Chair of the Board: Linda Schachter, BA, BCL, LLB
Linda graduated in Civil Law and Common Law from McGill University in 1989. She began her career in Civil and Corporate litigation, and is currently the Managing Partner at Devine Schachter Polak, a boutique firm which specializes exclusively in Matrimonial and Estate Law. She has lectured at numerous conferences and universities and has co-authored publications and the book: “Droit De La Famille Jurisprudence en Tableaux 2009”. She is a member of the Quebec and Montreal Bar Associations and sits as a Governor of the Quebec Bar Foundation. She has also been active in community having sat on the Board of JPS-Bialik for many years as well as the former Jewish Family Services Agency. She is married with three sons.
First Vice Chair of the Board: Karen Sigman
Karen is a Pediatric Allergist. She received her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and completed her Pediatric residency and Allergy subspecialty at McGill University. She is affiliated with the Montreal Children’s Hospital as well as Hospital Maisonneuve Rosemont. She also works at The Children’s Clinic. She specializes in the management of food allergies and is an Assistant Professor at McGill University. She is an Osler Fellow and mentors McGill medical students. She has been active in the Montreal Jewish Community for a number of years. She is a Past-President of Akiva School and Camp Massad. She is a past Board member of BJEC. She is a past chair of the Allocations and Community Relations Commmittee as well as the Governance committee of FCJA. She is married and the proud mother of four boys.
Treasurer: Igor Bernadski, CPA, CA
Igor is a CPA, CA and a McGill Graduate. Igor currently serves as the CFO of Montreal Mini-Storage, a private real-estate and self-storage Company. Prior to that he worked as VP Finance at Thinking Capital for 5 years and was a consultant in the Richter US Consulting group between 2011-2015. Igor started his career at Ernst & Young. Igor immigrated into Canada from Israel and has a strong passion towards the local community needs and Israel. He also serves on the board of Baron De Hirsch foundation and Jewish National Fund. He is married and a proud father of 3 kids.
Immediate past Chair of the Board: Jeffrey Berkowitz
Jeffrey Berkowitz is President and founder of Aurora Realty Consultants Inc., a leading brokerage and consulting firm working with and representing many of the top retailers around the world. Started in 1989 with an office in Montreal, today, the company operates across Canada as well as branches in the United States and Europe. International projects involving retailers, developers and landlords have included such markets as the Middle East, Russia, Central America and Japan. In 2017, Mr. Berkowitz co-founded Halcyon Brands – an operating platform set to license and joint-venture with international retail concepts for North America - expanding bricks & mortar, e-commerce and wholesale development. In addition to his business ventures, Mr. Berkowitz is actively involved in his community and sits on numerous volunteer boards. His involvement has included camps for underprivileged children, workshops for intellectually and physically handicapped individuals, mentoring young entrepreneurs and fundraising for numerous institutions. He holds a joint honours history degree, Certificate in Management and Diploma in Real Estate, all from McGill University. He lives in Montreal with his wife and 3 children.
Frederic Dayan
With more than 20 years of experience in the financial services sector, Frédéric Dayan is a seasoned leader focused on helping partners, direct reports and colleagues excel in what they do best. As Regional Vice-President for Quebec and Eastern Canada at iA Private Wealth Inc., Frédéric acts as an intermediary between iA Private Wealth advisors and the firm.
Besides his successful professional career, Frédéric also has a long history of involvement in Community. He has been a Board member at Banav, an organization whose mission is to assist students with learning challenges and to encourage them in their pursuit of education. He was also President of Federation CJA’s 2017 Sephardic Campaign, putting his networking and fundraising skills to work for the benefit of underprivileged families in our community.
Danielle Pollack
is currently president of Equinoxe Lifecare, which offers case management, medical and non-medical staffing, integrated support services as well as high skill nursing for chronic disease management and end-of-life care. She was also the founder of the Equinoxe Virtual Clinic, a full-service healthcare management company based in Montreal, providing healthcare services in person and online.
Prior to founding Equinoxe, Danielle had a ten-year career in international conference planning, and spent five years as a professor in the Gerontology Department of College Marie Victorin.
Danielle has been a member of the MUHC Council on Palliative Care and served on the Board of the Jewish Public Library and the International Women's Forum.
She holds both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Social work from McGill University in Montreal, and a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester in England.
