Who we are
“Giving Tzedakah is what we appreciate and choose to do. Our quality of life only grows in value as we improve the lives of others.” -Morris Goodman
Shawna Goodman Sone
Shawna Goodman-Sone obtained a BA in Art History from McGill University and was awarded the McGill Scarlet Key for outstanding leadership and positive impact. She graduated from the Natural Gourmet Cooking School and the Institute of Culinary Education, both in New York City. Upon graduation, she has given classes, catered and cooked for clients in New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal and Israel. She acted as editor of the cookbook, Panache: Montreal’s Flair for Kosher Cooking, a project of the Auxiliary of the Sir Mortimer B. David Jewish General Hospital.
Shawna is currently living in Ra’anana, Israel combining her love for food and philanthropy in creating classes that celebrate Israel’s abundance while raising awareness of local charitable organizations. Founder of Summer Camps Israel, she is a Board member of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, the Jewish Funders Network and Gvahim which supports the integration of new arrivals in Israel.
Maxyne Finkelstein
Maxyne Finkelstein was appointed as the President of the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation (MRGFF) in January 2017.
Maxyne Finkelstein began her career in communal service in Montreal. She held a number of positions at Federations CJA including serving as Executive Director (second most senior role in the organization) until 1999. She then relocated to Toronto as CEO of Jewish Federations Canada – UIA, a role she held until 2006.
In 2006 Maxyne moved to New York to serve as the first North American to lead the delegation and fundraising activities of the Jewish Agency for Israel for Canada and the United States. In 2010, she was recruited to manage the annual campaign of the Birthright Israel Foundation. Most recently she worked at the Genesis Prize Foundation, a Jewish global initiative which recognizes outstanding achievement and service to humanity through an annual $1 million award to an individual.
Maxyne is pleased to have returned to her city of origin and to have the honor of working for a family which exemplifies outstanding dedication to philanthropy and service to community in North America and Israel.
Morris Goodman
After graduating from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal in 1953, Morris Goodman went on to pursue a career in the business side of the pharmaceutical industry.
In 1983, he partnered with Ted Wise and together, they founded Pharmascience Inc. Mr. Goodman played a founding role in the company’s growth and development. Recognized as one of Canada’s leading entrepreneurs and a pioneer in the generic drug industry, Mr. Goodman dedicated his career to creating the difference in healthcare globally.
David Goodman
Dr. David Goodman, Pharmascience Inc, the 2nd largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company in Canada.
Dr. Goodman obtained his Bachelor degree in Commerce from McGill University, and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Virginia. Upon graduation, he began his career at Pharmascience in Business Development and has gained significant experience in progressively senior international and domestic roles.
Under Dr. Goodman’s leadership, Pharmascience has gone from being a strictly Canadian company to becoming an important player on the global stage. Dr. Goodman’s success is his belief and insistence on major and constant investment in internal and external R&D programs, as well as in employee development.
Deborah Goodman Davis
Deborah Goodman Davis received a BA from Cornell University and an MA from the University of Chicago, both in art history. She has also completed coursework at the Graduate School of Art History at Yale University and attended Sotheby’s Works of Art Course in London. Deborah holds 25 years of expertise in modern and contemporary art as well as photography. She has held positions in renowned museums and institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Art Gallery, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and Sotheby’s London.
Deborah uses her expertise to ensure that her clients’ expectations are met in terms of taste and interest. She is curator for several prominent collections, such as the Archer Hotels and Pharmascience, Inc. In 2012, her children’s book, Speeding Down the Spiral, was awarded the Mom’s Choice Silver Medal Prize. Deborah also published PhotoRX: Pharmacy in Photography Since 1850, a book on the Pharmascience collection. She is currently the owner of Deborah G Davis Fine Art , an art advisory business.
Jonathan Ross Goodman
Mr. Goodman was the co-founder, President and CEO of publicly-traded Paladin Labs Inc., which was acquired in 2014 by Endo International In. (NASDAQ:ENDP) for $3.2 billion. Under Mr. Goodman`s leadership, $1.50 invested in Paladin at its founding was worth $142 nineteen years later. The same day that Paladin was sold, Mr. Goodman started a second publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company, Knight Therapeutics Inc. (TSE:GUD), which has now raised $685 million of equity in 5 rounds of financing all at increasing valuations. Since inception in February 2014, Knight has generated over $220 million of net income with Mr. Goodman as its President and CEO. For the last 25 years, Mr. Goodman has devoted 15% of his time on Tikkun Olam, which has included fielding the largest team in the Province of Quebec for the Ride to Conquer Cancer for 7 consecutive years to filling Place des Arts for the Ted Wise ORT/Jewish Education Gala for 6 consecutive years raising $10+ million to support Jewish education.
Mr. Goodman is a recipient of the Globe and Mail’s Top 40 Under 40 award, Federation CJA’s Sam Steinberg Award for entrepreneurial excellence and Koach Award for leading campaigner, UIA Federations of Canada National Young Leadership Award of Distinction, the Special Recognition Award by Brain Injury Canada, Bernard Gross Leadership Award by ORT Montreal, was appointed Honorary Chairman of the Ride to Conquer Cancer and was named Quebec Entrepreneur of the Year in the Life Sciences by the National Post and Ernst &Young.
Mr. Goodman holds a B.A. with Great Distinction from McGill University and the London School of Economics with 1st Class Honors. Additionally, Mr. Goodman holds an LL.B. and MBA from McGill.
Marc Rouleau
As president and chief executive officer of Joddes Ltd Marc leads a family office that has been managing an inter-generational investment portfolio of institutional size for over 15 years. The office has, over the years, developed a disciplined and structured approach to investing, working from a policy-based asset allocation framework.
Prior to joining Joddes Marc spent several years at a large Canadian bank leading a team providing market expertise and strategy for the bank’s large institutional asset management clients as well as it’s retail client base.
Marc brings over 19 years of experience in both the public and private sector investments having served as a senior portfolio manager at a large global asset management company; helping to develop and manage fixed income and unconstrained investment strategies. Marc also operated as an Economist for the Canadian Department of Finance, where he worked on debt strategy, risk management, and financial market regulation. He is a past president of the Montreal Bond Traders Association and sits on the FTSE Canada Fixed Income Advisory Committee.
Marc holds a Bachelor of Economics with McGill University, a Masters of Resource & Environmental Economics from Duke University, and is a CFA charterholder.
Sharon Bitensky
Sharon Bitensky began her career in her native Buenos Aires with the Argentinean Jewish Community, working her way up to Assistant Director of the Community Rebuilding Department of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Latin America and The Caribbean. Immigrating to Montreal in 2005, Sharon worked for the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA, for B’nai Brith Canada and for the Strategic Planning and Community Relations department of Federation CJA where she focused on Evaluation and Impact Measurement. She joined the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation in 2017 as Senior manager, her current position.
In 2006, Sharon was awarded the Prix du Lieutenant-gouverneur du Québec, for her personal, social and community involvement and leadership. In 2007, she was presented with the Lori Stein Memorial Award for leadership from the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA and received the Federation CJA’s Outstanding employee award in 2017.
In Buenos Aires, Sharon completed her BA in Management for Non-Profit Organizations and a Masters in Institutional Diagnosis, Evaluation and Intervention Strategies. In Montreal, she completed a graduate diploma in Community Economic Development at Concordia University.
The MRGFF is a Family
