Guest Column: The ‘eureka’ moment that led to Sisters on Board

Adina Libin

By Adina Libin

In September 2017, I attended a conference for chartered accountants, “The One Convention,” where I learned several new, innovative ideas and heard from some highly influential people. The convention focus was on sustainability and resiliency, but I actually took away a ‘eureka’ moment about an element of my volunteering life.

During a panel called “Building resilience, managing social, economic, environmental risk and opportunities,” vice-presidents and chief financial officers from several influential firms shared their insights. Among the topics that struck the biggest chord was that each one of them explained their career successes were helped by joining boards.

I had always thought taking part on an organization’s board of directors was a way I could give back, a way I could help a cause I cared about. Suddenly, this idea was flipped and I realized participating on a board can actually benefit the participant. I started thinking about my own experiences sitting on boards and I realized many others might also have missed the sense of this as an opportunity for their careers – especially busy, working professional women who often have families at home who also need them.

This eureka moment lead me to the decision that I wanted to share what I had learned. Being part of a board means you get exposure to people at the top of their fields, to those in other industries. This experience can benefit your current job and potentially help you find new ones. On a personal note, the meetings also gave me a much-needed mental break from family chores and regular work allowing me to use my brain in new ways thereby contributing to my work/life balancing act.

With this new insight, I spoke with Andrea Freedman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation, and Lynne Oreck-Wener, founder of the Foundation’s Women Collective Philanthropy Program, about my idea of sharing the benefits of being on boards. Andrea committed the Foundation’s support, providing funding in the budget. Lynne, the event co-chair, and a committee of like-minded women, also provided their support and contributions to the project. With the new Federation Microgrants program and sponsorships from Trimaran Financial and Recruiting in Motion, the Sisters on Board event came to be.

The goal of this event is to promote the benefits of leaning into leadership roles by participating on community boards. Sisters on Board seeks to be inclusive to women of all professional and philanthropic experience levels. And with the talented Erica Ehm (read the interview at this link) as our keynote speaker discussing courageous leadership, I am confident this event will be a real boost to all women.

The Sisters on Board event is already sold-out. But for more information on volunteering and becoming involved with boards in the Jewish community, contact Anne Read, Federation’s community engagement specialist, at aread@jewishottawa.com or 613-798-4696, ext. 355.