Advisory Council

Previously, he was Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include books such as the Power of ideology, Israel in the World, Security Communities (with Michael Barnett), and articles such as “Seizing the Middle Ground: Constructivism in World Politics,” and “International Practices” (with Vincent Pouliot). His new book, World Ordering: A Social Theory of Cognitive Evolution, will be published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press. Adler’s current research includes projects on international relations theory, particularly on international practices and the evolution of international order, post-truth practices and international order, constructivism, and communities of practice, as well as on Israel’s inner struggle with its multiple identities.

In addition to postings abroad in Mexico City (1983-85), New Delhi (1989-92), and Washington (1997-2001), Mr. Allen spent his early career in the Legal Bureau of the Department representing Canada in disputes under the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement and working in the areas of human rights, humanitarian, and environmental law. Mr. Allen held the positions of Director General, North America Bureau (2001-2004) and Minister (Political Affairs) at the Canadian Embassy in Washington (2004-2006). As Assistant Deputy Minister, Americas (2010-2012), he managed Canada’s relations with North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Allen was Canada’s Ambassador to Israel. From 2012 to 2016 he was Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. From December 2012 to July 2014, he was Chargé d’affaires a.i. to the Holy See.

 He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto and at Glendon College, York University, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Canada International Council. He is the Chair of Project Rozana, a not-for-profit whose objective is to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis via the health sector, and a Member of the Board of Transparency International Canada. He is married to Clara Hirsch. They have two sons, Jake and AJ, and two grandchildren, Olive and Micah.

He then travelled in Europe and Asia for over a year and obtained a B.Ed. from the University of Toronto in 1972. He taught history at the Toronto Board of Education until 1987. During that time, he earned an M.A. in History at York University (1979). In 1997, he received a Ph.D. in History. Since 1988, he has been an education consultant for several ministries, boards of education, and Jewish organizations, specializing in anti-racist education. He has been a sessional lecturer at York University and the University of Waterloo, and, since 1999, at the University of Toronto. He is also the owner and partner of several property management and development companies. Frank Bialystok’s fields of academic research are the Holocaust, the Canadian Jewish Community, and Polish Jews in the Twentieth Century. He has written approximately twenty academic papers and chapters, curriculum guides, and articles in the popular press including The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. Most recently Bialystok wrote fourteen entries on prominent Canadian Jews for The Encyclopedia Judaica. He is currently writing a history of the Jews of Canada for the University of Toronto Press.

He is also the founding Director of the University of Waterloo Centre for Information Integrity and Information Systems Assurance. Dr. Boritz is the author or co-author of numerous books, monographs, book chapters and articles in academic and professional journals. He has served on editorial boards, task forces and committees of domestic and international professional and academic associations. He has also consulted to public sector and private sector entities in Canada and internationally. The Canadian Academic Accounting Association has given him all three of its major outstanding teaching, service and research awards. The Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario gave him its highest award, the Award of Outstanding Merit in 1999. In 2010 he received the Candian Institute of Chartered Accountant’s Bill Swirsky Innovation Leadership Award and in 2012 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He served on the NIFC Board as Finance and Audit Committee Chair until 2018. Full resume.

He has published widely on social movements and ethnic relations in Canada, Russia, and the Middle East and North Africa. He was co-investigator (with Keith Neuman and Rhonda Lenton) of the 2018 Survey of Canadian Jews. Brym has won numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching, including the British Journal of Sociology Prize, the Northrop Frye Prize, the Outstanding Contribution Award of the Canadian Sociological Association, and the University of Toronto’s President’s Teaching Award.

In the years between graduating from U of T (1958) and York at Glendon (1990) she was a stay-at-home mother of 4, using that time to develop her interests in children’s learning (direct experience!), history, current events, and politics, while volunteering in her community and in her children’s schools. She worked as a translator 1990-1994, at which time aging parent obligations led her to take a job with more flexible hours. A lifetime supporter of progressive causes, her first major foray in this direction occurred in 2000, after her husband’s death, when, with the help of funds contributed in his memory, she established in his name and in concert with the CCLA, an annual essay contest for high school students on issues related to civil liberties. A few years later, in 2007, an NIFC study tour in Israel inspired her to increase her long-running commitment to this organization. Of special interest is its recent implementation of the fellowship program, which combines two areas in which she has some experience and much faith – learning and young people.

