2020 Retirement Planning Seminar

About Michael

Michael has been the executive director of RPB since 2015, leading “the best team one could ever hope for.” Michael has overseen the addition of a number of new programs and features, including: self-directed funds, the Reform Jewish Values Fund, and daily fund valuation; a new, full-scale branding and communications program; and the redesign and launch of a new online portal for employers.

The Reform Movement has been Michael’s professional home since 2005, during which time he held executive positions with Union for Reform Judaism and Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. Prior to 2005, Michael worked in the for-profit sector in finance and management consulting at firms that include Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BS from the University at Albany. He lives in the New York area with his wonderful wife and two incredible daughters.

About Robert

Robert joined RPB in 2016 as Director of Participant and Employer Services. Prior to that, he was the Director of Investor Relations and Fund Marketing for Thomas, McNerney & Partners, a healthcare venture firm focused on investing in life science and medical technology companies. Before joining TMP, Robert was a Director in the Alternative Investments group/Asset Management division of Credit Suisse AG and head of investor relations for private equity, which included DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and DLJ Investment Partners, as well as other regional and sector-focused fund groups. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2008, Robert spent nine years with Apax Partners, a global private equity firm with more than $40 billion under management, as the Director of Investor Relations and Information Management for all US funds. He received a B.S. in Economics from Allegheny College and a J.D. from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he began his career as a practicing attorney for over 12 years.

About Helen

Helen is a nationally recognized leader on issues of aging, employment and retirement; she has received numerous awards for her teaching at the Davis School at USC’s Andrus Gerontology Center and contributions to the field of aging, the community and literary arts. Editor of two books, author of over 50 articles and popular speaker, she has helped more than 15,000 employees—including senior corporate executives, mid-level managers, factory workers, university faculty and staff, physicians, engineers, and rabbis—prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement. As a weekly columnist, she writes on the subject of Successful Aging for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group reaching over 1.3 million readers. Helen is co-author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, Project Renewment, the First Retirement Model for Career Women. In her volunteer life, she has been president/chair of five non-profit organizations including Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach, CA. In 2016, she was named one of the 50 influencers in aging by PBS Next Avenue.

About Sharon

Sharon served as the educator at Am Shalom for 32 years. She is a former president of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE), a long-time trustee of the Reform Pension Board, representing NATE and is the chair of the RPB Education Committee. Sharon is on the Board of the Midwest Ave of the Righteous, the Past President of Ziknay Nate, and has been involved in numerous educational and social action activities throughout her career and in retirement. Most recently, she founded Grandparents for Social Action. Its mission is to teach grandchildren to be philanthropists and social action activists. You can sign up to read the GSA newsletter at www.GrandparentsForSocialAction.org.

About Michael

Michael J. Gan is a labor and employment law attorney and managing partner at Peer, Gan & Gisler LLP in Washington, DC, and has been representing labor unions and professionals in collective bargaining, litigation, and contract negotiations for 25 years. He also maintains a significant practice working with Reform rabbis and other Jewish professionals in a wide variety of employment matters. Michael’s essay, “Women Rabbis and the Gender Pay Gap: Lessons from the CCAR’s 2012 Landmark Study and a Call to Action” was published in the 2016 National Jewish Book Award-Winner, The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate, from the CCAR Press. Michael is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Boston University School of Law.

About Rabbi Cindy

Rabbi Cindy Enger brings a wealth of experiences to her position and, with her unique background, she understands the views of both rabbis and lay leaders in congregational life and in Jewish organizations. She is a leader who combines an understanding of vison and mission with organizational and spiritual leadership. She has served as a congregational rabbi in Bellingham, Washington, and in Chicago, as well as an organizational rabbi at the FaithTrust Institute in Seattle. At the FaithTrust Institute, she developed and directed the Jewish Program, working with both rabbis and congregations.

About Steve

Steve Vernon, F.S.A., is President of Rest-of-Life Communications and a Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity, where he conducts and directs research on retirement income, retirement planning and decision-making, and behavioral economics. In his prior career, for over 35 years he helped large employers design and manage their retirement programs. He retired as Vice President and Consulting Actuary with the human resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide and also consulted for Mercer. Steve is quoted frequently in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USAToday, BusinessWeek, Fortune Magazine, Kiplinger’s, and Money Magazine. He is an experienced speaker, having delivered over 300 presentations, keynote addresses and workshops on his books Retirement Game-Changers, Money for Life, Recession-Proof Your Retirement Years, Don’t Work Forever! and Live Long & Prosper! and his DVD The Quest.

About Geri

Geri Allard is a Virtual Education Consultant for Fidelity Investments. Geri promotes financial wellness for the employees of Fidelity’s Corporate and Tax Exempt clients through online educational events. In addition, she records educational videos that are posted to Fidelity NetBenefits®.

Geri joined Fidelity in 1997 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance from Rutgers School of Business and also holds an Associates degree in Business and Banking from Union County College in NJ.

She is a Certified Financial Planner^TM professional, registered securities representative and a licensed insurance representative.

About Sean

Sean Carson, a Fidelity director and retirement planner, has more than seven years with the company. He was previously an investments representative for Fidelity’s Personal and Workplace Investing Group. A Certified Financial Planner^TM, investment advisor representative, registered securities representative, and licensed insurance representative, Sean holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from William Paterson University.

About Rabbi Donald

Rabbi Donald B. Rossoff, D.D., R.J.E., currently serves as Interim Rabbi at Barnert Temple in Franklin Lakes, NJ. From 2016-2017, he was Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Framingham, MA, and from 2015-2016, at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois. From 1990 – 2015, he served as Senior Rabbi of Temple B’nai Or in Morristown, New Jersey, where he is Rabbi Emeritus.

Born in New Jersey, and raised in St. Paul, MN, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Jewish Studies from Spertus College of Judaica. As an overseas student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he performed for wounded soldiers and their families in hospitals throughout Israel as well as soldiers in the field in the aftermath of the war. He earned Master’s Degrees in Hebrew Letters and Hebrew Education from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion from which he was ordained in 1981. In 2006, HUC-JIR conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.

About Rabbi Stacy

Rabbi Stacy Offner has been the Rabbi of Temple Beth Tikvah since 2012. Rabbi Offner is also the Founding Rabbi Emerita of Shir Tikvah Congregation in Minneapolis where the congregation grew from 40 to 400 households under her leadership. She then served as the Vice President of the Union for Reform Judaism where she shared her love of congregational life with the URJ’s 900 synagogues. Before joining TBT, Rabbi Offner served as the Interim Rabbi at Adath Emanu-El in Mt. Laurel, NJ. A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Kenyon College, Rabbi Offner earned both her M.A. and Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.