Community

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a community of innovators from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Search current members and alumni by year awarded, sector or region.

Gwenaelle Avice Huet

Executive Vice-President, Europe Operations, Schneider Electric, France

Gwenaelle Avice Huet has been Schneider Electric’s Executive Vice President of Europe Operations since September 4, 2023 and serves on its Executive Committee. She is responsible for Schneider Electric’s full business portfolio across Europe Operations, representing the company’s contribution to the development of the EU’s agenda to accelerate Europe’s green and digital transformation.

Gwenaelle joined Schneider Electric in 2021 as Senior-Vice President of Corporate Strategy, before entering the Executive Committee as Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Before joining Schneider Electric, Gwenaelle worked at ENGIE (formerly GDF SUEZ) in various roles, from Senior Vice-President of European and Regulatory affairs, to leading the Renewables energy business. In her last role, she was on the Executive Committee of ENGIE, serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ENGIE North America and in charge of the Global Business Line on Renewable Energies.

Gwenaelle started her career at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the French Atomic Energy Commission on nuclear energy before joining the World Bank in Washington D.C. as a consultant. She also worked for the service of the French Prime Minister within the General Secretary of European affairs with responsibility for energy and competitiveness matters, and as the advisor on energy and climate change for various ministers.

Gwenaelle also serves on the Board of Air France – KLM. She holds a degree in Physics and Chemistry from the Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, a post-graduate diploma in Molecular Chemistry from France’s Ecole Polytechnique and an engineering degree from the Corps des Ponts et Chaussées. She has also been nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She is based in Europe.

Guillaume Barazzone

Partner, LL.M., Jacquemoud Stanislas Attorneys at Law, Switzerland

Former Mayor of Geneva and member of Swiss Parliament | Swiss lawyer

Jean-Jacques Barbéris

Member of the Executive Committee; Co-Head, Institutional Clients Coverage, Amundi Asset Management, France

Jean-Jacques Barbéris is a former economic adviser to the president of the French Republic. He is currently responsible for the global development of the institutional business at Amundi, a European leader in asset management. He is also chairman of En Temps Réel, a think tank dedicated to social sciences and the future development of the European Union.

Pablo Alberto Barrera Lopez

Chief Executive Officer, Haugaland Kraft, Norway

A passionate multicultural young business leader, Pablo Barrera is determined to transform how large companies act as corporate citizens. Barrera promotes sustainability as an untapped potential rather than a threat and establishes collaborative efforts with other companies to solve some of the key challenges the world faces. Barrera explores new ways to feed a growing population and he works for one of the world's largest crop nutrition companies. Through many years of volunteer work, Barrera has focused on establishing arenas where teenagers and young adults can nurture their talents and develop into responsible forces for good in their societies, regardless of their background.

Katinka Barysch

Chief Human Right Officer, Allianz, Germany

Katinka is an economist, political analyst and consultant. Katinka started out at the Economist Group and then, for over a decade, she helped to build a highly successful policy think-tank in London, the CER. In 2018 she moved into the private sector, to take various leading roles at Allianz group. Katinka has been a successful writer and media commentator and an advisor to several governments, the European Commission, numerous banks and business federations. She was also Strategic Adviser to the Munich Security Conference; David Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission; a WEF Young Global Leader and a Fellow at Chatham House. She studied at the London School of Economics and LMU Munich.

Venetia Bell

Group Chief Sustainability Officer; Head, Strategy, Gulf International Bank (GIB), United Kingdom

Venetia Bell is the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Gulf International Bank (GIB), and Head of Strategy at GIB Asset Management. Amongst other responsibilities, Venetia leads GIB’s drive to embed sustainability and responsible banking principles in everything it does. In 2021, she was instrumental in the successful close of GIB’s sustainability-linked loan, making GIB the first Bahrain-headquartered bank to close such a facility. She also led an award-winning multi-stakeholder initiative to enhance data and funnel private capital towards humanitarian and resilience projects.

