 Our Staff & Board

Barbara was born in New York City to parents who personally experienced and survived the Holocaust. She moved to Florida in 1986 and has lived in Tallahassee for more than 30 years with her husband and two children.

In 1994, the State of
Florida required schools to teach Holocaust education in all grade levels; in 2006, Barbara co-founded and co- chaired the Tallahassee Holocaust Education program, sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women Tallahassee Section, to assist with this unfunded mandate. She developed programs and forged partnerships with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the Leon County School District to bring Holocaust education to teachers and students district- wide.

The great success of the Holocaust Education Program led to the establishment of HERC. In April 2008, she received the Woman of Achievement award from Congregation Shomrei Torah Sisterhood for being a leader in Holocaust education in Leon County.

Thanks to her efforts, school children now participate in an annual essay and art contest about the Holocaust and the dangers of intolerance, and thousands of dollars worth of books and tapes have been made available to every Leon County teacher to use in their Holocaust education curriculum.

Steve has maintained a presence in Holocaust education for many years. A former math teacher, Steve invited his father, a Holocaust survivor, to speak to students on several occasions. Now retired, Steve sees it as his duty as a second-generation Holocaust survivor to pass on important information about the causes and consequences of hate. Steve says, “now that we are three generations past the Holocaust and survivors are passing on, it is more important than ever to make sure the lessons of the Holocaust are not lost.”

Dr. Richard Murgo, Ph.D. joined the faculty at Tallahassee Community College in 1994 as an assistant professor. Over the years, he served in various roles, from political science professor to associate dean of social sciences, until being selected as dean of the College of Social Sciences in 2017. He retired in 2021.

Throughout his career, Dr. Murgo supported student programs ranging from dual enrollment to Model United Nations and founded a faculty exchange program with Tianjin Foreign Studies University. He served on the United Nations Association of American Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Community Colleges Committee and as faculty Senate president from 2005-2006.

In addition to serving on the Holocaust Education Resource Council board of directors, Dr. Murgo is a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Florida Political Science Association and is the political contributor for WTXL (ABC affiliate) for Tallahassee and Southern Georgia. Dr. Murgo received the 2012 NICSOD Excellence in Teaching and the 2011 Tallahassee Community College Club Advisor of the Year awards. He holds numerous Master’s degrees and received his Ph.D. from Florida State University.

Karen is a founding shareholder of the Radey Law Firm, where she represents insurers before the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Formerly, she served as director of insurer services and deputy commissioner at the Department of Insurance.

Karen began her public service career in 1984 at the Florida State Attorney’s Office, where she served as a statewide prosecutor. She went on to serve at the Florida Bar and the Florida Public Service Commission before joining the Department of Insurance. There, she oversaw six bureaus before departing in 2000 to enter private practice.

Karen represented Florida as a founding member of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC). She received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Massachusetts and a Juris Doctorate with honors from Florida State University.

Judy became involved with HERC after meeting with Barbara Goldstein to discuss the organization’s mission and successful programming. She realizes that now, more than ever, students and citizens must learn about the Holocaust and its far-reaching consequences. Judy says, “the results of the 2022 poll made it clear there are many who think [the Holocaust] never happened, or it was exaggerated, or it was caused by the Jews.”

Judy enjoys working with HERC to ensure such an event never again takes place by raising awareness and enlightening the public.

Anita moved to Tallahassee in 2010 after her retirement. She has a Master of Arts in Christian Education and served three different Presbyterian congregations as director of Christian education for more than 30 years.

In Deland, Florida, she led a study on Jewish-Christian relations that led to a partnership with DeLand’s Temple Israel and the formation of the West Volusia Holocaust Council. They offered an annual Yom HaShoah at Stetson University, provided programs for the community, and loaned trunks of materials to teachers. The study led to a profound recognition by the Presbyterian General Assembly, who printed in their newspaper that it “helped us to feel the pain of our Jewish neighbors who remember that the Holocaust was carried out in the heart of ‘Christian Europe’ by persons many of whom were baptized Christians.”