Bonnie Lester
Bonnie Lester is a graduate of McGill University and worked at Richter for 5 years before joining her family business, Lesters Foods. In 2005, her and her husband purchased the company from her father and uncle, and she currently holds the title of CFO. Bonnie is the proud mother of 2 daughters and has actively participated in many community events over the years. Bonnie says she is honored to be involved in an organization like Ometz that supports youth and families in need and helps individuals reach their full potential.
Brenda Gewurz
Brenda Urman Gewurz is a distinguished leader in both real estate and Jewish communal life. Professionally, she has served as Vice-President of Marketing and Sales for Proment Corporation for the past 30 years.
She has been a leader in the Jewish community since the early 1980s. She was Hebrew Academy’s first female President; served as President of the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre ; has been on the Board of Directors of Federation CJA; served as Vice President of Jewish Federations of Canada – UIA; and is the immediate Past Chair of CIJA Quebec, among other roles.
She was awarded the distinguished leadership award at Federation CJA, the Manny Batshaw prize for community leadership, and The Samuel Bronfman Medal. Brenda is also a member of the Board of Ensembles Quebec, and a member of the Campaign cabinet of the Montreal General Hospital.
She is married to Samuel, and they enjoy their three children and eleven grandchildren.
David Martz
David had an Executive business career with Steinberg Inc. from 1971-1983 as VP Strategic Planning and the Aldo Group from 1983-2003 as VP Development and Admin. From 2003-2014 he worked as an independent management consultant.
He is now an active investor, primarily in real estate, and serves on several corporate boards. As a volunteer, from 2002-2015 David served as a director of Procur, a province wide prostate cancer foundation. From 2002-2017, he assumed many leadership roles with Federation CJA, serving as Chair of Community Planning and Allocations, as Treasurer, and as a long time board member.
Currently, in addition to his Ometz responsibilities, he serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Foundation, Hope and Cope (a psycho-social support network for cancer patients and their families at the JGH) and on the finance committee at Temple Emanuel Beth Shalom Synagogue.
David has been married to Sandy (one of our tireless volunteers and champion fundraisers) for 48 years, has 3 adult sons. 3 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.
Gilbert Tordjman
Gilbert Tordjman is Vice President, Administration and Finance of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute. A certified general accountant, Gilbert previously held the role of Executive Director of Advancement Services at Concordia University’s Advancement and Alumni Relations. Prior to this position, he was Vice President, Administrative Affairs at the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé. In addition, he served as Director, Finance and Administration at the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and also Medical Research Financial Management Officer at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital. He also worked as an accountant at Friedman & Friedman.
Committed volunteer, he is the immediate past Chair of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District I and a former member of the Federation CJA Board of Directors.
Janice Heft
Janice Heft has recently retired from her position as Manager of Volunteer Services at Ometz. Her experience at Ometz, in which she worked closely with all departments, makes her uniquely qualified to serve on the Board of Directors. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Kehilla Montreal, and has previously been involved with several other community organizations including Just for Kids Foundation, Auberge Shalom and MADA. She began her career as a lawyer practicing real estate and family law.
Micol Haimson
Micol Haimson is a graduate of McGill University and is currently Senior Vice President and Branch Manager of Raymond James Trust. Prior to that she had a 20-year career of senior executive roles in wealth management at a major Canadian bank. Micol is an active volunteer serving or having served as: Board member and President, Investment Committee, of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation; Vice-Chairman, The Trafalgar Ross Foundation; past Director of Membership of the Treasury Management Association of Canada; and past Committee Member, MS Society of Quebec.
Sacha Brand
Sacha Brand is married and the father of three children, two of whom were born in France and one in Montreal. He moved from France 23 years ago and chose to continue and grow his career in Canada in the field of investment and real estate management.
A dedicated professional, he has significant expertise in asset valuation.
Sacha has always been actively involved—though sometimes indirectly—in the community through various social and philanthropic projects.
He now joins the Ometz Board of Directors with great enthusiasm, eager to contribute to the organization’s vital mission of supporting its clients at a time when social issues are becoming increasingly pressing.
Mark Brender
Mark is a tax partner and leads Osler’s tax group in Montréal. He is the past Chair of the Canadian Tax Foundation (Canada’s leading organization for tax professionals) having occupied the office of chair of the Board of Governors of the CTF in 2019. Mark is also co-editor of the Corporate Tax Planning feature of the Canadian Tax Journal published by the CTF.
