Board of Directors

Scott Hirsch: Scott Hirsch is the Treasurer for The Charmm’d Foundation. He is the CFO for The Benida Group where he is responsible for the accounting and tax functions. He is also responsible for the risk management function and IT functions. Scott provides The Charmm’d Foundation with a wealth of information to help guide us with the work in both the schools and the broader community.fits.

Sheri Miller: Founder, Executive Director. As the visionary, her guidance and support keep the organization focused on the big picture and on target; helping each community reach its goals and the Foundation's mission, simultaneously. After working many years at her family’s business, Quill Corporation, Sheri started her own promotional products company where she worked until she chose to stay home and raise her kids. Returning to work in 2005 she founded The Charmm'd Foundation. Believing strongly in collaboration, Sheri depends heavily on community and team strengths to make this work succeed. Sheri holds a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in Organizational Behavior. She welcomes hearing from you and can be reached at Sheri@tbgfoundations.org.

Alicia Oberman: Alicia Oberman is the Board Secretary for The Charmm’d Foundation. She administers the grant program and office operations for the Jack Miller Family Foundation by counseling grant applicants, conducting research and summarizing and reporting research findings. Her responsibilities also include: presenting grant proposal information at meetings of the Boards of Directors, representing the foundation in the community, conducting short and long-term planning activities, communicating the foundation’s grants program to the community and evaluating grants and the effectiveness of the grants programs. Alicia provides the foundation with advice and information on the operations of nonprofits.

John Ahlgrim: Since 2008, Dr. John Ahlgrim has been Superintendent of Schools for Zion Elementary School District 6, in Zion, IL. District 6 is a diverse district of 2800 students, 350 staff and seven schools serving students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8. Prior to this position, John served as Principal/Deputy Superintendent, as well as other administrative positions, of Mundelein (IL) High School District 120. In 2007-2008 he was named the Illinois Principal Association, Lake County Region, High School Principal of the Year. Earlier in his career, John taught and coached at Libertyville (IL) High School, Holy Cross (River Grove, IL) High School, and for a drop-out prevention program for the Chicago Public Schools. Growing up in Vernon Hills, IL, John received his Bachelors of Science in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame in 1987. He received his Masters of Arts Degree in Educational Administration from Northeastern Illinois University in 1994, and his Doctorate of Education from Loyola University of Chicago in 2004. John currently is a member of the Illinois Beach Sunrise Rotary, as well as a member of the Coalition for Healthy Communities in the Zion-Benton Area; he is currently president of the Coalition for Healthy Communities, which partners with the Charmm’d Foundation in building stronger communities. He is also an adjunct professor at Concordia University Chicago where he teaches courses in Educational Leadership. John, his wife Beth, and their five daughters currently reside in Libertyville (IL).

Mary Ashton: Mary Ashton, Leadership Instructor and Executive Coach, facilitates highly experiential professional development programs on topics including emotional intelligence, resiliency, interpersonal communication skills, work/life balance and behavior change. She brings to her organizational clients her perspective as a proven business leader as well as her expertise in combining the clarity of logic with the wisdom that emotional intelligence offers. Mary brings to the foundation her insights on leadership development and assists when needed in coaching and counseling activities with our communities. Mary can be reached at mashton@pwks.com

Bill Burzynski: Bill Burzynski is experienced in talent management, leadership development, and organizational change. He has worked with corporations such as Motorola, WW Grainger, Southern Bell Telephone, Knight Ridder, DuPont, Bell South and Walgreens. Bill holds a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. His personal style is collaborative and oriented to team effectiveness, yet he brings healthy candor and straight talk to problem solving, decision making and performance management. Bill offers the foundation a wealth of information pertaining to advice in organizational change, leadership development, and linking human development practices to organization effectiveness.

Ed Dunkelblau, Ph.D.: Ed Dunkelblau, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning Ed is a coach for our teach, empower AND model initiative and has been a licensed clinical psychologist for over 25 years. He is the coach for the New Trier Township schools. His strength is in addressing problem-solving strategies with our schools and facilitating systematic change. Ed can be contacted at teacheq@aol.com

Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon: Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon is the founding Rabbi of Congregation Sukkat Shalom of Wilmette, Illinois, a unique and innovative congregation serving a diverse population in the Chicago area. Through Sukkat Shalom, he has sought to redefine the nature of the American synagogue in areas of family education, creative worship, outreach support, and adult Jewish spiritual growth. Rabbi Gordon was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1980 and received an MBA degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1985. On June 5, 2005, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute of Jerusalem. Rabbi Gordon served as Financial Secretary of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and served for fifteen years as a trustee of the Reform Pension Board. He was a member of the Citizen’s Committee of the Cook County Juvenile Court and has served on the Midwest interview committee for the White House Fellows Commission and as a trustee of the Chicago Theological Seminary. Ha’aretz named him one of the thirty-six Jewish Americans who shaped the 2008 presidential election.

