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.

Elena Barmakova

Chairman of the Board, Fontvieille Capital Inc., USA

Elena Barmakova is Chairman of the Board of Fontvieille Capital, a USA-based financial firm that specializes in strategic advising to family offices and ultra high net worth individuals, offers sports investments, real estate investments, as well as advising companies in identifying and structuring international strategic partnerships and joint ventures. Elena Barmakova has over 20 years of international capital market experience in the successful arrangement and development of special situations and cross-border opportunities. Ms. Barmakova is a world-renowned expert and business pioneer, who is internationally recognized for her accomplishments in the highly specialized investment banking spheres. She has worked with venture capital, investment banking firms and leading banking institutions in the USA, Switzerland and Monaco. Ms. Barmakova has a Master's Degree in Finance and Economics and is licensed to transact financial securities and real estate.
Ms. Barmakova was a professional basketball player in Russia and she holds a degree from the Institute of Physical Culture as well as was awarded a diploma for her "Extraordinary Achievements in Sports”.
Elena was one of the finalists and participants in the “Miss USSR” beauty contest, “Best Model of the World” and similar events. She was engaged in media outlets and fashion representations in support of these efforts internationally with various designer brands. Ms. Barmakova is Founder of LenaLoren™ fashion brand.
Elena Barmakova is a member of the WEF Alumni Young Global Leaders. She has completed the YGL executive education program Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century at the John F. Kennedy School of Harvard University.
Since 2017, Elena has been developing sport projects in Europe and Middle East to maximise the commercial opportunity that exists in sports, from the investment model behind Football Clubs, Basketball Clubs, motorsports.
In 2019 Ms. Barmakova was an Advisor to Monaco's Sport Foundation (under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco).
Ms. Barmakova is residing in USA and Monaco, Elena is fond of yachting.

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.

Maria Bartiromo

Anchor; Editor, Global Markets, Fox Business Network, USA

Graduate, New York University. January 2014, joined Fox Business Network (FBN); currently, Anchor and Global Markets Editor. Anchors "Mornings with Maria" on FBN and "Sunday Morning Futures" on Fox News Channel. She is also the anchor for FBN’s weekly primetime investing program "Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street". Has covered business and the economy for more than 30 years and was one of the building blocks of business cable network CNBC. First journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Author of several books, including: "The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival"; "The Weekend That Changed Wall Street"; "The 10 Laws of Enduring Success". Recipient of numerous awards, including: News and Documentary Emmy for Bailout Talks Collapse programme (2008); second Emmy for documentary Inside The Mind of Google (2009); Gracie Award for Greenspan: Power, Money & the American Dream; named one of the 50 Faces That Shaped the Decade, Financial Times (2009); inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Class of 2011 for impact on the cable industry.

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.

Andrew Bastawrous

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Peek Vision, United Kingdom

Dr Andrew Bastawrous is Co-Founder & CEO of Peek Vision, a social impact organization which uses smartphone technology to radically increase access eye care in some of the most challenging places in the world. Andrew is an Ophthalmologist (Eye Surgeon), and Associate Professor in International Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine where he teaches on public health for eye health and leads a research portfolio.

Andrew has worked and undertaken research in over twenty countries including two years living in Kenya where he was leading a major eye disease study and the development and testing of Peek. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles focusing on international eye health and mobile technology in healthcare and has co-authored four book chapters.

Andrew was made a TED Fellow in 2014 and his TED talk has been viewed over one million times. Since then, Peek has run one of the top-ten all-time Indiegogo crowd-funding campaigns in the health sector, for Peek Retina, a smartphone ophthalmoscope.
Peek’s vision check app, Peek Acuity, launched on Google Play store in 2016 and is a certified medical device in use in over 150 countries. Peek's end-to-end services now incorporate their apps and hardware and have been used to transform eye health in Kenya, Botswana and India with new programmes with partners now running in Pakistan and Zimbabwe with plans to expand in to several new countries in 2020.

In 2018, Andrew was invited to address the Commonwealth Service in the presence of the British Royal Family, Prime Minister, and a global live TV and radio audience.

Andrew is working with major banks, eye health organisations and funders to develop innovative financing models for eye health with a $1Bn Vision Catalyst Fund, the subject of his 2018 TED Talk.

