MEET Management Team

Anat Binur, Executive Board Anat is a PhD student at MIT in Political Science with a concentration in Political Economy. Anat has a Masters in Public Policy from Columbia University in New York and a law degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Anat was the Jerusalem manager and board member of "Dor Shalom," a grassroots social organization initiated after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. Anat has diverse political and management experience including working for Israel's State Attorney and for the US House of Congress.

Assaf A. Harlap, Executive Board Assaf is currently involved in sales and marketing management in Israel's largest automotive company. He has experience in corporate finance and Asian based hedge fund investment, working in Hong Kong and Japan. He is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, where he majored in Japanese Studies. Beyond Japanese, his passion for new languages and cultures draws him to seek proficiency in Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. During the past six years he has been traveling, working or studying in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Africa. His interests lie in cinema studies, social entrepreneurship and photography.

Yaron Binur, Executive Board Yaron is a fourth year student majoring in Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For the past two years he was the Vice President of "MIT Africa Internet Technology Initiative" (MIT-AITI), a program started by MIT students to integrate computers and Internet technology into the education of students in African schools. In addition, Yaron was the co-chair of the Student Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP), a committee that aims to improve the undergraduate educational experience at MIT through policy. His academic interests lie in computer science and education, as well as in public policy and development studies.

Amir Ofek, Executive Board Amir is the Director of Management Services at Amodcs. In the past he was a Director for Business Processes Improvement and an IT Engineer at Elbit Systems Ltd. where he also coordinated a tutoring program helping to prepare new Ethiopian immigrants for their high school final exams. Amir earned an MBA from INSEAD Graduate School at Fountainebleau, France, and majored in Knowledge Engineering and Information Systems from the Technion Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management. He is also a member of the Public Council of "The People's Voice" ("Hamifkad Hleumi") initiative.

Abeer Hazboun, Director Abeer was born and raised in Bethlehem. She graduated from the Hebrew University majoring in Chemistry and Biology. She has been working as an instructor in The Belmonte Science Center for Youth at Hebrew University until 2004 when she joined MEET's management. Her main interests lay in developing education and science programs among youth, especially Palestinian young students who have great raw material but lack the necessary care.

Max Goldman, Chief Technical Officer Max finished his degree in Mathematics with Computer Science at MIT during the Spring of 2004, and immediately left the USA for Jerusalem to join MEET's first instructor team. Since then he has lived in the town of Haifa in the north of Israel, working on a Master's degree at the Technion while traveling to Jerusalem regularly to mentor and develop MEET's yearlong projects. He is responsible for developing MEET's technical curriculum as well as various software and technological solutions for both managment and students. In the summer of 2005, Max led the instructor team as Head Instructor and did what he likes best - teaching.

Marta Luczynska, Yearlong Program Manager Marta received her B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering a MIT in 2006 and spent Summer 2006 as a Year 2 instructor in MEET. She fell in love with the students and the program, and a Masters of Engineering later (in Computational Biology in 2007 also at MIT), she returned to MEET as the Yearlong Program Manager, managing all aspects of the 2007-08 Yearlong Program. Marta's interests lie in international development. She's worked on various projects in Africa, including teaching and building a prototype of a treadle-powered peanut oil press, and developed technologies to aid in humanitarian landmine removal. She's a receipient of the 2006 Anita Borg Scholarship and a 2006 Microsoft iCampus grant. Her goal in life is to change the world.

Omer Shatzky, Mentor Program Director 2006-07 Omer is currently working in Mercado as a professional services manager. He graduated from the Technion in the Department of Food Engineering & Biotechnology, and is a qualified chef. However, he decided to let cooking remain a hobby and became trained in the field of Computer Science nearly eight years ago. After successfully mentoring a group of MEET students in 2004, Omer was invited to head the entire management of the Mentor Program in 2005-6.

Jonathan Varsanik, Head of Curriculum Jon is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT. He received undergraduate degrees in Physics and EECS in 2005 and a Master of Engineering Degree of EECS in 2006, all from MIT. Jon's research has spanned a wide breadth of electrical engineering disciplines and he has worked as a technology consultant for an upcoming book as well as the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a science policy think tank in Washington, DC. Since joining MEET in 2006, Jon has been a Year 2 instructor and the President of the MIT Student Group. He is an assistant coach of the MIT Varsity Swimming and Diving Team and enjoys playing volleyball.

Shelly Manber, MIT Student Group President Shelly Manber is currently a senior at MIT majoring in Mathematics. Shelly joined MEET in the summer of 2006 as a Year One instructor and has continued to be involved since then. She enjoys running, dancing, fiction writing, math, and, of course, programming. She cares very strongly about helping people to understand each other, and her life dream is to contribute to bringing peace to the Middle East.

Mustafa Hussein, Project Manager Mustafa is Project Manager for the Summer Program and student recruitment. Amongst other things he has in the past worked for the Children Cancer Unit at Hadassah, Ein Karem Hostipal. Mustafa qualified as a Computerised Graphics Engineer however has chosen to join MEET in order to fulfil his long standing ambition of bringing together Palestinian and Jewish youth. His personal interests include photography and graphic design.