Venetia is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a fellow of the Forward Institute, faculty for the Competent Boards Programme, and an alumna of the Mentoring Foundation. She is a Chartered Governance Professional, a designated Climate Competent Director, a Certified Investment Fund Director, and the Chair of Trustees of several charities.

Prior to GIB, she had several roles at the Bank of England, and has published a range of policy-focused research. Venetia graduated with an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an MA degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge UK, and the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, France.

Danae Bezantakou

Chief Executive Officer, Navigator Shipping Consultants Ltd, Greece

Danae Bezantakou holds the positions of CEO of Navigator Shipping Consultants and shareholder of KEFI S.A. & MATILDA HOTEL in Zakynthos Island. One of her biggest accomplishments is the organization of NAVIGATOR – THE SHIPPING DECISION MAKERS FORUM which is the oldest Greek Shipping Forum, enhancing the open dialogue among the stakeholders of the Greek and International Maritime Clusters annually since 2001. She is the Concept Founder of Young Executives Shipping (YES) FORUM - the platform of open dialogue among principals, executives and university students, recent graduates and young executives in Shipping and Sea Tourism Sectors. She also serves as Secretary General of International Propeller Club (Port of Piraeus) and President of iforU-Greek Mentoring Network, which empowers small and medium women entrepreneurs through mentoring & networking & chairs the education committee of ICC Women in Greece. Danae was appointed as European Young Leader in 2013 and as Young Global Leader at World Economic Forum in 2015.
Danae represented Greece twice in International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of State Dpt. in 2011 and in 2017. She is founding member and President of the Hellenic U.S. Alumni Association of State Department Programs. Her dedication to the growth of Entrepreneurship made her to be named as a Role Model in the campaign #Makingithappen organized by the U.S. Embassy to Greece. Recently she was chosen among 225,000 alumni of State Dept. As one of the 80 #FacesofExchange initiative highlighting 80 years of the IVLP and the impact of her work on the global community.
She regularly participates as a speaker, judge or mentor in startup competitions, Shipping fora, school and university lectures and events related to entrepreneurship.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality and Tourism Management from the University of Surrey. She has a 13 year old daughter.

Adam C. Bird

Director, McKinsey & Company, Germany

Adam Bird is a Director with McKinsey & Company and Co-Leader of the Global Media and Entertainment Practice. He advises the top management of leading global media, entertainment, technology and consumer goods companies on critical business issues and leads McKinsey's Digital Marketing Practice, as well as the firm's Global Digital Initiative. Prior to McKinsey, Bird was the youngest Senior Partner with Booz & Company (formerly Booz Allen Hamilton). He founded the European Media and Entertainment Practice and led the Global Consumer and Media Practice. He also served as a Member of Booz Allen Hamilton's and Booz & Company's Board of Directors, the firm's highest governance bodies. Bird is co-author of Customer Centricity: New Opportunities for the Media Industry. He often speaks on media topics at conferences and is cited in leading publications. Bird is a Member of the International Council of the Paley Center for Media and serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Munich International School. He is an honours graduate of Wesleyan University.

Thor Björgolfsson

Chairman, Novator Partners LLP, United Kingdom

Thor Björgólfsson is a self-styled “adventure capitalist”, who became Iceland’s first billionaire in 2005. Thor began investing in frontier markets in Russia in 1991, founding a bottling company that grew into the Bravo brewing group, subsequently sold to Heineken in 2002. Following that transaction Thor founded Novator Partners in London in 2004, diversifying into telecoms and pharmaceuticals, building a portfolio of business investments.

Today, through his firm Novator, Thor continues to be an active investor in the emerging economies of Europe, South America and India as well as in his native country, Iceland. He also personally invests in cutting-edge sustainability initiatives including Princeville Capital, a fund for growth-stage tech companies focused on positively impacting climate change as well as David de Rothschild’s sustainable brand, The Lost Explorer, which focuses on protecting the heritage and biodiversity of Mexico.

Since 2006, Thor has progressively directed his attention towards the mobile telecommunications sector and Gaming, and his extensive expertise across diverse markets is unparalleled. In 2015 Thor brought this extensive experience to the South American market where he maintains a shareholding in telecoms Mobile operator WOM in Chile and Colombia, with a combined customers of ca 13 million and over 6000 direct employees. WOM has already build the fastest 5G network in LATAM in Chile.

