Sylvain Abitbol was born in Casablanca, Morocco. His family immigrated to Canada following Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967 when Sylvain was a teenager.
Upon arriving in Canada, Sylvain adopted well to his new community and graduated in 1973 from Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in Industrial and Mechanical Engineering.
An accomplished engineer in the telecommunications industry, Sylvain is the former CEO of NHC Communications.
Sylvain has dedicated much of his time and energy to philanthropic Jewish causes. He is the past chair of the Sephardic Campaign for the Montreal Federation. In 2004 he became the President of the Montreal Jewish Community’s Combined Jewish Appeal, the funding body for 22 local Jewish agencies in his community.
From 2007-2009 he was the co-President of the Canadian Jewish Congress. He currently serves as the co-President of JJAC, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries and the 1st Vice President of the Sephardic Community in Montreal. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic.
