Deborah Corber stepping down as CEO of Federation CJA

Deborah Corber

Deborah Corber is leaving the position of chief executive officer of Federation CJA as of Oct. 31, the Montreal-based organization announced.

President David Amiel said in a notice to the community that her departure, after six years of service, was arrived at “by mutual agreement.”

Amiel, who took office last month, said that Moshe Ben-Shach will become interim CEO, until a new one is appointed by the board of directors.

Ben-Shach has been the Federation’s chief operations officer for 11 years.

READ: SPOTLIGHT ON FEDERATION CJA

Amiel praised Corber for “re-organizing the professional structure, building an outstanding senior management team and championing the organization through two historic mega missions (to Israel) and an ambitious centennial celebration year, amongst other key communal milestones.…

“Following her tenure, we are proud that Federation CJA has raised the bar in Jewish communal service throughout North America, enhanced by an incomparable team of volunteer leadership.”

Prior to working at the Federation, Ben-Shach was in the aerospace and satellite communications industries, and was a senior officer in the Israeli army.

Daughter of community leaders Marvin and Harriet Corber, Deborah Corber is a lawyer who, prior to taking the post at the Federation, headed her own consulting practice that specialized in aboriginal affairs.

Before that, she worked for 14 years as a legal counsel in the native law section of the federal Department of Justice. In that role, she represented the Canadian government in negotiations and legal disputes with indigenous peoples, in such areas as treaty rights, land claims and self-government.

Corber had a long volunteer association with the Federation and its agencies, going back to membership in what was then the Combined Jewish Appeal’s young adult division.