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The 2024 cohort of the Birthright Israel lifelong Excel Fellowship, focused on developing leaders in business and technology, kicked off in June by welcoming to Israel 64 extraordinary college students from around the world to spend 10 weeks in Israel.

This year’s cohort includes participants from 11 countries, including host Israel. Forty-four participants are from the United States, while 20 come from Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany Mexico, Panama, Spain, and Switzerland. A few of the participants are visiting Israel for the first time.

In addition to a life-changing experience and a tremendous opportunity for participants to forge business connections with investors and entrepreneurs, this year’s summer program also presents a once-in-a-lifetime, empowering experience in light of the ongoing war in Israel that followed the October 7th terror attack. Excel collaborates with Kibbutz Reim to allow Excel participants to volunteer throughout the summer by helping the Kibbutz community restore its houses and gardens and prepare for their return home.

As well, a particularly unique and highly valued aspect of the summer program is the one-on-one pairing between each Excel Fellow and an Israeli peer Excel Fellow of which there are also 64, enabling a quick acclimation to the local culture and seeing the country through a more authentic lens than as typical tourists. Many peer-to-peer relationships grow into long-term friendships. Some have invested in each other’s business ventures.

Since 2011, the Excel Fellowship has cultivated the next generation of Jewish business leaders. Each year the fellowship carefully selects top students from hundreds of applicants for summer internships with leading business and tech companies in Tel Aviv.

Their internships will be in such areas as environmental sustainability, software development, consulting, engineering, finance, venture capital, Cybertech, biotech business development, and startups.

The Excel Fellowship involves an internship that occurs based on the Israeli workweek, Sunday through Thursday. Aside from this hands-on work experience and an evening series of fascinating speakers from across Israeli society, including Adi Soffer-Te’eni, VP & GM of Meta Israel; Adi Ofek, CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Tech Hub in Israel; Alex Crissis, Managing Director, General Atlantic, Israel; Dina Ben Tal Ganancia, CEO, El Al; Jonathan Penkin, CEO, Goldman Sachs Israel; and Yifat Oron, Head of Blackstone Office in TLV. The fellowship will also include a Micro Communities Meet-Up focused on discussing diversity within Israeli society.

Excel fellows also enjoy free time to explore Israel with their peers, and three-weekend trips as a group bring them throughout the country: the lower Galilee area, a winery tour, and a hike with a visit to a natural waterfall; Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and the Machne Yehuda outdoor market. Following the October 7 terror attack, this year’s South trip itinerary focuses mainly on witnessing the atrocities that occurred at the Kibbutzim near Gaza.

“One of the pillars of the program this year is preparing community members for the hostile environment they might face on campuses, by giving them tools to better deal with the challenges they encounter there, along with a supportive network,” said Idit Rubin, executive director of Birthright Israel Excel.

“We genuinely believe that by strengthening ties in the business world and through professional connections, we’re also strengthening Israel and the Jewish communities around the world. We look forward to continuing these relationships and developing them.”

After their return home, the Excel fellows enter a global network that provides resources for professional and personal development, Israel engagement, Jewish leadership, and encouraging them as philanthropists.

“We see firsthand how important it is for Israel’s young generation to maintain a strong connection to the Jewish World, especially now. It is not just about sharing the same fate; it is the strategic lifeline for all of world Jewry,” said Gidi Mark, CEO of Birthright Israel.

“The Jewish people around the world boast an abundance of talent and leadership in all sectors, and by fostering cooperation between business leaders in Israel and the Diaspora, as we do at Birthright Excel, we will be able to develop innovation and growth, which will benefit Israel and the Diaspora and contribute to the feeling of resilience and pride,” he added.

Birthright Israel Excel fellows have gone on to positions at top-tier companies, such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bain & Company, and Google. Others have developed strategic partnerships with Israeli companies and started their own companies, often hiring other fellows.

On a local note, among the cohort in Israel this year are three participants from Westchester,  Alex Zelman, Drew Wilenzick, and Jeremy Suzman. 

Alex Zelman is from White Plains and is studying at Washington University in St. Louis. She is majoring in Accounting and Entrepreneurship and minoring in Business Analytics. She is currently interning at Symbol Venture Capital and is working as a Venture Capital Analyst.

Drew Wilenzick is from Briarcliff Manor and is studying at Cornell University. He is majoring in Computer Sciences. He is interning at Mine and is working as a Data Science Analyst.

Finally, Jeremy Suzman is from Scarsdale and is studying at Vanderbilt University. He is majoring in American History and Spanish and minoring in Business. Currently, he is interning at Waldo Holdings and is working as an Investment Analyst.

Visit www.birthrightisraelexcel.com/meet-the-2024-excel-fellows/  for a list and bios of all of the 2024 Global Excel fellows. 

Photo Credit: Or Doga, Courtesy of Birthright Israel Excel