Board of Directors

Miriam Vale Peters is a partner at KMH Lawyers. She is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer with a wide-ranging general litigation practice, which includes contractual and insurance disputes, real estate, employment and estate litigation including guardianship applications, power of attorney disputes and Will challenges.

Miriam is originally from Toronto. She is a graduate of the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (CHAT), and proud alumni of the Canadian Young Judaea camping system. Currently, her volunteer activities include providing legal advice for Jewish Parents of Ottawa Students Association (JPOSA) and Pro Bono Ontario, which offers free legal advice/representation for self-represented litigants. She also volunteers for REACH Canada, which provides free legal services to persons with disabilities.

Miriam and her husband Danny have three children who are all proud graduates of OJCS.

Jonathan is a Real Estate investor and developer fluent in all aspects of Real Estate from acquisition to building and managing. He is the President of Jazz Realty Group Inc.  Jonathan attended Hillel Academy as did his children; his daughters are graduates of Rabin High School.

A graduate of the Hebrew University Law School and a member of the Israeli Bar Association, internationally Jonathan was involved in the acquisition, planning, rezoning, financing, servicing and construction of two unique residential developments in Israel.

On a volunteer basis Jonathan serves on many fronts. He was Treasurer of the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area, a member of the Mayor’s Downtown Task Force, a member of the campaign cabinet of Saint Vincent’s Hospital, a member of the BOMA Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, Chair of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and a board member of the Sarah Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem. Jonathan is a past chair of the City of Ottawa Parking Task Force, a past President of CAFE Ottawa, a past member of the national board of CAFÉ, and a national board member of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Currently he is the Past Chair of the Jewish Memorial Gardens, Past Chair of Hillel on Campus. As well he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces (Reserve) and is a former Battalion Commander.

Bio coming soon.

Yossi Bokhaut is the Director of Compensation at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is responsible for the management of pay and benefits for the 31,000+ regular and civilian members, public service employees, reservists and cadets of the RCMP, including pay policies, pay systems, pay standards, and group life and disability insurance. Prior to that, Yossi was responsible for the accounting and financial management of the $20 billion RCMP Pension Plan.

Born and raised in Ottawa, Yossi holds an Honours Bachelor in Commerce degree with a specialization in Accounting from the University of Ottawa and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. He also attended and graduated from Yitzhak Rabin High School and École Maimonides.

An active community volunteer for many years, Yossi has served as the Vice-President at Kehillat Beth Israel and the Treasurer at Tamir, Congregation Machzikei Hadas, and the Ottawa Bach Choir. Yossi is currently a member of the finance and audit committee at KBI.

Yossi and his wife Julia are proud parents to three children, who all attend the OJCS.

Ari Breiner was born in Montreal, but spent his formative years in Ottawa and attended OJCS at both the KBI and Broadview Ave locations.   He completed medical school at McGill University, neurology residency at the University of Toronto, and a neuromuscular medicine fellowship at Columbia University in New York.   After working 5 years at the Toronto General Hospital, he returned to Ottawa in 2017.  He currently practices neurology at the Ottawa Hospital (Civic campus) where he focuses on patients with myasthenia gravis, peripheral neuropathy, ALS, and other neuromuscular disorders.  He is the proud partner of Dr Mira Liebman and the proud father of 1 OJCS graduate and 2 current students.   Apart from his membership on the OJCS board, he is also an aspiring basketball player in the Ottawa Jewish Men’s Basketball League.

Jessica Greenberg (CPM), is Vice President of Asset Management at Osgoode Properties, where she leads the asset management, marketing, training and human resources departments.

An Ottawa native and former Hillel Academy student, Jessica holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Questrom School of Management at Boston University.  Deeply committed to giving back Jessica is also a Director on the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Board and volunteer at The Royal Ottawa Hospital.

She is proud mom to Eloise, Noah and Laz and loves being an OJCS parent.

