children who are graduates of the Schiff Pre-School and currently attend the Diamond Family Religious School. Danny and his family look forward to celebrating their children’s B’nai Mitzvot at Temple Emanu-El and attending the annual trip to Israel that is hosted by the synagogue. Danny took the reigns of the Temple Emanu-El Brotherhood in 2017 and has enjoyed engaging the men of our congregation in a wide variety of events. He feels that bringing together the men of Emanu-El and fostering a sense of community has made leading the Brotherhood such a fulfilling experience. Danny has also served on a variety of committees over the years and feels lucky to be part of an extraordinary Chavurah. Danny grew up in Memphis, TN, moved to Atlanta in 1994, received his undergraduate degree from the University of TN and MBA from the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State. He currently works in sales at AT&T, enjoys spending time with his family and friends, doing projects around the house, boating, water skiing, tennis, racquetball, biking, working out, Tennessee Vol football, grilling out, good tunes and drinking great wine.
Past Presidents
Mark Young
Stephen L. Zisser
Arthur E. Katz
George M. Fox
Sandra Z. Ferko
Steven E. Marcus z'l
Harold E. Kirtz
Stewart I. Aaron z'l
Cary Rosenthal
Stephen E. Lewis
Ann Van Prooyen
Scott Walsey
Lynn Newport
Jane Schiff
Norman E. Zoller
Norman S. Cohen
Jeff Marcus
Scott Walsey
Noah Rosner
Art Katz
Rick Shapiro
Robert Wittenstein
Edye Disner
