Governance

Governance

VHA Society

The Vancouver Hebrew Academy Society is the governing body of the school. All VHA parents are eligible to join the Society. The Society meets once per year for the Annual General Meeting. This meeting is an excellent opportunity for parents to participate at a higher level, as well as to vote on important issues.

The Board of Directors, in consultation with Administration, handles general policy decisions throughout the year. The Board meets regularly to monitor the school, and set its direction. Copies of school policies are available upon request to any member of the Society. Members of the Society are encouraged to contact members of the Board to discuss ideas and ask questions. The minutes of each board meeting are posted in the VHA school office.

Email the Board

2022/23 Board

Executive

President
Leslie Kowarsky

Vice President
Sue Hector

Secretary
Glenn Bullard

Treasurer
Dr. Adam Saunders

Members-at-large

Yossi Ben Saadon

Dr. Brian Bressler

Rabbi Stephen Berger

Michael Fugman

Sue Hector

Tutsi Hershler

Leslie Kowarsky

Donna Palmer Dodds

Ginaya Peters

Executive Bios

Leslie Kowarsky

Leslie Kowarsky

President & Middle School Chair

Leslie Kowarsky (BA McGill, JD UBC) serves as the president of the Shalhevet Girls High School board and as the committee chair for the Schara Tzedeck Youth and Families Committee. She and her husband Ziv are happily raising their eight children as fourth generation members of the Vancouver Jewish community.

Sue Hector

Sue Hector

Vice President, Strategic Fundraising Chair & Rabbi Committee Chair

Sue Hector was born and raised in Vancouver and is married to Rob and has 2 sons, Teddy and Joey.   Sue was a board member of Vancouver Talmud Torah for 15 years and board chair twice.  Sue was co-fundraising chair of the VTT capital campaign. Currently Sue is Women’s Philanthropy chair at Federation Vancouver and is the Federation liaison to the VHA board.

Adam Saunders

Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair

Adam serves as the treasurer at VHA. He was born and grew up in Toronto, and has spent about half his life in Canada, and half in the United States. He and his wife Galit moved here to Vancouver seven years ago and have very much enjoyed being here. By day, he teaches at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, and his other job is to be a dad to his daughters Levana (5) and Emuna (2). Levana is in kindergarten at VHA, and is thoroughly enjoying her experience!

He has been serving on VHA’s board since 2013 – even before he had children, as he and Galit believe quite strongly in its mission. The Vancouver Jewish community is one in which Adam and his wife both feel that “every Jew counts” and has a unique role to play here. They have had an opportunity to get to know so many different community organizations in their time here and have been impressed with the kindness they’ve seen. He looks forward to continuing to doing what he can to help VHA further its important work in the community.

Glenn Bullard

Glenn Bullard

Secretary & Governance Chair

Glenn Bullard is a longtime VHA board member and past president,  continuing this year as board secretary. Glenn is a teacher in the New Westminster School District, with a master of arts degree in educational leadership from Simon Fraser University and a professional certificate in mediation and conflict resolution from the Justice Institute of BC.

Member Bios

Donna Palmer-Dodds

Donna Palmer-Dodds

Admin Support & Leadership Chair

Team Members – Ginaya Peters and Tutsi Hershler

For the last 33 years, I have had the privilege of devoting my professional career to the field of education: as a teacher, a Vice-Principal, a Principal and a Head of School. Throughout the years, I have worked in public, private, faith-based and international school settings. I have taught both middle and high school in subjects such as English, Humanities, Science, Math, Life Skills and Physical Education. I was a high school Counselor and was a Special Education teacher for the majority of my teaching career. All of my Administrative experience has been at the elementary and middle school level. I have always been guided by the belief that all students have gifts and based on my conviction that a school can meet the needs of all of its learners, I successfully transformed and reinvigorated three separate Special Education Programs.

Additional Accomplishments:

  • Physically relocated a high school and amalgamated it within the same building as an elementary school
  • Balanced $3-$6 m budgets
  • Managed staff of 60+
  • Member of British Columbia’s Ministry of Education’s External Evaluation Committee
  • Awarded the OCSB Director of Education Award for Leading with Excellence
  • Reignited community engagement in visual arts, dramatic and musical celebrations

 

Ginaya Peters

Ginaya Peters

Admin Support & Leadership Committee

Ginaya is a Resource Teacher in the Vancouver School District and has extensive teaching and leadership experience in elementary schools. She is passionate about inclusive education and ensuring that all students and staff have ample opportunity to thrive. Ginaya holds an M.Ed. from UBC in Special Education and is an Adjunct Professor at UBC in the department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education.

On a personal level, she is an avid reader, movie buff and full-fledged science fiction geek. She is the mother of 3 teenagers and is active in the Schara Tzedeck and wider Jewish community.

Tutsi Hershler

Tutsi Hershler

HR Chair, Admin Support & Leadership Committee

Tutsi Hershler is the Human Resource Manager at Stand.earth, a non-profit environmental advocacy organisation. Having practiced human resources in a variety of industries (both locally and abroad) and served many years in the role of “generalist” has provided her the opportunity to work in all areas of HR including employee relations, performance management, training and development and payroll and benefits, to name a few. She is very passionate about collaborating with people to affect positive change in the workplace

Dr. Brian Bressler

Strategic Development Chair

Dr. Brian Bressler is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, in the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Medicine.  Dr. Bressler is the Director of the Advanced IBD training program at the University of British Columbia and Co-Founder of the IBD Centre of BC.

Rabbi Stephen Berger

Rabbi Stephen Berger

Judaics Committee Chair

Stephen Berger is the Head of Jewish Studies at King David High School. He has taught at every Jewish school and shul in Vancouver and serves as a resource for the community.  He was trained and has worked in both formal and informal Jewish education and has served on the board of Shalhevet Girls High School.

Michael Fugman

Finance Committee

Michael is CA and is currently Vice President, Business Development Western Canada for Peartree Securities. He has been involved in numerous Jewish organizations over the last 40 years including chairing the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.  Michael and Kathi are members of both Schara Tzdeck and Temple Sholom.

Yossi Ben Saadon

Yossi Ben Saadon

Parent Liaison Committee Chair

Born in Panama after high school went to Yeshiva in Monsey New York for 6 years and after worked there running the youth program for Sephardic kids. Was part of Beth Hamidrash board and was very involved with VHA school in the past years as a volunteer helping the social skills of the students in  high grades of the school. Certified paramedic and currently head of security and medical emergencies at Simon Fraser University.