Q&A With New Board Member Wade Rubinstein

A long-time volunteer, community partner, and Leadership Council member, Wade Rubinstein recently joined IINE’s Board of Directors. As Founder and President of The Bike Connector, Inc. in Lowell, Massachusetts, Wade spends his days making bikes accessible and safe for everyone, including many IINE clients who bike to work, school, shopping and appointments. The son of immigrants to the United States, Wade has devoted many hours to supporting refugees, including helping to find housing for a family who fled Afghanistan and settled in Eastern Massachusetts. He brings deep experience in information technology, education, and entrepreneurship to his new role.   

We spoke with Wade to learn more about his family’s history, how his involvement with IINE has grown over the years, and what gives him hope as he thinks about the organization’s future. 

Can you share a bit about yourself?

I am the son of immigrants. My mother’s family came to Boston in the 1920s after fleeing pogroms in Russia. My father, who grew up in a town that’s now part of Ukraine, was a Holocaust survivor. During the war, he was in hiding for 3 years. The Soviets liberated him in the spring of 1944. An orphan after the war, my dad lived in Displaced Persons camps in Czechoslovakia and Germany. He was smuggled into Palestine in 1946 and came to the U.S. as a refugee in the early 1950s to join family members who were already here. 

My parents’ journeys have shaped me in a foundational way. Because of their resilience and hard work, I had the chance to become a first-generation college graduate.

I studied computer science at Boston College (in the same class as IINE CEO and President Jeff Thielman!). After college, I worked at a Digital Equipment Corporation for 10 years, before going on to work at several telecommunications start-ups. In 2003, I left the field and pursued a degree in elementary education. I taught in West Newton for a couple of years. Then, I decided to open up an ice cream shop, Reasons to Be Cheerful, which I ran for eight years. I sold the shop in 2018 and founded The Bike Academy, which was an after-school bike riding program in Lowell and morphed into the nonprofit I run today – The Bike Connector.   

I’ve always felt life is too short to not pursue your interests; it keeps things interesting! And for me, it’s felt like my opportunity to live the American Dream – which I can only do because of the choices and sacrifices my parents made.  

Tell us about your journey to the International Institute of New England. 

In 2017, I attended a Suitcase Stories® event in my community. Hearing the speakers share their migration stories piqued my interest, and I decided to get involved. I began volunteering with the ESOL team in Lowell. It was awesome. I met so many amazing people, including Ungaye – a refugee youth whom I remain close to today and who now works at The Bike Connector. I loved being in a classroom with immigrants from all over the world—a room filled with different languages and customs—as they learned English and about the U.S. The experience opened up my eyes and my heart.  

After establishing The Bike Connector, I noticed that many of IINE’s clients rode bikes. There was a clear need: bikes are an inexpensive means of transportation, don’t require a license, and are faster than walking. But often, the bikes the immigrants were riding were unsafe; they were broken, mis-sized, and at times, literally pulled out of the city’s canals.  

I began donating bikes to the ESOL students, and over time, the relationship between our organization and IINE grew. We’ve given bikes to Haitian and Central and South American immigrants, Ukrainian refugees, and Afghan refugees. IINE’s Case Managers bring their clients to us, and we get to be some of the first folks they meet in this country. In addition to providing bikes, we provide maintenance support so people can stay on their bikes. We also work closely with IINE’s refugee youth clients to teach them bike safety and the rules of the road.  

What motivates you to give to IINE? Is there someone you honor by doing so?  

My mother and father have passed, but at IINE, I see them in the eyes of the people we serve. These are people who have taken huge risks and are working really hard to provide their children with better lives, people who want to honor their cultures and traditions and also integrate and become American. I feel a real emotional connection to their stories.  

I also think about the help my father received when he first came to the U.S. HIAS, a Jewish American nonprofit, was instrumental in helping him navigate his new home, where everything felt complex and foreign, and find success. I see IINE providing that same life-changing support.   

I find it so upsetting how immigration has become such a divisive issue. I want to make sure immigrants feel welcome and supported here – that they find opportunity, just like my parents did. Their journeys aren’t easy, and they deserve our help.  

What do you consider a board member’s most important responsibilities?

The primary responsibility is the fiscal sustainability of the organization. The board has to ensure the organization can adapt to where the winds are blowing – and IINE has proven it can do this. I’ve been so impressed with IINE’s board, executive team, and all of the staff. I’ve watched in recent years as the organization has navigated changing political winds, the fall of Afghanistan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. IINE was able to scale and respond to crisis after crisis, and to do it all with such dedication and a big heart. That tremendous adaptability is only possible with exceptional staff and strong leadership.  

I’m looking forward to building on this work as a board member so that the organization, its staff, and the clients can all thrive.  

What excites you most about IINE’s future? 

There are over 100 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the world and who need a safe haven. That IINE is able to provide that safe haven and touch as many lives as we do – that makes me very happy. By providing support to find housing and jobs, learn English, and access legal services, IINE makes the transition to a new country a little easier. I’m excited for IINE’s impact to continue to grow.  

I’m also excited to see how IINE’s clients will give back, as I know they will. Whenever I’m hiring for an open position at The Bike Connector, the first place I look for candidates is IINE’s clients. If you can negotiate fleeing your home and coming to the U.S.—which for many people can take years or decades—you are clearly resilient. Those are the people I want to work with. They are highly motivated and make a positive contribution to their new country.

Welcoming immigrants truly benefits us all – it’s our nation’s diversity that makes it so awesome. I see people every day, coming from all kinds of backgrounds, making connections. Where else in the world can you see that? It gives me a lot of hope.  

IINE’s Board of Directors includes corporate and community leaders from across New England. View our members and leadership team here.