Verber launches bid to become youngest vice-president at the Board

The campaigns director at World Jewish Relief has launched a bid to become the youngest vice-president in Board of Deputies history.

Richard Verber, 30, joined a field of at least half a dozen contesting next month’s poll. Verber’s CV also includes chairing Limmud Conference and founding Changing the Board, a pressure group seeking to reform the 250-year-old representative body.

His platform includes set out to overhaul the monthly plenary meetings and offer campaigns and media training for all deputies.

Verber – who fought anti-Zionism as a director of UJS – said: “I want to put deputies back at the heart of the Board. They are our greatest asset, working hard for the community across the UK. I want every deputy to be on first-name terms with their local councillors, journalists and MEP, as well as their MP. Through media training and campaigns training , all deputies will have the power to better represent the Board.”

There was a need, he argued, for more funding for the Board’s work outside London, reflecting the fact “more decisions are being taken by local and devolved Governments”.

Last month, it unveiled statistics showing that the average age of presidents and Vice Presidents over the past 35 years has been 61, two decades older than the average age of community members.

Verber said he was looking forward to a talking to deputies to make a reality of the vision of “a time when the Board is such an exciting place that all synagogues want to join and all organisations have competitive elections to choose their deputies”.