 In a career of 46 years, he has written on politics and culture from Ottawa, Toronto, London, Washington, and Berlin. His seven books of history, biography and commentary range in subjects from Canada’s constitutional politics to national character to Arctic exploration. Cohen writes a weekly column for Postmedia News, appears on radio and television, and was recently a consulting producer on an eight-part documentary on John F. Kennedy airing on The History Channel. He is chair of the Advisory Council of The Trudeau Centre at the University of Toronto, a juror for the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards, and a Global Fellow of The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

From 2011 to 2015 Dewitt was on leave of absence to serve as Vice-President Research & Programs at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).  During his 2015-16 sabbatical year, he was Distinguished Visiting Professor, Canadian Forces College where he continues as Adjunct Professor.

Dewitt has authored publications covering Canadian foreign, defence and security policy, international security politics with particular reference to the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions, arms control and disarmament, proliferation, and human security.  With Paul Evans he directed Canada’s North Pacific Cooperative Security Dialogue (NPCSD), was co-founder of Canadian Consortium for Asia Pacific Security (CANCAPS) and of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP).

He served as chair for PISA (Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia, Sigur Center, George Washington University).  He spent a sabbatical year as a visiting scholar, the Dayan Center for Middle East & Africa Studies and the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (now the INSS) at Tel-Aviv University, has been an international research fellow at the Korean Institute for Defense Analysis (Seoul), as well as a visiting lecturer variously in Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, Syria, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

After several years as a rural family physician, he served as the Chief of Emergency Medicine at North York General Hospital from 1986 to 1996, and at the University Health Network, from 1996 to 2001. Subsequent to his clinical career he served as an Associate Director of Hay Group Health Care Consulting from 2001 till 2016, after which he was appointed as a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation where he is now an adjunct professor. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at U of T. He continues to be involved in the university’s combined MD/Master’s Program in health system leadership and innovation (SLI) and IHPME’s Vernissage Health program. He is also a past chair of NIFC’s board and a current member of the NIF International Council. His continuing involvement in Israel includes volunteering with Physicians for Human Rights and teaching at Ben Gurion University.

He began his business career with educational publishers McGraw Hill Ryerson and Copp Clark Pitman. Through the ’80s he was president of Hume Publishing. Hugh has been Chairman of the Canadian Marketing Association and in 2001 received its Lifetime Achievement Award. He has worked in a volunteer capacity for the Ontario Trillium Foundation and served on the boards of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, JVS Toronto and Holy Blossom Temple. Most recently, Hugh completed a three-year term on the board of New Israel Fund of Canada.

He lives in Toronto and works as a movement disorders neurologist, providing specialized neurological services to patients with movement disorders. He is also involved with clinical research at the Centre for Movement Disorders and at the University of Toronto. In addition to a busy professional life, Mark is a voluntary board member of Huntington’s Society of Canada, the Ontario Telemedicine Network and is on the Capital Campaign Committee of the First Narayaver Congregation in Toronto.

For the first 10 years of his professional life, he was a consulting engineer at Hanson Materials Engineering Ltd., a family, and employee-owned company. In this capacity, significant technical and business experience was obtained while working on behalf of the major energy and exploration companies in the areas of failure analysis, nondestructive testing, and quality assurance during the purchase of critical components.

In 1991, Norm Hanson formed Thermex Metal Treating Ltd., the result of the amalgamation of a local steel heat treating business together with a similar business that he acquired in the Vancouver area. The Edmonton branch was moved to a larger facility in 1992, and since then has seen its revenues grow by more than 650%. Around the same time, an agreement was reached with the founder of Metal Supermarkets in Ontario, to open a branch in Edmonton under a simple “franchise” agreement. That location has grown to be consistently amongst the top 5 revenue earners in the network, which now includes more than 70 locations across North America.