Mark frequently advises on important business transactions and critical tax disputes. His practice is broad based, focusing on domestic and international tax-planning, cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financings and tax dispute resolution. Mark has extensive experience in advising Canadian and foreign multi-national corporations, private equity funds, venture capital funds and privately owned businesses. Mark also has significant expertise in advising private family enterprises and family offices on succession and estate planning.
Mark is recognized as one of Canada’s preeminent tax lawyers. He was named "Lawyer of the Year" for 2019 by Best Lawyers in Canada and he is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers Global, Lexpert, The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and The Lexpert Guide to Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada, International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers, Best Lawyers in Canada for Corporate Tax, Trusts & Estates, among others. Furthermore, he has been recognized as an Academician by The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.
Mark is a frequent speaker and author having published numerous papers on a range of topics including corporate tax, tax litigation and estate planning. Mark has the distinction of being awarded the Douglas J Sherbaniuk distinguished writing award for his paper “Subsection 55(2): Then and Now” delivered at the 2012 annual CTF conference. He is also currently editor-in-chief of the Corporate Groups & Structures Journal.
Guy Vadish
Guy Vadish is a seasoned entrepreneur and committed community leader. Together with his wife they are raising three teenage children. A staunch Zionist with deeply personal ties to Israel, Mr. Vadish actively contributes where he can. He currently serves on the board of Akiva School, where his children attended elementary school, and mentors entrepreneurs across Montreal. He brings to every role a strong sense of purpose, responsibility, and belief in the power of enterprise to drive change.
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Co-Chair of Development: Ruthy Bensimon Choueke
For over two decades, Ruthy Bensimon Choueke has been a passionate force in Montreal’s Jewish community, devoting her time, energy, and leadership to causes close to her heart.
Her connection to Ometz runs deep: she served on the board for nine years, focusing on raising awareness and essential funds to support individuals and families facing complex challenges. Today, she continues that commitment as Co-Chair, a role she proudly shares with Sandy Martz, helping to guide Ometz’s mission of empowering people to move forward with strength and dignity.
Ruthy’s broader community involvement includes past leadership with Federation CJA, where she served as Campaign Chair and President of Women’s Philanthropy, as well as a term on the Board of Directors.
Her dedication has extended into many aspects of Jewish life—chaperoning the March of the Living in 2017, hosting a Shinshin through the Israel Engagement Initiative, and serving on the boards of both Akiva School and Bialik High School.
She is currently involved in several meaningful initiatives, including supporting the Shira Choir’s inaugural campaign.
Ruthy proudly considers her community involvement a full-time commitment. She and her husband, Bobby, are the parents of three children who share their family’s strong values and passion for Tikkun Olam.
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Co-Chair of Development: Sandy Martz
After graduating from McGill in 1969 as a physical therapist, Sandy built a meaningful career in the pediatric field, supporting children with physical disabilities. She spent 35 years at the Mackay Centre, providing compassionate professional care, in addition, as volunteer to organizing multiple successful annual holiday fundraising events. Since retiring 17 years ago ,she has devoted herself fully to community service and philanthropy.
Sandy’s volunteerism spans over three decades, beginning with Women’s Federation—now Women’s Philanthropy—where she chaired an Outreach and Education Program, leading numerous events, and successfully chairing the 2009–2010 Women’s Philanthropy Campaign, in the depths of a recession. Her accomplishments earned her numerous honours, including the Mille Lande and Minnie Cummings Abby Leadership Awards.
Within the Jewish community, Sandy also served for several years as a member of the Community Planning and Allocations Committee (CPAC) at Federation CJA, with a focus on special needs. She currently sits on the Governor Foundation Board at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors, where she formerly chaired the Golda Governor Committee.
Other notable community volunteer roles included chairing multiple successful fundraising initiatives at Selwyn house school during her sons’ tenure as students, as well as serving for multiple years on the Gala committee of the prestigious McGill Goodman Cancer Institute.
Sandy brings the same warmth, passion, engagement and can do attitude to her voluntary engagements as she did as a caring professional.
Sandy has been a committed supporter of Ometz since its creation. She has served on the “A Chance to Shine” committee from the first event, and co-chaired the Mitch Shiller Tribute Evening in 2016. She continues to champion Ometz’s critical mission and impact.
