BOD Profile – Rachel Votto

“I wanted to utilize my financial skills to help give back and get more involved in the community,” the newest member of the Family Promise Board of Trustees, Rachel Votto, says about why she got involved with Family Promise. “Growing up my parents volunteered and demonstrated the importance of giving back.”  Rachel is doing just that by bringing her knowledge as a certified public accountant to her role of Treasurer of the Board.

Rachel, who grew up in Los Angeles and lives in Hoboken, comes to Family Promise with almost two decades of accounting experience. She’s a partner in BDG-CPAs, the firm she joined in 1999 after graduating from Villanova University.

Being treasurer is not Rachel’s first volunteer endeavor.  She is a Villanova mentor who is paired with a current student in the business school to guide them, provide feedback and bridge the gap to their first “real job” with career and professional development. She is also a past president of the Estate Planning Council of Bergen County, a professional group focused on educating its members and the public in estate planning.

Rachel met her husband, Tom Hoffman, at Villanova. They are avid sports fans of the NY Football Giants and continue to follow their alma mater’s basketball team today.  Rachel enjoys travel, summers at the beach, running and Pilates.

She learned about Family Promise from a colleague, and was immediately intrigued and impressed. The agency’s mission, she says, “is more than food and shelter. We’re saying to the families not just ‘How can we make your life better?’ but ‘How can you make your life better? – with education, training and things like that.’’