Birthright Israel, the largest provider of cultural trips in the world, announces that Thrive Global Founder and CEO and international media mogul Arianna Huffington will participate in a keynote on entrepreneurship and the importance of building resilience and prioritizing well-being at the 2020 Excelerate Summit on Sunday, November 8. The online event kicks off the ten-year anniversary celebration of Birthright Israel’s renowned business leadership Fellowship Birthright Excel.
In addition to announcing Huffington as a speaker at the Summit, Birthright Excel also announces today that for the first time ever, diaspora Jews from every country can now apply to participate in next summer’s Excel experience. Previously, applications and participation were limited to individuals from North America, Israel and the U.K. Registration is open now at birthrightexcel.com.
Excelerate20 is Birthright Excel’s first virtual business leadership summit and kicks off a 10-year anniversary celebration that will consist of several exciting international community activations and initiatives. The Summit follows the organization’s 2020 digital fellowship program, which took place this summer. Recognizing early on the challenges that Covid-19 would pose to international travel, Excel staff worked tirelessly to migrate its in-person internship and business accelerator programming — which takes place on the ground in Israel over ten weeks — to a fully online experience.
“While Covid-19 has certainly presented challenges for our organization, we’ve actually found that the pandemic has been a catalyst for growth and expansion,” said Idit Rubin, Executive Director of Birthright Israel Excel. “The increased use of video conferencing tools accelerated our ability to connect with talented young individuals around the globe and actually helped drive additional international interest in our program. As a result, for the first time ever we’re now thrilled to welcome applications from all over the world for our summer 2021 program.”
Founded In 2010, Birthright Israel Excel is a highly selective fellowship that builds leadership skills and relationships among tomorrow’s global business leaders to propel the future success of the global Jewish community. In its first 10 years, the organization has developed a community of 850+ global Fellows from a diverse range of more than 95 private and public universities. Through Excel, Fellows have participated in internships at prestigious companies and organizations such as Deloitte, Check Point, Evercore, Facebook, FairFly, Ernst & Young, The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and many others. Several Fellows have then gone on to earn recognition including being named to Forbes 30 Under 30 lists and selected as Fullbright Fellows, among other notable achievements.
Registration for the Excelerate20 summit is open to the public and the theme of this year’s Summit is “New Ideas for New Times.” In addition to Huffington, keynotes will be delivered by renowned talent agent Steve Herz, award-winning journalist Jessica Abo and cofounder of SpaceIL, Yonatan Winetraub. Past summits have attracted remarkable speakers, including Founder & CEO of Zuckerberg Media, Randi Zuckerberg; New Jersey Senator, Cory Booker and former Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Stanley Fischer, among others.
For more information and to register for the Summit visit excelerate20.splashthat.com.
ABOUT BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL EXCEL
Birthright Israel Excel is a highly selective lifelong fellowship beginning with a 10-week business or technology summer experience in Israel for talented Jewish college sophomores, juniors and select seniors. Excel places Fellows in internships at leading global biotech, consulting, cyber/tech, finance, marketing, software development, start-up, and venture capital firms. Excel pairs each international fellow with an Israeli fellow, who provides a personal bridge to Israeli society, potential partnerships and lifelong friendship. Additionally, Excel offers annual events, regional activities, and individualized mentorship and grant opportunities.