Sandy is married to David, is the proud mother of three happily married sons, grandmother to five, and loving dog-grandma to three granddogs.
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Dominique McCaughey – Chief Executive Officer
An accomplished leader in strategic engagement, community development, and philanthropy Dominique McCaughey is the Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO) of Agence Ometz. In this capacity, Dominique also serves as The Executive Director of the Baron de Hirsch Community Foundation.
Recognized for driving organizational growth, advancing community development, and fostering strategic partnerships, Dominique can best be described as a nimble, engaging thought leader with an extensive, multi-sectorial track record of guiding organizations (public, private and charitable sector) through periods of transformation, growth and renewed strategic focus.
Dominique is a committed lay and professional leader with a long history of service and allyship with the Jewish community as well as the broader Montreal community.
Dominique became Ometz CEO in April 2020, after having served as Chief Strategy and Development Officer for Ometz since July 2015.
Shortly after taking over as CEO, she successfully steered the agency through the pandemic, followed by the sudden in-take of over 300 Jewish Ukrainian refugees and then the community service response to the impact of the post-October 7th rise in antisemitism. She leads on strategic planning, organizational renewal and financial resource development to ensure that the Ometz team of dedicated professionals continues to deliver the best human services to meet the needs of the community.
Dominique’s commitment to building community capacity began with her work as a community organizer at Project Genesis. She then joined Jewish Family Services, focusing on community economic development initiatives in the Montreal Jewish community. Dominique subsequently served on the Boards of Project Genesis, Jewish Family Services of the Baron de Hirsch Institute and Agence Ometz.
Dominique then focused on her legal career as a litigator, first with Borden Ladner Gervais (with a secondment to Bell Canada) and later at Robinson Sheppard Shapiro. She joined Concordia University, where she undertook bold philanthropic initiatives and lead the sector responsible for a record $ 225M campaign in University Advancement and Alumni Relations as Acting Vice-President and Associate Vice-President. During that time, Dominique also served on the Board of The Foundation of Greater Montreal and chaired the Allocations and the Governance Committees.
As Ometz Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Dominique built brand recognition and reputation, resulting in Ometz being recognized as one of Canada’s top 100 charities by Money Sense Magazine & Maclean’s. She also significantly Increased fundraising capacity and culture by securing the agency’s first transformational gifts ($3M), one of which led to the creation of the groundbreaking Ometz Centre for Young Adults, L ’Annexe.
Dominique has a BA (honors, with distinction) and MA (thesis option) in early modern European Intellectual History from Concordia University and a BCL and LLB (with distinction) from McGill University. She is a member of the Quebec Bar since 2004. Dominique was also the recipient of multiple awards including the J.W. McConnell Memorial Graduate fellowship and the FCARR (now F.Q.R.S.C.) Master of Arts Fellowship. Dominique currently serves on the Advisory Board (AB) and is the Chair of the AB’s Governance Committee of The Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institut.
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Allan Ptack - Chief Clinical and Program Officer
Allan Ptack brings more than 35 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with a career rooted in service, leadership, and mental health. He joined Ometz in 2020 as Chief Operating Officer and, in 2025, stepped into his current role as Chief Clinical and Program Officer.
Allan’s journey began as a Paramedic in Montreal’s EMS system, sparking a lifelong commitment to health and social services. He went on to hold senior leadership roles at Homewood Health, the Montreal Children’s Hospital–McGill University Health Centre, and the Jewish General Hospital, where he served as Director of Social Work and Co-Director of the Psychosocial Oncology Program. Throughout his career, Allan has remained a practicing registered social worker and psychotherapist.
A proud McGill graduate, Allan holds B.A., B.S.W., and M.S.W. degrees, along with a Master’s in Management from the Desautels Faculty of Management, where he later served as a tutor. He also taught “Social Work in the Health Field” at McGill’s School of Social Work and was named an Osler Fellow in the Faculty of Medicine. He completed post-graduate training at the Argyle Institute of Human Relations, earning certification as a psychotherapist, and has extensive training in trauma and crisis intervention.
Allan is an active member of the Quebec Order of Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists (OTSTCFQ), the Order of Psychologists of Quebec (OPQ), and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). He has served on the boards of both OTSTCFQ and Ometz.
Outside of work, Allan and his wife Sharon are always up for an adventure, whether it's hiking, cycling, or hitting the tennis court. Their greatest feat—aside from raising their two grown sons—was climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011!