Executive Team
Sarah Beutel
Vice President, Community Building
Interim CEO, Federation
Sarah Beutel received a BA from McGill University and a Masters of Public Administration from Carleton University. Her past experience includes working for Hillel Lodge Long Term Care Foundation and grant writing for various organizations. Sarah has many years of work and volunteer experience with boards and committees of not-for-profit organizations. In 2008, Sarah began working for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. She also sits on the board of Na’amat Canada.
Sarah is married to Steven Morgan and has four children.
sbeutel@jewishottawa.com
Pauline Colwin
Vice President, Communications
Pauline joined the Federation in May 2013. She is responsible for the marketing and communication needs of both the Federation and the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation, as well as our social media, and websites. Pauline was integral in launching the Ottawa Jewish E-Bulletin, which she continues to manage. Prior to the Federation, Pauline was an editor at the Ottawa Citizen. She received an Honours Degree in English Literature from Ottawa University and holds a diploma in Journalism.
Away from work, Pauline enjoys camping with her family, writing, listening to audio books and experimenting with mixed media art.
pcolwin@jewishottawa.com
Micah Garten
Vice President, Development
Interim CEO, Foundation
Having grown up in Jewish Ottawa, Micah is thrilled to be able to use his decade of experience in not for profit fundraising to help ensure that the community has the funds required to flourish. He holds a BA in Political Science, a degree in Fundraising Management and an MBA. In his spare time he enjoys reading PJ Library books with his two young children and cooking fancy dinners with his wife Jessica.
Micah’s role is to connect with donors and help ensure their support can make the biggest impact in the lives of the community.
Rena Garshowitz
Vice President, Operations
Rena is thrilled to rejoin the Federation team as VP, Operations, having spent the majority of her career serving the Ottawa Jewish community. For the last five years Rena held the position of Executive Director at Kehillat Beth Israel (KBI), overseeing all areas of the synagogue’s operations. Before joining KBI, Rena spent seven years at Federation, first as Event Planner and Sponsorship Coordinator before moving over to Annual Campaign manager. She previously held positions on Parliament Hill and Queen’s Park and with a foreign embassy.
The oversight areas for Operations include: Campus Management, Security, Governance, and the Ottawa Va'ad HaKashrut.
In her downtime, Rena enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. She loves experimenting in the kitchen while listening to show tunes.
Connect with Rena at rgarshowitz@jewishottawa.com
Mark Gruner
Chief Financial Officer, Jewish Federation of Ottawa and Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation
Mark was born in Montreal. He has been working overseas in the nonprofit field for the past 25 years. His focus has been working to help reduce poverty and hunger. Before that, his focus was on helping the people of Bosnia & Hercegovina regain their property rights after the war in the Balkans.
He did his undergrad degree at McGill in Biochemistry and then completed a Graduate Degree in Public Accounting. He did his stage in Montreal with a small firm and then moved to Cooper's & Lybrand. He spends his spare time writing and cooking with his wife Alexandra, who comes from Peru.
He can be reached at mgruner@jewishottawa.com