Joanne Gorenstein is native to Ottawa and is a graduate of the former Hillel Academy. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Joanne is currently the Deputy Auditor General for the City of Ottawa. In this role, she is responsible for assisting City Council in holding itself and its administrators accountable for the quality of stewardship over public funds and for achievement of value for money in municipal operations. Previously, Joanne led the Internal Audit practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She provided strategic, value-added advice to non-profit and public sector organizations to mitigate operational, financial and reputational risk. She has been involved in the Jewish communities in both Ottawa and Vancouver as a board member of Hillel Lodge and Shalom BC. Joanne is also currently the Treasurer of Ottawa’s Jewish Family Services. Joanne has one son who graduated from OJCS.

Bio coming soon.

Dr. Shari Mayman is a registered Clinical Psychologist and co-director of Anchor Psychological Services.  She works with children, youth, adults and families with a wide variety of concerns, and offers regular parenting workshops to the public. She trains mental health professionals locally and internationally, and has co-authored a book for health professionals on Emotion-Focused Family Therapy.  Shari has co-developed treatment and training programs at a variety of agencies in Ottawa, and has a passion for helping community agencies offer competent and accessible care. Shari has extensive training in hospital, outpatient, and private practice settings, and obtained her Ph.D. from Concordia University in 2005.

Shari grew up in Montreal, where she attended United Talmud Torah and Herzliah High School. She is the proud partner of Kevin Rodkin and proud mom to sons Ezra and Noah, both graduates of OJCS. Shari is happy to be contributing to OJCS, an institution that provided an excellent, supportive education to her kids.

Bio coming soon.

Ron is a partner of Brazeau Seller Law and principal of its affiliate Equitas Consultants Inc.  His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions transactions, family business mediation and family business communications and governance advisory services.  Montreal natives Ron and his wife Avalee moved to Ottawa and started their careers in 1977 – Ron as a lawyer and Avalee as a teacher at Hillel Academy.  Their children, Harris and Dara, were born and raised in Ottawa where they attended and graduated from Hillel Academy.   It must have been a positive experience as between them they now have 5 of their oldest children enrolled at OJCS with their 2 youngest children on deck!   Since the 1980s, Ron has taken on continuous community leadership roles locally, nationally and internationally including chairing the boards of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Queensway-Carleton Hospital Foundation, the Jewish Community Centre and the Canadian Council of Jewish Community Centres.  Ron has received various awards for his community involvement including the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award of the Jewish Community of Ottawa and the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation Community Service Award.  Ron has actively observed the exciting growth and development of OJCS in recent years and very much looks forward to serving on its Board.   

Liora Shapiro has worked as Guidance Counsellor for the Western Quebec School board for over 17 years where she specializes in General Education and Vocational training. She is a Canadian Certified Counsellor, a professional member of the Order of Quebec Counsellors, and member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. She is currently the chair of a committee of counsellors representing the 9 English school boards in Quebec.  Born and raised in Montreal, and a proud graduate of Herzliah High School, she earned her bachelor’s in science in Biochemistry and Psychology from McGill University. She completed her master’s in education (Educational Counselling) from University of Ottawa.

Liora is currently finishing her two-year term as chair of the board of directors of Early Beginnings Daycare. She has also contributed to the Jewish community as a volunteer and board member for various organizations including Ten Yad, Young Israel of Ottawa and the Jewish Youth Library.

Liora and her husband Daniel have 4 beautiful daughters – one of which is a recent OJCS graduate and 3 others currently in grade 7 and 1.

Bio coming soon.

Originally from Montreal, where she graduated from McGill, Kate went on to obtain a PhD from Dalhousie University in Halifax, where she met her partner Alex Wilner. They lived in Zurich, Switzerland, and in Toronto before returning to Ottawa in 2015.  A committed volunteer, Kate was active in student government and leadership and has been a board member of diverse community and research organizations. Kate currently works for the federal government as a manager of a policy team at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.  Kate and Alex are active members of Machzikei Hadas and are proud parents of three girls, two of whom are  OJCS students.