Leadership Team

Michael Gottesman, is the Executive Director of Lieberman Center for Health and Rehabilitation. He has significant experience in the healthcare arena demonstrated by his leadership positions over the past 22 years at several local and regional facilities that provide long-term care, short-term rehab, psychiatric care, dementia care, and assisted living. He earned his PhD in Health Administration from Kennedy-Western University in Cheyenne, Wyoming and MA in School Administration/Curriculum Development through a joint program with Spertus College and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator in Illinois and is a member of the Illinois Nursing Home Administrators Association. In addition to his credentials, Gottesman is a motivated team builder who is very customer service-oriented.

Caroline Hourihan, is the Rehabilitation Director at the Rehab and Fitness Center at Lieberman Center for Health and Rehabilitation. She has been with Lieberman Center for about three years when she was hired as the full-time speech-language pathologist, as well as the lead therapist of her team. She brings with her four and a half years of experience as a speech-language. Caroline has an MS in communication disorders and sciences from Rush University and a BS in communication disorders and sciences from the State University of New York at Fredonia.. She is a member of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a certificate of clinical competence.

Donna Kinsey joined Lieberman Center recently in the important post of Director of Health Services and Nursing. She brings with her over 30 years of experience in nursing leadership to her role here, a great deal of it including several positions as Director of Nursing in both long-term care and hospital settings. Her tremendous amount of patient care knowledge and health care leadership experience is a great asset to the Lieberman Center team. Donna attended the University of St. Francis, where she received her master’s degree in Continuing Adult Education and Training  and experience as a nursing learning specialist.

Jennifer Reiner  is the Director of Dining Services at Lieberman Center. She also directs the new Branches Gift Shop there. She is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian and has a passion for nutrition and wellness and loves working with older adults. She has a BS in Dietetics from the University of Rhode Island and an MS in Nutrition Science from Mississippi State University.

Deena Karno has been a member of the CJE team for over 18 years. She received her master’s of public health with an emphasis on health education from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She went on to receive her master’s of social work from the University of Illinois, Jane Addams College of Social Work in Chicago, Illinois. She is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Illinois. In addition, Deena in an adjunct instructor at Harper College, and currently teaches Health Technology and Informatics.

Susan Buchbinder has at CJE since 1991. She has served in a number of capacities, most recently as the Director of the Department of Religious Life.  In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Ms. Buchbinder creates and presents Jewish cultural competency training for staff and, together with CJE's rabbi, attends to the religious and spiritual needs of clients throughout the agency. Susan has authored and co-authored a number of articles and essays in Jewish eldercare publications. She received her bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and her Master's Degree in Social Work from the Jane Addams School of Social Work at University of Illinois at Chicago.  She also earned a Certificate of Jewish Learning from the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a program of Hebrew University.

Jami Mandl, a Certified Dementia Practitioner, joined Lieberman Center as Life Enrichment Services Manager in early 2018. This is exactly 25 years after she started her career in senior care at Lieberman as an Activity Aide in 1993, so we are very pleased to welcome Jami back. In the interim, she became a certified Activity Director and a Certified Dementia Practitioner, advancing in her career in healthcare management roles over the last 15 years. She has taken on many important duties, including presenting at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center and provided trainings on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia--both to her staff and at a corporate level.  Jami’s family is from Skokie, and she and is proud to be a part of Lieberman Center, with its strong ties to the community.  Jami attended Northeastern Illinois University as an English major with a minor in Gerontology.