Naomi Haile, Founder & CEO

Naomi was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and came to the United States for college. She is part of the Ethiopian Diaspora. She has a B.A. in business administration and an M.A. in Information Technology/ Telecommunications management from the University of Maryland.  Naomi had worked for various Telecom and IT companies as well as Allscripts when she shifted into Healthcare IT managing the implementation of the Electronic medical record systems for different hospitals.  She is married to Zelalem Ashiny.  They have two biological daughters and twin sons recently adopted from Ethiopia. Because of their adoption journey, they felt led to find a local solution to the plight of the orphans in Ethiopia. Working alongside local NGOs, the Ethiopian government and many volunteers both in the United States and Ethiopia, she has been the catalyst to the founding of Alliance Care Now.  Naomi stays active by running (with her husband), swimming, and doing yoga and weight training. They love to travel most especially in the Caribbean and many countries in Europe.

Mark Gottlieb, Chairman & Secretary

Mark Gottlieb has been an entrepreneur most of his life. His first major company was DesignTech International which produced over $125 million in consumer electronic products. Mostly automotive and telephone accessories. His last company was LogicMark, LLC which produced a line of Personal Emergency Response System for the home healthcare market. This company received the honor of making the INC 500/5000 awards two years in a row for its record growth before he sold the company in 2011.

Mark has earned two masters degrees from Stanford University. One in Engineering Management (IE) and the other in Product Design (ME). After graduate school, Mark worked as a consultant for SRI International and taught as an Associate professor at George Washington University. Mark is a serial inventor and has been awarded 27 US patents and numerous foreign patents. Mark is active in the angel investing area supporting and mentoring several start-ups. He is on the advisory board at George Mason University as well as several other board positions with several companies and charities. He is also active in the community. Mark lives in Fairfax Station with his wife Sharon. They enjoy traveling the world to remote regions and they have four children and four grandchildren.

Dr. Albert Allen, MBA, DBA, PhD, Director

Dr. Allen is an international entrepreneur and Commercial Property Investor. He is also a two-time Best-Selling author, has been invited to speak at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, featured in the WSJ and USA Today, appeared on TV networks ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and E!, participant at the Annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Civil Society Forum, member of the National Association of Experts, Writers and Speakers, Co-Producer of Larry King Film Documentary “The Voice Of a Generation”, Co-Producer of Film Documentary “Canine for Warriors” which helps Military Heroes re-enter society, save lives, and overcome injury/post-traumatic stress, Council Member of The Global Entrepreneurship Initiative, two-time Quilly Award recipient for writing, three-time Expy Award recipient for public speaking, writing, film and communications, and a spokesperson for issues related to international business, commercial real estate, global humanitarianism and, philanthropy.

In his free time, he enjoys reading, classical piano/cello and is a sportsman long-distance running/swimming, fishing/hunting and table tennis, but most of all being with his wife Alexandra and their two children, Alexandra and Andrew – with whom he is involved in international philanthropy and humanitarian work funding and building over the last 15 years 1,150 children feeding centers, orphanages, children hope centers, churches, schools and clinics to help the vulnerable, in 27 countries with U.S. and in-country partners.

Carole Schryber, Director

Carole Schryber was an attorney in New York who gave up the practice of law to devote herself to studying and teaching Scripture. She has used her research and analytical skills from the study of law for inductive Bible study. For the past 20 years she has been a Christian teacher, speaker and writer. She has written a devotional, HIStory in 30 Days: Genesis to Revelation, an inductive Bible Study, HIStory in 30 Weeks: Genesis to Revelation, and currently blogs. In addition to speaking and teaching at her home church and other area churches, she was the Associate Teaching Director of Community Bible Study in McLean, Virginia for fifteen years. She is a wife and mother of three grown children, and currently cherishes every second she can spend with her two grandchildren.

Dr. Zelalem Ashiny, Director

Zelalem Ashiny, MD, is an internal medicine physician working in the neuroscience department at Inova Fairfax Hospital and is part of the Ethiopian Diaspora. As a native of Ethiopia, he has been involved in charitable organizations and involved in committees to build a state-of-the-art hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Having adopted two boys from Ethiopia, has led to Zelalem’s passionate care and interest in the orphan crisis. He has served by going on medical mission trips through McLean Bible Church to Ethiopia and other countries. Now living in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife Naomi and four children, Zee enjoys outdoor running, spending time with family and traveling.

