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.

 

 

First Vice 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.

 

 

Second 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: Joel Shalit, B.Comm, LLB, BCL, MBA

Joel is Managing Director and Partner of Seville Capital, a real estate private investment fund based in Montreal.  Prior to founding Seville Capital, Joel was an attorney at a large international law firm based in New York City, and was President of Duo Display, a tradeshow display business based in Montreal.  Joel is a past member of the Board of Directors of Federation CJA.  He is a Past President of the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA Montreal Jewish Community Centres, and has served as a member of the Y Country Camp Management Committee, as well as on various subcommittees of the Y.  Joel is a graduate of McGill University.  He is married and the proud father of two beautiful girls.

 

 

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.

 

 

Geneviève Busbib

Genevieve is a graduate from McGill University, Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Montreal. She worked in IT for 16 years before offering consulting services to SMB and manage her own business. She has been active in the Montreal Jewish Community for a number of years. She is a Past-President of Ecole Maimonide and AJDS (Association of Jewish Day Schools). She is a past Board Member of BJEC and Federation CJA. She is the proud mother of two. 

 

 

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.

 

 

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.