Tammy Anderson

Accounting for Action

Tammy Anderson was first drawn to USC Shoah Foundation by her accounting firm partners Gerald Breslauer and Michael Rutman, who served on the Institute’s first board. Anderson’s involvement began with providing accounting services and blossomed into membership in the Next Generation Council (NGC).

“The passion and dedication of everyone involved has always inspired me,” she says, recalling the Institute’s original objective of collecting and cataloging 50,000 testimonies. Now the efforts of Anderson and fellow NGC members focus on ensuring future milestones are met by providing the Institute with strategies and financial support.

Anderson’s drive is motivated by the small-town values of her upbringing. “I believed anyone could do anything if you just worked hard enough,” she says. However, the homogeneity of the community also lulled her younger self into thinking the problems of racism had long since been solved.

“Over the years, I learned that was naïve,” she adds. She works with the Institute because she wants a better world for her two daughters and for future generations.

“People say that every bullying situation has three participants: the bully, the victim, and the bystander,” Anderson says, noting that the Institute’s testimonies give concrete examples of why we should act and not ignore intolerance. “They show children that their actions — big or small — matter.”