Lisa Barnes Lampman, Advisory Board Chairman

Lisa Barnes Lampman serves as a consultant and advisor to ACN. She currently directs Leadership Foundation’s U.S. Mentoring Network, working with at-risk youth in 30 cities across the U.S. Lisa has served as president of Neighbors Who Care, a national crime victim assistance ministry, and as vice president of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Lisa and her husband, Scott, live in Falls Church, Virginia, are parents of two young adults, and try to keep up with their Labrador Retriever.

E.C. Bell, Advisory Board

 E.C., short for Eugene Constantine, has a BA in History from Covenant College and Masters of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary. He has planted churches in Colorado and Oregon in his twenty years of ministry. Along with his entrepreneurial pastoral work he committed in each community to work with existing nonprofits and local government agencies to, “seek the welfare of the city.” (Jeremiah 29:7) He enjoys serving at every level from cleaning up a Habitat for Humanity job site to serving on their boards.  He looks for opportunities to build organizations to address needs by mobilizing existing, but underutilized resources.  He reads, writes, pastors and wanders the mountains around his home in Newberg, Oregon. 

He and his wife Ardis have four children spread across the country and sometime around the world. They enjoy getting  away to the coast of Oregon and the wide open spaces of Wyoming when she is not teaching elementary school.

Solomon Haile, Advisory Board

Solomon Haile has been with ACN (formerly OCE) since its inception in 2017, serving in various capacities and roles and is part of the Ethiopian Diaspora. He is currently the Executive Director of Activate 127, the volunteer mentors mobilizing wing of ACN.

In his daytime job, Solomon works for a major Infrastructure Solution and Transportation Engineering Firm based in Northern Virginia. He is currently a Manager of Infrastructure and Mobility Equity. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from The University of Arkansas and his Masters from the University of California, Berkeley, concentrating on Transportation Planning.

Solomon and his wife, Dina, have been a part of Resurrection Oakland Church in Oakland, California, for the past 3 years. They have relocated to the D.C. area and now live in Alexandria, Virginia. They enjoy outdoor activities, traveling, and spending quality time with their family and friends.

Ginger Schmidt, Advisory Board

Ginger Schmidt is a member of McLean Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia, where she is part of a community group, serves on the Capital Fellows Program Steering committee, and serves as chair of its Host Family Placement Committee. She has served on the Romanian Christian Enterprises board, as treasurer, for over 20 years, and serves on the Design2Connect board. Ms. Schmidt is a senior consultant at Intellisource Financial Services.  She and her husband, Phil, have two daughters.

 Joseph White, MD, Advisory Board

Joseph White, MD, is presently retired from Orthopedic Spine surgery.  He was in private practice in Northern Virginia for over thirty years.  During that time he made several trips to different regions in Haiti.  After retirement he volunteered at Cure International Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya.  He is married and has three adult children and four grandchildren.  He is a member of McLean Presbyterian Church.

 W. Scott Brown, Advisory Board

W. Scott Brown is vice president for Christian Leadership Alliance. The Alliance equips Christians to lead nonprofit ministries with excellence. Scott also serves on the board of Romanian Christian Enterprises. It was in Romania that Scott first sensed God’s call to help youth aging out of care. Today, he leads the Aging Out Initiative for Christian Alliance for Orphans, which shares solutions to empower orphans/foster youth aging out of care. He also leads the Orphan and Foster Care Ministry for Cherrydale Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia. Scott holds degrees (M.A.) from St. John’s College and American University, and (B.S.) from Liberty University. He and his wife Kristin live in McLean, VA. They enjoy hiking, music, gardens and reading, plus blessing their 13 nieces/nephews and goddaughter.

Cynthia Herberg, Advisory Board

Cynthia has served as a Marketing Director for a wide range of corporate concerns from ad agencies to hospitals to luxury hotels and for the past 20+ years within the residential and commercial construction industry. She is passionate about writing and creating compelling backstories to bring corporate messages to life, thus her role as the Communications lead for ACN. She has lived across the country from Seattle to Chicago to Maui and has called Northern Virginia home for the past 17 years.
Her 3 adult children, including a set of twins, continue to be the joy of her life and she makes it a priority to juggle visits from Newport Beach to Indianapolis to keep in touch. As a single mom for most of her adult life, Cynthia has led ministries for single mothers, and is able to connect in a special way with those we serve who also parent alone.

Mariamawit Alula, Advisory Board

Mariamawit (Mary) Alula has served on the ACN (formerly OCE) Communications team since 2019 and is part of the Ethiopian Diaspora. She has assisted in managing social media content via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for several fundraising events. She has also served as website administrator while leveraging use of the Jimdo Content Management System (CMS). 

She is currently a Senior Software Development Engineer and has been a software engineer for 6 ½ years. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2016 and completed her Master of Science in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2022. She is a member of Overflow City Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.