Norm Hanson has traveled fairly widely across Canada, the US, Japan, Europe, and Israel, both for business, and to satisfy his curiosity about other places and people.  As part of his travel as a consulting engineer, he had the opportunity to visit and work in some of the best steelmaking, pipe manufacturing, foundries, fab shops, and offshore mooring chain fabrication facilities.

A lifelong Albertan and Edmontonian, Norm Hanson remains committed to the economic growth and success of the province and its citizens, convinced of the significant opportunities that exist, and the willingness and capacity of Albertans to seize those opportunities and transform them into winning enterprises that generate great working lives and prosperity for those who put in the work.

He has extensive expertise in entrepreneurship and innovation strategies, coaching, and development. He has crafted strategic and fundraising plans for The Canadian Club, Toronto; Hillel Ontario; Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University; Beth Tzedec Congregation, and more. He has led organizations in five different countries including, Chief Operating Officer of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York, CEO of The American Friends of Hebrew University, Director General of the Israel United Appeal of South Africa and Vice President, Advancement of Ryerson University.

After a career that was principally focused on corporate and investment banking, she moved into personal finance, where she initiated a comprehensive Private Client Services offering. She subsequently formed Kriss & Associates Limited, a consulting practice in finance and wealth management. Mrs. Kriss earned a B.A. and an MBA from the University of Toronto and holds the ICD.D designation. She is an experienced director and currently serves on a number of boards and foundations.

He has been a member of the Ontario Bar since 1981, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law since 1991. From 1982 to 1988, David Lepofsky was counsel with the Crown Law Office (Civil) of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. From 1988 to 1993, he was counsel with the Ministry’s Constitutional Law & Policy Division where his practice focused primarily on litigating a diverse range of constitutional issues at all levels of the Canadian court system, and advising the Ontario government on constitutional matters. He has lectured widely on various aspects of constitutional and administrative law, human rights, disability rights and other topics across Canada, as well as in the U.S., Israel, Ireland, Denmark and Belgium. Full bio | Bio at Queen’s University Accessibility Hub

Her longstanding interest in quality of care was shaped by many years in leadership positions, including as Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control, and Medical Director of Patient Safety at SickKids, Associate Director of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Patient Safety and Vice-President of Education at Womens College Hospital. She is currently the Faculty Lead for Strategic Initiatives in Post MD Education at the University of Toronto, focusing on leadership, quality and professionalism. Over the past few years she has expanded her interest in leadership education for physicians at the international level by co-chairing the planning committee for the Toronto International Summit on Leadership Education for Physicians, and as a founding member of Sanokondu, a network dedicated to fostering leadership education for healthcare professionals.

She was Founding CEO of Pine River Institute and Pine River Foundation. The Institute, which offers an innovative, successful and nationally recognized treatment program to adolescents struggling with mental health and addiction, opened in 2006. Minden retired from this venture in January 2014, after 15 years of research, planning, fundraising, and creating a new approach to helping troubled teens and their families. Karen has a broad foundation in research, public policy, philanthropy and international relations. She has held senior executive positions in national foundations including the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation (CEO), and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (VP Research). She has international leadership experience in Asia Pacific economic, scientific and academic policy and cooperation. Formerly professor of management and political science, Karen has a PhD from York University, and an MA from the University of California at Berkeley. Her publications include books and articles on health care development in China, management of technology in the Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim science and technology networks, and adolescent mental health and addiction. Dr. Minden was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2010, for her contributions to addiction treatment programs for adolescents in Ontario, and for building closer economic partnerships between Canada and the Asia Pacific region. She received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. She currently serves as an advisor on several mental health initiatives, including First Nations youth addiction treatment; and professional development for mental health workers. Full bio

He approaches modern Jewish history from a transnational and global perspective. His work encompasses the history of the Jews in modern West and Central Europe, North America, and Palestine/Israel. He is particularly interested in the relationship between modern Israel and diaspora Jewish societies, global nationalist movements, European colonialism, and post-colonial states. Penslar has taught at Indiana University, Bloomington, the University of Toronto, and Oxford University, where he served as the inaugural Stanley Lewis Professor of Modern Israel Studies from 2012 until 2016. He co-edits (with Anita Shapira) The Journal of Israeli History and serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Jewish Studies, Jewish Social Studies, and Israel Studies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Academy for Jewish Research.

