Jill Mayer
A lawyer by training, Jill Mayer is an award winning, experienced producer of strategic business conferences and professional development programs for legal, financial and other professionals. After a career of working in-house, in law firms and as Director of Continuing Professional Development for the Ontario Bar Association, Jill struck out on her own in 2019, as a consultant. Her goal was to spend more time volunteering with Jewish and Israeli causes.
At the end of 2019, Jill was one of three volunteers in a pilot program through the World Zionist Organization in Israel. She worked with students at Kfar Silver near Ashkelon for two months tutoring English and met with Israelis in all walks of life. During this time, she was able to visit the Jaffa Institute to witness first hand the excellent work being done on the ground and to meet with the dedicated staff. Jill joined the Canadian Friends of the Jaffa Institute board three years ago and in her new role as Chair, she will have the opportunity to expand Canadian support for key programs that CFJI undertakes in Israel.
In addition to being Chair of the CFJI board, Jill is a member of the Board of Governors of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto. She is also a member of the Legal Task Force for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). Indeed, throughout her career, Jill has applied her professional development skills to the Jewish community.
As testimony to this ongoing commitment, she recently completed a contract as Conference Producer for Liberation75. This is the world’s largest virtual event for Holocaust Survivors, Descendants, Educators and Friends. Its goal is to fight hate, discrimination and antisemitism. She also took part in the International Jewish Lawyers’ conference on “Legal Confrontation with Antisemitism”, which was held in Tel Aviv. In addition, she co-chaired CIJA’s legal conference on Combating Online Hate in 2020. In all, Jill brings many gifts to her role as Chair of the CFJI board.