Israel – Premier Tech partner Sylvan Adams took up bike racing at age 41 as an age group Masters racer in Canada, where he lived until emigrating to Israel at the end of 2015.
Sylvan’s cycling accomplishments include six Canadian Master’s titles, four Pan American golds, four Maccabiah (Jewish “Olympics”) gold medals, and two World Championships titles. More recently, Sylvan also won the Israeli Master’s national championship, in his new country.
Adams was born and raised in Canada. He served for close to 30 years as President and CEO of Iberville Developments, one of Canada’s largest real-estate development companies. At the end of 2015, he emmigrated to Israel (made “Aliyah”) and settled in Tel Aviv.
Since moving to Israel, Adams’ calls himself: “Self-Appointed Ambassador, at Large, for Israel”. In this role, his philanthropic mission is to promote his adopted country, both abroad and within, in creative, innovative ways, befitting the energy and spirit of Israel, the Start-up Nation. Several of his projects relate to sporting
activities, due to his belief that such participation can build bridges and new friendships.
Some of his activities include:
– Co-owner of Israel – Premier Tech, Israel’s first professional road racing team.
– Bringing the Big Start of the 2018 Giro D’Italia to Israel, the first time a Grand Tour had ever raced outside of Europe, and being named the Honorary Chairman of the Giro 2018 Grande Partenza.
– Building the Sylvan Adams National Velodrome in Tel Aviv, the first Velodrome in the Middle East.
– Creating the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute (SASI) at Tel Aviv University, a facility dedicated to applied sports science, exploring the boundaries of high-performance athletes, and helping to facilitate Israeli champions. SASI has partnered with McGill University in Montreal, engaging in joint and complementary research.
– Creating the Sylvan Adams commuter cycling path network in Tel Aviv, working to turn his city into the “Amsterdam” of the Middle East.
– Fostering interaction between Israeli and Canadian cyclists and athletes.
– Creating the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the Jerusalem International YMCA, fostering participation amongst Israel’s and Jerusalem’s diverse communities, both religious and ethnic. This Sports Center also hosts an NBA Junior League branch, where children from all communities compete together in a spirit of sportsmanship.
Adams also donates to various projects in social, cultural, and scientific areas, including:
– Creating a state-of-the-art emergency ward at Tel Aviv’s principal hospital, the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (more commonly known as “Ichilov”).
– Building a new children’s hospital at Wolfson Hospital in Holon (nicknamed the City of Children)
– Major donor to “Save a Child’s Heart”, offering life saving heart surgery to Israelis and Palestinian children at Wolfson Hospital, as well as mobile teams operating on children in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
– Annual doctoral scholarships in scientific fields, the “Adams Fellowships”, under the auspices of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
– Major donor endowing Rhodes scholarships for Israelis, in perpetuity.
– Providing annual scholarships in the Arts at Shenkar Academy of Art and Design.
– Funding of numerous cultural exchanges, including the Celebrity Chef Birthright Mission (American “celebrity” chefs and food critics touring Israel and experiencing the hot Israeli food scene), and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens performances at the Habimah Theatre in Tel Aviv.
– Founder of the annual Nefesh b’Nefesh Bonei Zion prizes, recognizing meritorious contributions to the country by Israeli immigrants from English speaking countries.
– Partner in SpaceIL, which launched an Israeli spacecraft to the moon. Israel became the fourth country to land on the moon, after the three Superpowers: USSR, USA, China, and the first to do so funded principally with private funds.
– Bringing Madonna to Israel to perform and mentor at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Tel Aviv.
But most of all, Sylvan enjoys riding with the team on training rides and being “one of the boys,” or has he describes it, “rider #32” on IPT.
Ron Baron founded the team, then known as Israel Cycling Academy in 2014, with a dream of seeing the first Israeli rider compete in the Tour de France.
Ron is an Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of Livermore Investments Group. He is one of the two founders of the Company in 2007 and led Livermore since then to become one of the largest and most successful investors in the US CLO market.
Ron previously served as a senior management member at Bank Leumi (Switzerland) and as a lawyer in the banking and M&A space. Ron received an LLB (Law) and BA in Economics from Tel Aviv University, graduating magna cum laude, in addition to receiving an MBA from INSEAD in 2001. Ron was previously a Major in the Israeli Navy and served as a commander of a squadron of boats.
Apart from his business and philanthropic ventures, Ron is a passionate cyclist and athlete and participates in CX and road races, triathlons, Ironman competitions and cross country skiing races.
A passionate cyclist and entrepreneur, Jean Bélanger draws upon almost 35 years of experience in business, driving forward sustainable impacts in his communities. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and is the President and CEO of Premier Tech.
Jean strongly believes in the importance and power of giving back. This is why he has been committed, both personally and through Premier Tech, to the areas of health, education, and sports.
Being an assiduous and passionate cyclist since more than 30 years, there are only few days without a cycling training on his schedule.
Israel – Premier Tech is Israel’s first elite cycling team, founded in 2014, and co-owned by Sylvan Adams and Ron Baron. Israel – Premier Tech Academy is the team’s continental level development squad.