She developed a passion for learning about the development of anti-Judaism by the early Christian Church, taking graduate courses and studying scripture so that she could educate others. She continued her journey when she left DeLand, teaching and participating in Holocaust education courses in Winter Haven, Florida, and Shreveport, Louisiana. Today, she is pleased to be part of the impactful work accomplished by HERC.

Originally from Trujillo, Peru, Betty started her professional career as a faculty member at Tallahassee Community College. In 1995, she began centralizing international student services and launched the Office of International Student Services (ISS). As the director of ISS, Betty led the process for TCC to obtain a Department of State J-visa designation. She also secured funding for annual international student scholarships, including one endowed and renamed in her honor. Betty retired from TCC in 2017, but her commitment and passion for the international education field brought her back to Florida State University, where she is an F1 International Student Adviser and J1 Exchange Student Adviser.

Betty is proud to have developed and executed the first Florida International Leadership Conference in 2007 (FILC). Today, this annual event brings international and domestic students from Florida colleges and universities together for a weekend of leadership development in Central Florida.

Betty has served at the state, regional and national levels for the National Association of International Educators. She has also served on several local boards, including the Tallahassee Sunrise Rotary Club and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. Betty has also traveled extensively and led travel groups to different countries.

Before retiring, Carol taught nonprofit budget management and gerontology courses as an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Social Work. She also held various statewide leadership positions for associations, including the Florida Health Care Association (FHCA), LeadingAge Florida and the Florida Dental Association. Carol holds a Master’s Degree in Gerontology from the University of South Florida and a Juris Doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law.

Jared has more than 18 years of experience as a lobbyist and an association executive. Today, he serves as president of the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association (FBWA). Before joining FBWA, he was with the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates (LSCU) for 10 years. He joined LSCU as the Florida director of legislative affairs and rose through the ranks before being named president. Jared also served as chief legislative aide at a private lobbying firm and director of public policy for the American Cancer Society’s Florida Division.

Jared holds a Bachelor of Arts and received a Juris Doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law in 2006. He is also a member of the Florida Bar. Jared serves on the board of Hillel at FSU and is President of the FSU Jewish Alumni Network.

Jeffrey grew up in Connecticut and moved to Houston, Texas in 1984 to work as an instructional designer for Exxon, USA. From 1987 to 1988, he conducted video interviews with 12 Holocaust Survivors in Houston after completing interviewer training with the SHOAH Visual History Foundation in Burbank, CA. In 2022, he joined the HERC transition team to help plan and prepare for the organization’s expansion. Later in 2022, as part of his Holocaust teacher training, Jeffrey presented his search for his lost family in Vilnius, Lithuania.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, and a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from Florida State University.

Susan was born and raised in Jasper, Florida, about 80 miles east of Tallahassee, and grew up attending Valdosta Hebrew Congregation in Valdosta, Georgia.

Susan had a private catering business for five years and was also the food editor of Tallahassee Magazine for five years. She opened her restaurant Food Glorious Food in November 1982 and has earned many awards, including: Best of Tallahassee, Best Outdoor Café in Florida, and 14 Golden Spoon Awards.

Her commitment to civic involvement earned Susan recognition as one of the “Twenty-Five Women to Know” by the Tallahassee Democrat. She holds leadership positions in many nonprofits, including the Refuge House, the Big Bend Hospice Foundation, the Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.

She also served as president of the National Council of Jewish Women and was honored by HERC as the first recipient of their Humanitarian Award. Growing up in the only Jewish family in Jasper, Susan is proud to be involved with HERC in the fight against anti-semitism and hatred.

Sam is an experienced accountant and financial manager with more than three decades of managing accounting functions for public and private entities.

Sam joined the original founding board of HERC and is happy to have recently returned to the board after a ten-year hiatus. Sam comes from a family of survivors. His father, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all lived through the Holocaust. At age 11, his father was taken from his childhood home in Romania and spent 18 months in a labor camp in southern Ukraine.

Sam’s thoughts are captured in this quote by former Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman: “As the generation of Holocaust survivors and liberators dwindles, the torch of remembrance, of bearing witness, and of education must continue forward.”