Thor was made a Young Global Leader at the WEF in Davos in the first cohort of that group in 2005 and today serves as a Board Member there, as well as founding the Endowment fund for YGL’s with other alumni
Thor has supported numerous philanthropic causes throughout the years, both in his home country, Iceland as well as in London. Furthermore, Thor has extended his efforts in alternative countries where he has assisted in various projects concerning environmental issues and numerous charitable causes. As well as this, Thor has supported his alma mater, New York University’s Stern School of Business, as well as the Young Global Leaders’ programs so as to assist students and upcoming entrepreneurs from developing nations unleash their potential.

Thor’s autobiography, “Billions to Bust—and Back: How I Made, Lost and Rebuilt a Fortune, And What I Learned on the Way” was published in 2014. A revised edition, "Billions to Bust – and Beyond", is scheduled to launch this year, with an added chapter on his investments and business in Latin America.

Giulio Boccaletti

Co-Founder, Chloris Geospatial Inc., United Kingdom

Giulio Boccaletti, Ph.D. is an author, entrepreneur, senior executive, and a globally recognized expert on natural resource security and environmental sustainability. He is an Honorary Research Associate in the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University and senior fellow at the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change.
Trained as a physicist and climate scientist, he holds a doctorate from Princeton University, where he was a NASA Earth Systems Science Fellow. He has been a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a partner of the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader of its sustainability practice, and the chief strategy officer of The Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental organization in the world.
His book Water: A Biography (Pantheon Books) was on The Economist’s list of best books for 2021 and has been translated in multiple languages. He writes on environmental issues for news media and is an expert contributor to the World Economic Forum, which named him one of its Young Global Leaders. He routinely contributes to documentary series: his work on water has been featured in the award winning PBS documentary series H2O: The Molecule that Made Us, and he was series consultant to the PBS/BBC series The Age of Nature.
He is the co-founder of Chloris Geospatial, a venture-backed company that uses remote sensing and machine learning to help companies and institutions put nature on the balance sheet. Chloris Geospatial was recognized as a top innovator in the Carbon Market Challenge of UpLink at the World Economic Forum.

Alexis Bonte

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, eRepublik Labs Ltd, Spain

Alexis Bonte is the Group COO and President NA of Stillfront (Nasdaq traded Games company) where he focuses on operations and co-leads Stillfront's game studios alongside the Group CEO. He also supports the exec team on strategy and M&A. Alexis was previously the CEO of eRepublik Labs the studio he founded and that is part of Stillfront. Within Atomico VC, Alexis sourced investments in Spain and France as well as in the Games and consumer verticals and helped portfolio companies accelerate their growth. Although he is an active angel investor, Alexis has now taken a step back from VC to focus on Stillfront. He also serve on the OhBibi and Tezos Foundation boards where he is now the chairman. Alexis co-founded Chamberi Valley (Madrid entrepreneur's non-profit), is an early pledger in Founders Pledge and was part of the founding team of lastminute.com one of the first European Internet Unicorns.

Geoffrey Bouquot

Chief Technology Officer and Group Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and External Relations, Valeo, France

Geoffrey Bouquot has joined Valeo in December 2015 as Group Vice-President, Corporate Strategy & External Relations.
In June 2020, Geoffrey Bouquot has been appointed Group Senior Vice-President R&D and Product Marketing in addition to his current role.
Since 2014, he was Technical Advisor for Industrial Affairs of the French Minister of Defence.
Previously, he was Chargé d'Affaires of the Aerospace & Defense sector within the French Agency of State Participation (Agence des participations de l'État, APE).
He was also Project Manager Purchasing and Subcontracting within the Latécoère Group, and served as Head of Mission to the CEO of the OCP Group.
Born in 1985, Geoffrey Bouquot graduated from the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique (2005) and the Ecole des Mines de Paris, distinguished for the outstanding performance of its research centers.