Happy Chanukah - The Jewish Georgian

November-December 2011 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 27
BUSINESS BITS
By Marsha Liebowitz
BEST AND BRIGHTEST. Michael Merlin,
a senior vice president and family wealth
director at the Merlin Wealth Management
Group of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney,
has been selected for Georgia Trend magazine’s
“40 under 40”
list, which showcases
young achievers
in business, government,
politics, education,
and nonprofits.
Merlin advises
leaders, entrepreneurs,
and generations
of family
wealth in Atlanta. In
2009, he was award-
Michael Merlin
ed a top advisor
award by Registered
Rep magazine and oversees assets approximating
$750 million. Merlin was recently
named the Southeastern Regional board
chair of the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) received ADL’s prestigious Daniel
Ginsburg Leadership Award in March.
FEDERATION NEWS
Jewish Federation leads the way
in endowment development
For the second year in a row, Jewish
Federation of Greater Atlanta won the
Community Endowment Excellence
Award presented by Jewish Federations of
North America (JFNA). This award recognizes
community performance measured
by attainment of lifetime contributions and
investment returns as a percentage of yearend
endowment assets.
One of the major contributing factors
to Atlanta’s success is Create a Jewish
Legacy (CJL), an endowment development
program that Federation leads on behalf of
the entire community. CJL promotes the
message that all of us, regardless of age,
wealth, or affiliation, have the ability to
make a difference for future Jewish generations.
Together, Federation and 27 partner
organizations are building a strong, vibrant
community, now and in the future, with
bequests for permanent endowments.
Steve Merlin, chair of Planned Giving
& Endowment at Federation during the
time period this award recognizes, attributes
the success to “the visionary leadership
of our professional staff and the
enthusiastic participation of our communi-
PARTNER. Birnbrey, Minsk, Minsk &
Perlin LLC,
Certified Public
Accountants, has
announced that
Michael S. Aronin,
who joined the firm
in 2002 as a senior
manager, has been
named a partner of
the firm. Atlanta
native Aronin is a
graduate of Georgia
Michael S. Aronin
Tech and received a
masters of taxation
from Georgia State University. He currently
resides in Marietta with his wife, Nikki,
and their two children, Matthew and Emily.
The family belongs to Temple Sinai. The
firm is located at 1801 Peachtree Street,
N.E., Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30309; 404-
355-3870; Fax 404-355-7371; www.bmmcpa.com.
BMM&P has been in the practice
of accounting and auditing since 1946.
MAGNETIC. Refrigerators in Israel have
recently become colorful photo galleries
ty partners in the Create a Jewish Legacy
program. Together, we have changed the
culture of legacy giving in our community.
Our success has become a model for others
to emulate. We, as a community, are very
proud of what has been accomplished over
the last two years.”
For the Jewish community, CJL has
identified 528 future legacy gifts, worth
approximately $75 million, from over 250
families and trained almost 100 professional
advisors.
Phyllis Silverstein, vice president of
Planned Giving & Endowment at
Federation, says, “This award is a testament
to the hard work and level of partnership
achieved by our lay leadership, our
colleagues, and professional advisors in
the community. We are passionate about
our work and hope to continue to serve the
community by helping donors create a permanent
legacy that transmits their values
and traditions to the next generation.”
To learn more about Create a Jewish
Legacy, visit
www.atlantajewishlegacy.org.
displaying magnetized candid photos taken
at simchas. Now, Atlanta native Andrew
Levison and Roey Shoshan, of Israel, have
introduced Mag-nificent, high-quality magnetized
photographic mementos, to the
Atlanta party scene. They have already provided
these small treasures to guests at a
BBYO Alumni event, birthday parties,
sorority events, and bat mitzvahs. Unlike
the staged photo keepsakes that require
party guests to stand in line, Mag-nificent
photographers take candid shots while
guests enjoy themselves, and the magnets
are ready within minutes. For information,
call 404-396-6977 or visit www.mag-nificent.com.
HOW TO PARTY. Cathy Schwartz has
been helping Atlanta
families with their
simchas for 10
years, first with
another company
and now with her
own business,
Atlanta Fever
Entertainment.
Cathy, along with
emcee and business
Cathy Schwartz
partner Mello, has
provided hundreds
of Atlanta area fami-
lies with DJs and entertainment for weddings,
bar and bat mitzvahs, and corporate
Federation receives $15,000 from
Wells Fargo to help seniors age in place
Many metro Atlanta seniors will have a
better quality of life, thanks to a $15,000
grant from Wells Fargo. This grant will
help expand and strengthen the Georgia
Naturally Occurring Retirement
Communities (NORC) initiative, which
helps older adults continue living at home,
safely and with true quality of life, for as
long as possible. The grant will focus on
making home modifications that will make
it easier for seniors to live at home.
Since it began in 2003, the Georgia
NORC initiative has helped more than
2,435 seniors of all faiths in Atlanta and
other parts of Georgia to lead safe, independent
lives of quality and dignity at
home. NORC now serves a total of five
communities in Georgia, including four in
metro Atlanta (one of which is self-suffi-
and social events. Atlanta Fever
Entertainment also gives back to the community,
working pro bono for Camp
Independence for The National Kidney
Foundation, Camp Oasis for The Crohn’s
and Colitis Foundation, DeKalb County
Schools’ Special Needs Prom, and other
projects. For details, visit
www.atlantafeverent.com.
ROSENBERG AT CAMP JUDAEA. Tom
Rosenberg is the new executive director of
Camp Judaea, Hendersonville, North
Carolina. For 21
years, Rosenberg
has been a camp
director at Blue Star
Camps. He is past
national treasurer of
the American Camp
Association (ACA),
past board president
and treasurer of
ACA Southeastern,
Tom Rosenberg
and founding board
member of the North
Carolina Youth
Camp Association. He holds an MBA with
distinction from the Marshall School of
Business, University of Southern
California, and a BS in management from
the AB Freeman School of Business,
Tulane University.
cient and not managed by the NORC partnership)
and one in Savannah’s Ardsley
Park neighborhood. The Georgia NORC
initiative addresses an urgent need: according
to the Atlanta Regional Commission,
the number of people aged 65 and older in
the 28-county metropolitan statistical area
grew by 44% between 2000 and 2010.
NORC is the result of a collaborative
community partnership that is led by the
Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta
(JFGA). In addition to JFGA, the NORC
partners include but are not limited to:
Atlanta Regional Commission; Jewish
Family & Career Services (Atlanta); Fulton
County Office of Aging (Atlanta); Senior
Citizens, Inc. (Savannah); Georgia Institute
of Technology (Atlanta); and The William
Breman Jewish Home (Atlanta).