DeSha Kalmar: DeSha Kalmar has been The City of Lake Forest’s Director of Human Resources since 1991. She has her BS in Business Administration from the University of Nevada-Reno and her MBA from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. She holds the designation of IPMA-Certified Professional. DeSha is the chief negotiator for the City’s labor contracts and works closely with the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. She is responsible for the overall design and implementation of the City’s health insurance and benefit programs. In 2005, the City received the Northwest Municipal Conference Best Practices Award for Lake Forest’s Employee Benefit Committee. She has spoken as an alumnus at Lake Forest Graduate School recruiting meetings, serves on the Personnel Committee of a family counseling agency and on the Client Advisory Committee for ICMA-RC, has worked to establish shared training for local not-for-profit organizations from an emotional intelligence perspective, and is active in the local community.

Theresa Loerch: Theresa Loerch is a parent, advocate and volunteer in the schools and communities on Chicago’s north suburbs. She served as a legislative aide for State Representative Kathy Ryg for seven years and worked in sales for 10 years selling advertising space for both consumer and trade publications. Theresa holds a Marketing degree from Illinois State University. She is a strong advocate for this work and shares her big-picture thinking with the foundation. Theresa instinctively models the principals of this work in everyday life to serve her community. Her hobbies include traveling, photography and reading.

Earl Melamed: Earl N. Melamed is a member of Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s Corporate & Securities, Private Wealth Services and Fund Formation & Investment Management Practice Groups. Earl has extensive experience representing public and private companies and individuals in corporate, partnership and joint venture transactions. He has represented clients in all aspects of joint venture law, including the formation and operation of partnerships, limited liability companies and other joint ventures, as well as acquisitions, divestiture transactions, restructuring transactions and venture capital and other financing transactions. Earl earned his J.D. in 1982 from Northwestern University and his B.A., with honors, in 1979. He offers pro-bono legal advice to the foundation and a unique perspective to the work. Earl can be reached at emelamed@ngelaw.com

Gregg Miller: Gregg Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Master of International Management. He is a certified Spanish interpreter and now spends his time developing interpreter certification exams throughout the country, conducting interpreter workshops, editing materials for the Charmm'd Foundation and bicycling. With Gregg’s passion for language, he provides editing services to the foundation for all marketing, web, and customer-centered communications. 

Lynn Moore: Lynn Moore, M.Ed. has over 25 years experience as a counselor with Northbrook, Illinois’ District 27 and 28. Lynn’s leadership in SEL / CE was integral to her school receiving the National Schools of Character Award. She coaches our Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Zion-Benton Township schools. Lynn assists organizations in developing and maintaining cultures that embody character and emotional intelligence. Lynn can be contacted at skillsfortoday@yahoo.com

Debi Pomerantz: Debi Pomerantz, a caring community member in the shoreline north of Chicago, has lived in Highland Park for over 20 years and raised her family there. Having run a home-based corporate gifts operation for 25 years, Debi brings her invaluable perspectives as a parent and businesswoman to our foundation. She is an active volunteer in many of our foundation’s activities and always provides us with a great grasp of the community’s needs. She is well respected by all and models the key character traits of honesty and commitment in how she approaches life each and every day. Debi brings to the foundation her advice on marketing the foundation’s FREE resources and contributes information to help us better understand the needs of our communities.

Kathryn Rychel: Kathryn Rychel, President of PeopleWorks, Inc. has over 25 years in business management and organizational consulting for leadership development. Kathy holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work (M.S.W.), is an experienced executive coach and mediator. Her expertise is in emotional intelligence in the workplace, leader development program design, coaching and behavior change. Kathy shares her insights and experiences with the foundation in the areas of leadership and emotional intelligence. She can be reached at krychel@pwks.com.

Volunteers / Thought Partners