ROI announces its fellows

ROI, a global community of young Jewish innovators created by Lynn Schusterman through a partnership between the Center for Leadership Initiatives and Taglit-Birthright Israel revealed, the list of fellows who have been invited to participate in the annual ROI workshop and conference in Israel.

Here’s their announcement, written by Esther Kustanowitz [[READMORE]]:

You’ve been waiting. And you’ve been patient.

So here they are: representing 29 countries from Australia to China, from Argentina to Romania (to name just a few), the 120 people who will be attending this summer’s ROI Summit.

So, about that list…if you count the names, you’ll come up with fewer than 120 names. We’re still waiting for a few more confirmations. But since these are the folks who have already confirmed, we decided to post their names and will add the last few names during the next few days.

Also, in the coming week or so, look for hyperlinks, linking the name of the ROIer to his or her bio, so ROIers and the greater Jewish innovation community at large can get to know a little bit about the people at this summer’s summit and the projects they represent.

You’ll also see that we’re announcing the track facilitators for this year’s summit: an accomplished group of dynamic young leaders (including three veteran ROIers), they have already begun communicating with each other about plans for this summer. You can also expect to see their bios on the site shortly.

While we’re happy to announce and celebrate this summer’s participants, some of you reading this may not have been accepted to this year’s conference; we are sensitive to your disappointment and we thank you for your enthusiasm on behalf of Jewish innovation. Your passion and commitment were instrumental in bringing us nearly 600 applications, blessing us with an overwhelming number of quality candidates, which unfortunately also meant making difficult decisions. We at the ROI Community are committed to creating opportunities in the coming year to involve a wider audience, and we look forward to sharing news about this with you soon.

As always, stay tuned to ROICommunity.org (and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/roicommunity) for more news and discussion about the summit, our ROIers, and the world of Jewish innovation. We look forward to our continued partnership in forging a brilliant, diverse, creative Jewish future.

To check out the list of participants, click here.

Some stats about this list of nearly 120:

• Participants are divided into eight tracks: Arts & Culture, Networks of Purpose, Tikkun Olam, Visions of Israel, New Media, Environment, Bridge Building and Jewish Education.

• As in every year, ROI allotted 1/3 of slots to Israelis; 1/3 to the US and Canada; and 1/3 to the rest of the world to ensure diversity, and in a nod to the fact that today’s Jewish community is not just local, it’s international/global.

• So far, 29 countries represented among the confirmed ROIers, including China, Paraguay, Argentina, Australia, Romania, India, Brazil, France, and others (and obviously, the US and Israel).

• Equal gender distribution – 50% men / 50% women right now.

• Three former ROIers are acting as track facilitators (an example of identifying and utilizing people from our own network of leadership)