Steve Sutton

Board Member

Steve Sutton is the Founder and Executive Director of the Tolerance Education Program. After a 20 year corporate and entrepreneurial career that included the successful sale of two technology companies, Steve turned his attentions to the non-profit world six years ago initially to teach his own children to become more knowledgeable, compassionate, and responsive to the consequences of "apathy" in society today. Using the backdrop of the Holocaust as an educational tool, Steve began a mission to provide a three-dimensional educational experience. Steve received his Master in Business Administration from Florida State University and his Bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia.

Sandy Fried

Board Member

Sandy and Sherry Fried have been integral to the Tolerance Education Program from its inception. Sherry initially formulated the concept of building monuments to be used as teaching tools as well as to recognize and honor the many victims of the Holocaust. Sherry and Sandy have continued to play a very active role in the development and promotion of the Program and Sandy now serves as an Associate Director.

Sandy is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Finance and attended UCLA Law School. An entrepreneur, Sandy has been the owner and operator of two successful businesses spanning 43 years. Contemplating retirement but wanting to give back to the community, Sandy has become an active participant in the Tolerance Education Program.

Rebecca Gordon

Director of Education

Rebecca Gordon is the Director of Education for the Tolerance Education Program in the north metro Atlanta area. She is also the Education Director for Congregation Gesher L'Torah. Rebecca and her sisters are first generation Americans. Her father, a Holocaust survivor, was born in the Ukraine. He spent the first four years of his life in a concentration camp called Transnistria. He survived with his mother, grandmother and aunt. His father perished in the war. After years of moving from country to country, his family settled in Israel where he served in the Israeli Navy. Rebecca's mother was born at the end of the war in Russia. Her parents fled their hometown in Poland before they could be transported to a camp. After the war, Rebecca's mother and her family returned to Poland where she lived for 12 years before emigrating to Israel.

Holocaust Education has always been part of Rebecca's life -- from an early age hearing stories, through college where she had the opportunity to study with Richard Rubenstein, a world renown Holocaust Educator. She is a big advocate for Holocaust Education in the schools and has made it a life's mission to pass her father's story on for him and others that no longer have a voice. Our goal is never to allow people to forget and it starts in the youth of the world.

Carolyn Lippman

Lead Instructor

Carolyn Lippman is a lifelong educator who holds a B.S. Ed. degree from Temple University and a diploma in Jewish Studies from Gratz College in Philadelphia, where she studied Hebrew, Jewish Literature and Judaic Studies. She is a certified elementary and middle school teacher in Georgia and Pennsylvania with over 20 years of teaching experience in public schools, afternoon religious schools and day schools in Philadelphia and the Atlanta area. In addition to being a life member of Hadassah and an active volunteer with LimmudAtlanta + SE, Carolyn is a graduate of the Melton Mini-School for Teachers, has studied International Relations at the Institute of World Affairs in Salisbury, CT, and was privileged to attend Emory University’s first ISMI (Institute for the Study of Modern Israel), a week-long conference led by Professor Ken Stein.  She participated in a two-year study program with local day school teachers that culminated in a program at Hebrew University in Israel. Also, she has attended professional teacher development courses under the auspices of the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. After visiting the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., she attended an on-line workshop in teaching the Holocaust.

 

Carolyn's interest in Holocaust education stems from her youth. As a child, she grew up in Philadelphia in a neighborhood where there were many survivors, some the parents of her friends, during a time when discussing Holocaust history and experience was forbidden -- to protect the children and the survivors. There was an aura of secrecy and mystery. Now that climate has changed, and Carolyn is proud to participate in building tolerance through lessons on the Holocaust.  She has had an active role in designing curriculum that reflects current trends in education in many programs where she has taught. Now she is excited to be a member of the team developing Gesher L'Torah's Tolerance Education Program of North Fulton, where she has consulted and facilitated at their first presentation, a program for Ivy Prep Academy in May 2009.

Sylvia Wygoda

Advisory Board Member/Academic Advisor 

Ms. Wygoda is Executive Director and Chairman Emeritus of the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Thomas B. Murphy Holocaust Teacher Training and Resource Center at the State University of West Georgia and the Director of the Anne Frank in the World Exhibit.

Ms. Wygoda serves as chief spokesperson for Holocaust Education for the State of Georgia and serves as the Commission’s chief liaison to the Georgia General Assembly, public agencies, private sector organizations and to the public.

She develops curriculum, coordinates Holocaust education conferences and teacher training workshops, and speaks extensively to school groups, churches and synagogues, and civic and professional organizations about the Holocaust. She is a frequent presenter at professional education conferences. Ms. Wygoda also coordinates and conducts the annual official "Days of Remembrance" observance for the State of Georgia and the State of Georgia Holocaust Art and Writing Contest.

She is the Executive Producer and Director of the award-winning video documentary, "Prejudice and Hate: Georgians and the Holocaust" and of "Teacher to Teacher, a Training Video."

Ms. Wygoda received the first Spirit of Anne Frank "Distinguished Service Award for Promoting Holocaust Education" from the Anne Frank Center of the United States, and commendation by the Governor of Georgia for her contributions to the field of Holocaust Education in Georgia and the nation. She is also the recipient of the "Legion of Honor" Award presented by the Chapel of the Four Chaplains for selfless service to community, nation, or humanity without regard to race, religion, or creed.

Ms. Wygoda has previously served as Assistant Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources. She is a former college administrator and classroom teacher. A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ms. Wygoda holds a B.S. degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from Georgia State University in Education.

Sylvia Wygoda is the daughter of Hermann Wygoda, a Holocaust survivor whose diary during the Holocaust has been published in the book, "In the Shadow of the Swastika."