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Dame Louise Ellman accepts new role at Board of Deputies

Board meetings to be run by independent chairs rather the president in move to make them more inclusive

September 3, 2024 13:17
Louise Ellman Getty 1026112044
Dame Louise Ellman at the Jewish Labour Movement Conference in 2018 (Photo: Getty Images)
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Former Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman will take a new role at the Board of Deputies — helping to chair the regular plenary sessions.

She will rotate the responsibility with Liberal Judaism Chair Karen Newman, who has already chaired the first two plenary sessions of the new Board triennial.

In the past, plenaries were presided over by the Board’s president, but new president Phil Rosenberg, who was elected in May, pledged to introduce independent chairs — a move which he believed would make meetings more constructive and less adversarial.

The choice of the two women is also intended to improve inclusion at the Board, which for the first time in 15 years elected an all-male team of honorary officers.