Elad Katav - Collaborative Software for Art Creation, no Experience Required

So irritated with his inability to create a piece of art that could be considered pleasing to the eye, Elad decided to use his twenty years of software development experience to found Cupixel (HQ - Boston, R&D - Israel). Cupixel designs products that pair exclusive art material with proprietary technology to enable anyone to create a physical piece of art that is accurate, creative, and personal.

Prior to founding Cupixel, Elad worked as COO for multiple enterprise software companies. As a Major in the Israeli Defense Force, Intelligence Corps, Elad served as R&D Group Manager and IT Manager. Elad holds a BA in computer science and an MBA.

Alit Wiel-Shafran, Ph.D. - Former Manager of the Har Hanegev Environmental Department of Ramat Negev and Mitzpe Ramon, Wexner Fellow, a student on the Mid Career MPA program at Harvard Kenndy School

Alit serves as Head of the Har HaNegev Environmental Unit (Ramat HaNegev Regional Council & Mitzpe Ramon Local Council), where she is responsible for implementing sustainability practices such as; resource management, including municipal waste and recycling management, energy efficiency and more, environmental education; environmental design; sustainable food project and environmental enforcement. After graduating cum laude from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, with both a B.Sc. and M.Sc., she continued to Ph.D. During her Ph.D. she was ISEF Fellow and serve as the Chairwoman of the organizing committee of the First & Second Conference of ISEF Ph.D. Fellows.  Between 2011 and 2015 Alit was a Council Member and Chairwoman of the Air Quality Committee, Neot Hovav Local Industrial Council, at two periods. Alit is also an Alumni of the Environmental Fellows Program, Heschel Sustainability Centre, Israel.

Rishi Shah MIT student, MISTI MIT-Israel alumnus, and David Dolev - Assistant Director, MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI)

Rishi is a sophomore at MIT majoring in Computer Science and Brain & Cognitive Sciences and a member of the Army ROTC program at MIT. His initial interest in doing a hands-on internship in Israel was anchored in interest in national security, international relations, and cyber warfare. Rishi did a three month internship at Safe-T in Tel Aviv as part of the MISTI MIT-Israel program. While living and working in Tel Aviv he learned about the unique Israeli entrepreneurial mindset and expanded his views on region and its’ flourishing STEM sectors while expanding his technical experience.

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David Dolev is Assistant Director of MISTI and Managing Director of MISTI’s programs in the Middle East.

In his role as Assistant Director, David coordinates MISTI’s Resource Development and oversees MISTI’s Global Seed Funds.

David is the Founding Manager of the MIT-Israel Program and MIT-Arab World pilot program, in addition to Managing Director of the MIT-MEET program. He is responsible for developing projects in these regions with MIT students, faculty, corporate partners, academic institutions, foundations and government organizations. David also established the MISTI Global Teaching Labs in Israel, Jordan and Morocco, an initiative to bring MIT's unique approach to STEM education to high schools in the region.

Prior to and during his time at MIT, David launched several for-profit and non-profit social impact ventures and initiatives locally and globally.

He has published articles and received awards for his work on intercultural relations, most recently the MIT Excellence Award for Advancing Inclusion and Global Perspectives.

David has a B.S in Economics and Management via a joint program of the Open University and Ben-Gurion University and an MJEd from Hebrew College.

Mohamad Marzouk - Director of the Hand in Hand Community Department, and Rebecca Bardach - Director of Resource Development & Strategy

Mohamad been a social-political activist for 20 years, and is one of the founders of the Hand in Hand school, Bridge over the Wadi. Most of Mohamad’s work has focused on social change and the advancement of civil society in Arab communities in Israel as well as on peace education through Jewish-Arab dialogue. In addition to helping establish the Hand in Hand school in Kfar Kara, Mohamad established and directed the branch of Shatil in the Triangle area in Israel, which works for the advancement of local Arab social initiatives and organizations. He also initiated a program for Arab communal leadership, which worked to strengthen the Arab community in Israel. In addition to his experience in community organizing, Mohamad has also spent many years in advancing Palestinian-Israeli dialogue, facilitating and coordinating dialogue programs, which brought together groups of politicians, teachers, university students, and children. Mohamad lives in Kfar Kara with his wife and three children, two of whom are graduates of the Hand in Hand Bridge over the Wadi school, and one now a student in the first grade there.

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Rebecca worked for almost two decades in migration, development and foreign aid before joining Hand in Hand. She directed refugee assistance programs in Hungary and in Bosnia (1994-1998). When moving to Israel in 1998 she worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with asylum claimants and government policy makers on refugee issues, and then with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to establish its Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI). In her 13 years at JDC, Rebecca also established their tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka and directed the Middle East Program, which conducts cooperative programs between Israelis and Palestinians in health and welfare. She earned an MPA in Public Policy and International Development from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and a BA in English Literature from Columbia University. She is originally from Berkeley, California where she grew up in Jewish day school and Jewish summer camp frameworks. Rebecca is married with three children, two of whom attend Hand in Hand's school in Jerusalem (as will the youngest when she is old enough!).

Maria Dyshel - Co-founder, Genesis: a nonprofit that strives to decrease the prevalence of genetic diseases among the bedouin community in Israel

A technology entrepreneur and social activist, Maria has been leading projects that use technology to improve the lives of people in developing communities in Israel and around the world. She is the founder of Engineers Without Borders Jerusalem, and has worked with various organizations and communities in Jerusalem, Ethiopia and India. Last year, together with Yasmeen Abu-Fraiha and Naomi Abraham, she co-founded Genesis, a non-profit that strives to decrease the prevalence of genetic diseases in the Bedouin communities in the Middle East. She was recently featured in Forbes Israel 30 under 30 list. She holds a BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an MSc in Computer Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.