Who You Will Meet
at the Accelerator
Speakers and Educators
itrek is proud to partner with high level speakers and tour educators, each of whom bring complex and nuanced conversations and experiences to our Israel Treks.
Alex founded 90 West in 2016 with a commitment to help the highest impact and most innovative companies, organizations, and leaders make a greater impact on the world. Goldstein served as the senior advisor to Congresswoman Elect Ayanna Pressley during her historic campaign and served for eight years in numerous leadership roles with former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's political committee, re-election campaign and administration.
Let's try: A native of Jerusalem, Shira has been a licensed tour guide since 2013. She is a graduate of Haifa University, with a BA in Israel Studies and an MA in the Israel-U.S relations. Shira has guided numerous groups, including Educational groups, Geo-political programs, Congregational groups (both Jewish and Christian), Jewish Federation Missions and Private donors and Families. Shira also leads specialty trips focusing on geopolitical issues, culinary experiences and graffiti art.
Joel Meyer is a tour guide and educator in Israel and a former Shaliach (emissary) for the Jewish Agency in the United Kingdom. His academic background is in the field of politics and international history and, professionally, Joel also has a wealth of experience in informal education. Joel is married to Eginsu and together with their three young daughters, Eliya, Lishan and Liyu, they live in the new Israeli city of Harish.
Maya Yehezkel is a Jerusalem native, Maya Yehezkel graduated from Bezalel Academy with a B.Des. in Visual Communication and holds an MA in Jewish Peoplehood Studies from the University of Haifa. She authored Sand Woman TLV, a book blending sand art with her stories, published in 2021. Maya guides solidarity trips and has developed tours and workshops that utilize art and graffiti to delve into contemporary issues.
Michael Bauer is a professional educator and tour guide and the author of Israel Journey - Eight Days In One Of The World’s Most Complex Countries. Bauer specializes in geopolitical tours in Israel and has developed workshops on various topics (e.g. Israeli-Arab relations, Israel’s minority populations, Israel’s borders and neighbors, Middle East politics and history).
Miri Eisin served in the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence community for over 20 years. In 2004, she retired from active duty at the rank of full Colonel, a rank less than 2% of women within the IDF have achieved, and continues to serve in reserve duty. Miri is one of Israel's leading voices on regional geopolitics, providing security and intelligence briefings in Israel and worldwide. She currently teaches at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, and lectures on a variety of subjects.
Stay tuned for updates as more speakers and educators join our lineup!
Rachel Fish co-founded the nonprofit Boundless, a think-action tank partnering with community leaders across North America to revitalize Israel education and take bold collective action to combat Jew-hatred. Dr. Fish also serves as Special Advisor to The Brandeis University Presidential Initiative to Counter Antisemitism in Higher Education.
Tour Operators
Eshet works with itrek's Business Leaders from top ranked programs in the U.S. and abroad to lead week-long trips to Israel for their peers. Eshet provides support during every step of the planning process—including advice on logistics, itinerary design, hotels, restaurants, special activities and events. Providing another layer of support once in Israel that facilitates last-minute itinerary changes due to Israel’s dynamic and ever-changing realities.
Working with itrek's Law & Policy Israel Treks, Routes coordinates an elite series of high-level educational experiences in Israel for students and faculty hailing from the leading graduate programs in the world. Working in partnership with the professional itrek staff, the Routes team facilitates the travel programs for thousands of graduate students. Routes enables Leadership Teams to develop customized experiences enabling first-hand insights into the unique complexities of Israel and the region as well as the development of a personal connection with the country.
Meet the itrek Team
Leadership Teams
Alumni
At every Accelerator Weekend, itrek invites select alumni Leaders to engage and mentor current itrek Leaders.
They will share best practices on how to lead a successful trip, stories and tips about what to do when things inevitably don’t go to plan, and of course network with current Leaders.
Throughout the Weekend, these alumni will take part in conversations about how to shape and continue to develop the itrek Network and introduce existing initiatives to the current Leaders. By bringing alumni, we hope to build bridges between former Leaders, current Leaders, and itrek!