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Our Instructors

michelle-lewis-national-real-estate-instituteMichelle W. Lewis, School Director

Michelle W. Lewis is a forensic real estate expert, fraud examiner, and practicing real estate broker/appraiser with over 42 years in the field to her credit. Michelle founded Northwest Counseling Service, (NWCS) Incorporated in Philadelphia and has served as its president and chief executive officer since 1982. Chosen out of 117 agencies in Pennsylvania, NWCS received “Best Practices” award, the highest designation conferred in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).

Michelle is also a principal in a private real estate firm specializing in commercial and investor markets; and that delivers services to governments, attorneys, and other firms by providing expert opinions and testimony, fraud examination, and investigation of questionable practices. She served for 7 years as a technical advisor on real estate matters to the Philadelphia Office of Housing & Community Development, city of Philadelphia. Qualified as an expert in federal court, Michelle brings a wide breadth of experience and knowledge to the profession and has been a provider of expert advice and testimony to some of the largest organizations in the country, including the office of the US Attorney, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and many private firms.

Michelle founded and chairs the Philadelphia Predatory Lending Task Force (PPLTF) whose members include key federal, state and local legislators, regulatory agencies, private industry representatives and non-profit groups. As school director for the American Real Estate and Notary Education Institute, Michelle developed and teaches a 35 hour course for practicing attorneys aimed at helping to identify practices and pursue remedies with respect to predatory lending actions. An adapted model of that course is provided 6 times each year to housing and real estate-related practitioners and members of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking through a contract with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Through a contract with Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), city of Philadelphia, Michelle delivers comprehensive housing counselor training to all counselors connected to the OHCD network; with specialties in foreclosure intervention, and procedural and negotiation strategies in diversion court. Michelle served as a Founding/Operating Director of the American Homeowner Education and Counseling Institute (AHECI) where she served as Chair of the certification committee, and co-chair of the curriculum development committee. This board initiated the National Standards for Housing Counseling.

She also serves as Treasurer on the Board of the PA Federation of Housing Counselors and Agencies. Michelle serves as a member of many other boards, committees and trade associations including the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Philadelphia and National Associations of Certified Fraud Examiners, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the American College of Forensic Examiners, and Board Secretary for Logan CDC. An associate member of the American Bar Association, she serves on both the criminal justice and real property, probate, and trust sections; and the conference of federal trial judges.

Appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Michelle serves on the Pennsylvania Housing Advisory Committee. She recently authored a journal article, “Perspectives on Predatory Lending: The Philadelphia Experience”, in the Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, Summer 2003, Volume 12, Number 4, for the American Bar Association and is currently authoring a book titled “Predatory Lending and Litigation”. A real estate columnist, she is author and editor of ‘The Lewis Report’, is widely published and has acted as a public speaker in most areas of the field.

Robert Lukens

Robert Lukens is a staff attorney in the Consumer Housing unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA). He specializes in mortgage foreclosure defense. He is one of the supervisors of the Save Your Home Philly Hotline, managed by PLA. The hotline is the gateway to the mortgage foreclosure diversion program. Prior to joining PLA, Bob was a staff attorney in the Public Benefits unit at Community Legal Services, Inc. He is a graduate of Temple Law School.

Beth Goodell

Beth Goodell is a senior attorney with Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia, where she specializes in bankruptcy and homeownership defense, representing low income homeowners victimized by predatory lending or otherwise facing foreclosure. Ms. Goodell is a 1997 cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a board member of Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, a non-profit volunteer program providing free repairs for low-income home owners.

Karen Mack

Karen Mack is president of Karen Mack Management Consultants, LLC a performance improvement company. Karen develops and delivers customized training programs for corporate and government clients focusing on core competencies (soft-skills) and leadership. Topics include change management and career development, a variety of communication topics, stress/emotional management, professionalism and leadership.

As primary consultant, Karen has led educational workshops and seminars and facilitated meetings nationwide and abroad. From individual clients to corporate contracts, Karen has worked with more than 33,000 people and logged more than 12,000 hours of training time. She brings an abundance of knowledge and experience to a variety of clients.

