LEADERSHIP
Ayelet Cohen Weil
Ayelet Cohen Weil has more than 15 years of substantial not-for-profit management experience in Canada and in Israel, with an impressive track record of fundraising and relationship management, strategic planning, community engagement, relations and development. Ayelet has served as Executive Director of the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, and as Associate Director of Community Engagement at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, where she was also the Manager of Women’s Philanthropy and Manager of Major Gifts for the Federation’s Annual Campaign. Her previous experience includes working in academia at the Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC) Herzliya and as Managing Director of Hillel BC. Ayelet holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy – Conflict Resolution and Mediation with International Mediation Certification, with distinction, from Tel Aviv University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Victoria.
Janet Dirks
Janet Dirks hung up her microphone in 2021, after 30 years of working as a journalist. Originally from Winnipeg, Janet began her broadcasting career at CBC Radio. She joined CTV Vancouver in 1999, where she covered some of the stories that would define her career, including the Pickton murder trial. During this time, she won two Jack Webster awards for journalistic excellence. Janet joined CTV National News in 2008 as Alberta Bureau Chief where she reported from the frontlines of the Slave Lake Fire in 2011, the Alberta floods of 2013 and the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016. She also followed multiple royal tours including the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s trips to Yellowknife, Calgary and Whitehorse. One of her career highlights was living in Jerusalem for six months, when she worked in the now defunct CTV Jerusalem Bureau. Over the years she has interviewed hundreds (at least!) of people including Mordecai Richler, novelist Martin Amis, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and renowned ballerina Evelyn Hart. Janet moved to Victoria in 2022 where she is a self-employed media consultant. She also volunteers for causes she is passionate about including advocating for Israel and the Jewish people. Janet has a law degree from the University of Victoria, an arts degree (Honours) from University of Winnipeg and a journalism degree from Carleton University.
Daniel-Robert Gooch
Daniel-Robert Gooch is a senior association executive with nearly 30 years of experience in government and industry relations, communications, marketing, and public affairs. Through his leadership of national transportation industry associations, he has overseen organizational operations, stakeholder engagement, strategic advocacy, and external communications on behalf of critical transportation infrastructure sectors across Canada.
Throughout his career, Daniel has worked extensively with governments, industry leaders, regulators, and the media to advance policy objectives and support the long-term development of nationally significant transportation networks. He has held senior leadership roles for more than two decades, including leading national industry organizations and directing government relations, regulatory affairs, and industry promotion initiatives.
Earlier in his career, Daniel worked as a publisher and editor covering the transportation sector, providing news and analysis for industry executives. He also held communications, marketing, and media relations roles serving clients in the financial services, healthcare, and technology sectors.
Daniel holds a degree in Political Science and History from Concordia University and is preparing to pursue graduate studies focused on religion, politics, and the Middle East. He is bilingual in English and French.
Alan Herman
Alan Herman has worked in the Ontario Public Service since January 2012. He spent five years at Cabinet Office Corporate Issues Communications before switching to the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, where he has worked for seven years in the communications branch and is currently serving as a Seniors Issues Coordinator. Alan has been the Events co-lead for three years for the Jewish employee network, Shalom OPS (Ontario Public Service), which includes the time when the network was still not officially recognized. Outside of the workplace, Alan organizes webinars for the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research.
Pat Johnson
Pat Johnson is a journalist and activist who is not Jewish but has been engaged in Jewish community activities, journalism and nonprofit organizations for 30 years, beginning at McGill University. He is a former acting regional director of Canadian Jewish Congress (Pacific region), former manager of programming at Vancouver Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, overseeing operations on British Columbia’s three largest university campuses; has written for, edited and co-owned the Jewish independent newspaper (and its predecessor the Jewish Western Bulletin) for 30; and has worked with multiple Jewish, antiracist, interfaith and intercultural NGOs as a volunteer, consultant and employee.
Based on his engagement in progressive social causes, including LGBTQ+ rights, antiracist activism, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, progressive politics and campaigns, he has witnessed generations of historical cooperation between members of the Jewish community, on the one hand, and, on the other, trade unions, progressive organizations, liberal Christians, LGBTQ+ community agencies and other sectors in Canada dissolve into acrimony and distrust in the past 25 years. He was motivated to found Upstanders to address these challenges.
Brett Silberg
Brett Silberg is a CGA, CPA. He has worked for large and small companies in accounting roles. He currently provides bookkeeping services to small and medium sized businesses. He has also taught financial and managerial accounting at the undergraduate and graduate level, and has tutored hundreds of university students privately in those subjects.
Pamela Walker
Pamela Walker is a professor of history at Carleton University, in Ottawa. She teaches and publishes about women, gender, and modern European history. Pamela is the Associate Director for research at Carleton University’s Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies. She is active in the Reacting to the Past Consortium, which promotes game-based pedagogy for universities. She is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy and at the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. She is Co-President of the Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, an organization that combats antisemitism and promotes academic freedom and academic pluralism in higher education.
Anna-Mae Wiesenthal
Anna-Mae Wiesenthal grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she earned a BA in Native Studies and a Bachelor of Education. She taught in the public school system for 20 years and worked at various local Native community projects. After relocating to Vancouver, she taught at the Native Education Centre and for 17 years at King David High School, a private pluralistic Jewish day school. At King David, Wiesenthal taught Jewish History and developed and taught a curriculum for a Holocaust and Genocide Studies course. She was a member of a Vancouver Genocide Prevention Think Tank and served on a teacher advisory committee at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. Anna-Mae also sits on the board of HAEA, (the Holocaust and Antisemitism Educators Association), volunteers delivering workshops examining the concept of genocide and as a docent at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. Wiesenthal’s approach to education emphasizes the importance of community outreach with the goal to educate and build bridges.
Anna-Mae holds a Master’s and a PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College. Her research compares educational propaganda in Nazi Germany to Canada’s Indian Residential School system. Wiesenthal is a recipient of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Center’s Kron Sigal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education.
