Board

Steve Foulkes

Executive Director

Term Expires 12/31/2026

Steve first came to the USA from England in 1978, and is now proud to be a U.S. citizen.

Having become an atheist in his late teens, he treasures the U.S. Constitution, especially the First Amendment, and enjoys helping his FFRFMCC co-members assemble and disassemble our chapter signs in the Daley Center Plaza during the winter and spring.  He was also an FFRFMCC Board member during the chapter’s founding, and is looking to serve once again.

Retired from a career in InformationTechnology, he lives with his wife in Grayslake.

Tom Cara

Associate Executive Director

Term Expires 12/31/2026

Tom, who has been a life member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation since 2010, began coordinating efforts for a Chicago area chapter of FFRF in April, 2012. He is a declared atheist whose religious skepticism began during his high school years in the mid-1970’s.

 He is married with two grown children and has worked professionally as an advertising media planner/buyer since 1985 in both the consumer and business-to-business markets.

Additionally, Tom has been active with several non-profit organizations/groups, including the Park Ridge Healthy Community Partnership, the Maine (Township, IL) Community Youth Assistance Foundation (MCYAF), as well as working with the “Teens Against Tobacco Use” program of the American Lung Association.

Bob Hunter

Term Expires 12/32/2025

Bob grew up in Cleveland, OH.  With his mother being a devout Catholic, he was then raised in that religious tradition.  His piety began to wane in high school, and by the time he began college at Kent State University, his skepticism had taken hold.   His focus on religion became more educational in nature, which then led to his declaration as an atheist by the time he graduated from college..  His reading preferences now primarily include writings from the great freethinkers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Victor Stenger, and many others.

He moved to Chicago in 1979 where he worked for the Illinois Department of Public Aid and various other social service positions.

Bob and his wife have two grown children.  Upon his move to Chicago, he has become involved with many freethought groups, and was a founding member of the FFRFMCC when it was formed in 2012, and is now a life member of the national FFRF.

Ori Gottlieb

Term Expires 12/31/2025

Ori grew up in a completely secular home, celebrating some of the Jewish holidays and traditions as a means of having an atmosphere for self-reflection. But he considers himself a man of science, which he believes to be a means of uncovering truth.

After medical school, he started residency at the University of Chicago. Upon completing his anesthesia residency in 2002, he stayed on as faculty and is currently an Associate Professor specializing in general anesthesia, preoperative care, regional anesthesia, and medical bioinformatics.  According to Ori, “On a daily basis, I witness the marvels of science, as I treat patients and provide care. If the world were to start again, all religions and traditions would be different.  Re-invented.  Re-created. Science, on the other hand would allow for the truth to once again be uncovered.  The same TRUTH.”

Brian Emerick

Term Expires 12/31/2026

Brian grew up in the 1980s in  Peoria, IL.

Brought up in a Methodist church, he was confirmed and went to multiple church camps in his youth.

Over his teens he strayed from the religious thinking he had been told to believe and started to consider other ideas.

In 2005, Brian moved to Chicago and now lives in Des Plaines, IL.

He joined the FFRF in the early 2010s and attended the 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, D.C.

These days, Brian is husband and father of two, who wants to make sure that Church and State stay separate for his wife and children in these very trying times of encroachment onto personal secular rights.

Jeff Kramer

Term Expires 12/31/2026

Jeff is a longtime FFRF member who grew up on the north side of Chicago and after high school served in the Army for 2 years as a dental technician stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he became interested in becoming a dentist.

He met his wife, Jan, when they were both attending dental school at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Both identify as atheists and live in Skokie where they raised 2 daughters.

They were very active in the Ethical Humanist Society where the girls attended Sunday school. Jeff is still practicing and also doing volunteer dentistry with several charitable organizations.