Earlier in his working life, he served on the staff of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Active in the Jewish community, he is past president of the First Narayever Congregation.

In 1992, Merrill became President of Integrated Messaging Inc., Canada’s leading direct response call centre service bureau, serving clients throughout Canada and the United States. Mr. Shulman has served as President of the RadioComm Association of Canada (RAC), Vice President of the Radio Advisory Board of Canada (RABC) and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Communications Research Centre (CRC) in Ottawa. He has also served as Chairman of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association from 1993-1995, was a member of the Economic Innovation Council of Manitoba and of the Manitoba Information Highway Advisory Council. Mr. Shulman, who retired from Integrated Messaging in 2007, has represented the Radio Common Carrier industry before the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Communications and has appeared on numerous occasions before the Public Utilities Board of Manitoba and the CRTC on various Telecom issues. Mr. Shulman has served as President of Rosh Pina Synagogue and on the board of its successor, Congregation Etz Chayim, as well as a board member of the Chesed Shel Emes, Winnipeg’s community funeral home.

Currently, she is General Partner at Marigold Capital Fund, a private impact investment fund focused on gender lens investing. In addition to mentoring and advising entrepreneurs she is former chair of SheEO Canada Fund’s Radical Generosity initiative. Abigail works with entrepreneurs both individually and collectively through the SheEO Activator network and is working to change the way capital is allocated and distributed. Her current work in the charitable sector focuses on governance for organizations promoting social justice, gender equity, diversity and inclusion, whether through entrepreneurship and innovation as board member of Venture for Canada (Treasurer), food justice and food security at Foodshare where she served for 7 years, or more recently as a returning Governor of Centennial College, where she has participated on the Learning and Engagement Committee, as well as currently serving as Chair of the Policy and Procedures Committee. She served as the Treasurer of New Israel Fund of Canada while serving on the board for 5 years. Abigail is the very proud recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2014 for the work she and her sister have done in the charitable sector. She graduated from Smith College with a BA in Economics and Schulich School of Business with an MBA.

She is the author or co-editor of five books, including, most recently, Borders and Belonging: A Memoir (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021); and Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates. She is a ten-time teaching award winner, including having received the top university teaching award in Ontario. She is currently working with Omar M. Dajani on a podcast about Palestinian and Jewish life in Jaffa called “The Vacant Lot,” and, also with Omar Dajani, a book (under contract with Prometheus) about equality and attachment in Israel-Palestine. She is on the U.S. steering committee of A Land for All: Two States, One Homeland.

His most recent book is More than Just Games: Canada and the Nazi Olympics, written in partnership with Richard Menkis of the University of British Columbia. Hesh’s work has received numerous honors and awards including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the American Jewish Book Award, the Canadian Historical Association prize for best book in Canadian history, the J.I. Segal Book Award and he is three-time winner of the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Full bio

She has a strong connection to Israel, having lots of family there and lived there as a child. Her background is in education. Sharon serves as a member of NIFC’s Advisory Board and NIF’s International Council, as well as serving on the boards of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services and Facing History & Ourselves.

Former director of the Canada Council for the Arts, she is Senior Scholar and University Professor Emerita at York University where she served as Chair of the Dept of Visual Arts, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Director of the MBA Program in Arts and Media Administration at York’s Schulich School of Business. Her research focuses on cultural policy, curatorial practice, and 20th-century Canadian art with a particular interest in the development of abstraction in Canada and the work of Canadian women artists. She currently serves as a member of the advisory committees of the Toronto Arts Council and Foundation, the Theatre Museum of Canada, and a member of the acquisitions committee of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, among others.