Board of Directors

Born and raised in Montreal, Adam Shapiro founded Start-Up Nation Mentorship during his sophomore year at Cornell University. Adam sought to create an initiative that would provide transformative career opportunities to students from all backgrounds and bridge geopolitical divides on college campuses. Adam now lives in Los Angeles and works at Oaktree Capital Management, a global investment firm. Previously, Adam worked as an Investment Associate at KKR in New York City.

Ben Spilg is the Vice-Chairman at Start-Up Nation Mentorship, having previously served as CEO for two years while studying at McGill University in 2022. Ben interned at WalkMe and now works at a start-up in Tel Aviv.

Dean is a Partner at Sequoia Capital, where he leads investments in Cloud, Data, and AI technology. Before joining Sequoia, Dean was an investor at Vine Ventures, where he led early-stage investments across the U.S. and Israel. Dean holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Reichman University, graduating summa cum laude. Before Dean’s academic and professional career, he played professional soccer at Ajax Amsterdam in Holland and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.

Born and raised in Montreal, Justin Shapiro is a resident physician in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Western University. He received his MD in 2023 from the University of Toronto, where he completed a concurrent MSc in Health System Leadership & Innovation. During his undergraduate studies at Western, he served on the university’s Board of Governors and Senate, the school’s two highest authoritative bodies. Justin plans to pursue a career at the nexus of surgery, research and innovation.

Cami Tussie is currently a fourth-year dental student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where she leads the Jewish organization at Harvard Medical and Dental School. Born in Buenos Aires and raised in South Florida, Cami received her B.S. in Bioengineering from Stanford University. She is particularly interested in the intersection of dentistry with Artificial Intelligence. Cami views SUNM as a bridge between future leaders and the beautiful innovation ecosystem of Israel.

Olivia Levine is an investor at Lead Edge Capital. She is a graduate of Duke University where she studied Public Policy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship. She graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors. While at Duke, she was on the executive board of TAMID, the first female president of Chabad at Duke, and pursued research in crime from firearms.

Dani Springer is a J.D. Candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. In 2023, she graduated from McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management, majoring in International Business and Strategic Management. Since joining SUNM, Dani has served as both CMO and CEO, and continues to contribute as a Board Member.

Elan Arnowitz is an investor at Insight Partners and is based in New York City. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business with a minor in history. Previously, he was an investor at Red Beard Ventures - an early stage crypto/web3 fund. He also worked on the information technology team at Marriott International. In his free time, Elan enjoys DJing, skiing, and traveling.