Known for commitment and tenacity, Karen’s presentation style has been described as interactive, engaging and entertaining. When training, she enjoys probing audiences with thought provoking situations and questions, intending to engage positive behavior and change. With a focus on process facilitation, Karen leads groups through meetings and retreats toward desired outcomes. Karen has taped ‘How to Manage Stress’, an educational video sold internationally through the Nightingale Conant; ‘Successful Stress Managers’ (audio program) is frequently used in conjunction with stress management programs.

Margaret Robinson, Esq.

Margaret Robinson, esq. is a Staff Attorney and Supervisor of the Save Your Home Philly Hotline at Philadelphia Legal Assistance. Guided by the goal of a legal system where all participants are informed, educated and empowered throughout the process, she has represented low-income consumers in mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy and consumer protection cases since 2007. Each Thursday, she attends the Conciliation Conference as part of the Philadelphia Foreclosure Diversion Program and provides advice to housing counselors, volunteer attorneys and homeowners seeking to save their homes from foreclosure. She supervises the Save Your Home Philly Hotline, which responds to approximately 6,000 calls per year from Philadelphians seeking assistance with homeownership issues. Ms. Robinson received her B.A. from Columbia University and graduated cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law.

Rachel Labush

Rachel Labush has been a staff attorney at Community Legal Services since 2006. Since 2008, she has been a member of the Consumer and Homeownership Unit, where her practice focuses on defending low income homeowners in foreclosure, fraud, and mortgage servicing abuse cases. Ms. Labush was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Anita.B.Brody, Eastern District of Pennsylvania prior to her joining CLS. Ms. Labush earned her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the student-run Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She graduated from Swarthmore College with high honors in History and Religion.

Lori Molloy, Esq.

Lori Molloy, Esq. is Managing Attorney for North Penn Legal Services in Bethlehem PA. She attended Johns Hopkins University, BA, and Temple University School of Law, JD. Her practice includes Consumer, Bankruptcy, Rental Housing, Foreclosure, Family, Issues affecting Low Income Persons.

Rhonda M. Anderson, Esq.

Rhonda M. Anderson, esq. is a dedicated strategist with over fifteen years of non-profit management, legal and compliance experience. Mrs. Anderson has a strong history of exceeding individual and group project administrative goals and incorporating best practices for new organizations. As the owner of a legal services consulting firm, she has extensive regulatory and compliance experience concentrating in education, churches and nonprofit law. She has experience creating and implementing sustainable systems and processes to support growing organizations. Mrs. Anderson received her law degree from Temple University and an MBA in Finance from LaSalle University. She is an advisor and board member to a number of community groups, nonprofit organizations and churches.

 Adrian N. Buckner

Adrian N. Buckner is currently Vice President of Community Impact with the United Way of the Capital Region (UWCR). He is also the President and CEO of Buckner Consulting Firm, LLC. Prior to working with UWCR, Mr. Buckner served as Senior Business Development Officer in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, where he provided direct oversight of 75 housing counseling agencies. While at PHFA, Adrian also managed federal grants in which he assisted in securing more than $7 million in housing counseling funding from 2014 – 2016. Besides more than a decade of professional experience that spans across government, for-profit and non-profit sectors, Adrian also has a strong passion for community service and a commitment to servant leadership as well. This is evidenced in his rich history of volunteerism and service focused on connecting and increasing resources to various churches and community based organizations around Central Pennsylvania. Mr. Buckner’s drive and strategic mindset led him to earning two Masters Degrees; both an MBA from Capitol College and a Master of Science in Law & Public Policy from California University PA.

Jennifer Schultz, Esq.

Jennifer Schultz, esq. is a Supervising attorney, Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, PA. Schultz received an undergraduate degree in psychology from Boston University in 1999 and a J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2003.

Edward Sparkman, Esq.

Edward Sparkman, Esq. is a national consultant and instructor in Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Intervention Counseling. Ed is a practicing attorney who specializes in Civil Practice with a focus on Non-profits, Homeowner Assistance, Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Real Estate and Trust & Estates. He previously served as a Federal Bankruptcy Trustee for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ed earned a M.Div. from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a J.D. from Temple University School of Law, and a B.A. in Political Science from Howard University.