Anies Rasyid Baswedan

Founder, Indonesia Mengajar, Indonesia

BA in Economics, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia; MA in Public Management, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland; PhD in Political Science, Northern Illinois University. 2007-15, Rector, Paramadina University. 2014-16, Minister of Education and Culture. Since 2017, Governor of Jakarta. Recipient: Nakasone Yasuhiro Award, Institute for International Policy Studies, Japan (2010). Named: one of the Top 100 Public Intellectuals, Foreign Policy Magazine (2008); one of the World's 20 Future Figures, Foresight Magazine, Japan (2010); one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims, Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (2010).

Zolzaya Batkhuyag

Co-Founder and Advisor, Women for Change, Mongolia

Zolzaya Batkhuyag is the Co-Founder and Advisor of the Women for Change NGO, Mongolia. Since 2008, she has been an advocate for gender justice and human rights, and leading numerous advocacy projects that have raised public awareness and community-building efforts. Zolzaya has a background in law and holds a BA and MA in Development Studies from The University of Melbourne.

Ms. Zolzaya has fruitful experience as a national trainer on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and youth development. She is active in the media and frequently shares her expertise through public speaking engagements. In 2015, she was selected as the Asian Development Fellow by The Asia Foundation as one of 12 young leaders.

Bolor-Erdene Battsengel

Researcher, United Kingdom

Bolor-Erdene Battsengel is a young dynamic leader with over a decade of proven experience working in international organizations, including the World Bank and UN as well as governments and academia.
As the former founding Vice Minister of Digital Development of Mongolia, she led the country's digital transformation, crafting a comprehensive 5-year plan "Digital Nation" policy. She is globally recognised by successfully leading E-Mongolia project which digitalized over 1,500 government services, help reducing red-tape bureaucracy and corruption. Coming from countryside of Mongolia, she founded Girls Code NGO to empower young women and girls from disadvantaged communities to learn STEM education and coding skills.

She has helped many international corporations on AI policies, strategic engagement, public policy and government relations.

Christoph Baumann

Envoy for Sustainable Finance, State Secretariat for International Finance, Switzerland

Christoph Baumann is Envoy for Sustainable Finance at the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF). In this role, he leads the Swiss government's sustainable finance activities, ranging from negotiations in multilateral bodies (such as the G20) to domestic initiatives. Christoph is a Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He holds an LLM in international law from the University of London, a master's degree in economics from the University of Zurich, and is a CFA charterholder.

Christoph is focused on making global financial flows consistent with a pathway to net-zero carbon emissions and a nature-positive state in his multinational roles as head of delegation of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, Co-Chair of the Working Group on Transition Finance of the International Platform on Sustainable Finance, Member of the Stewardship Council of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, as well as Swiss Sherpa of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Domestically, Christoph led the mandatory implementation of climate-related reporting standards - based on the TCFD recommendations. Before joining SIF, he worked in executive positions in the private sector, being instrumental in establishing a securities dealer, a digital bank, and a fintech focused on foundations.

Natalia Bayona

Executive Director, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Spain

Natalia Bayona, current Executive Director of UN Tourism and the first person under 40 to reach this position, was distinguished as one of the 10 most influential Colombians residing in Spain and one of the most influential in Latin-America (Bloomberg). Natalia is also member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) network, and one of the 100 world leaders in innovation according to COTEC.

With an Executive MBA from the IE Business School, and a degree in International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia, Natalia Bayona was recognized with the Eisenhower Fellowship for her leadership and commitment to fostering a more prosperous and fairer world through her work in the tourism sector.

After an extensive career working for Colombia´s public sector, Natalia Bayona was Vice President of Spain Startup-South Summit; she then joined UN Tourism in 2018 and created the Innovation, Education, and Investment Department, where the Organization has undertaken ground-breaking initiatives that include more than 10 global entrepreneurship competitions, numerous national challenges, and over 20 innovation and technology forums.

These efforts have fostered the first Global Innovation Network comprising more than 10,000 start-ups from 100 countries, entrepreneurs, companies, public institutions, educational institutions, accelerators, and investors; this dynamic ecosystem has facilitated the acquisition of over US$214 million (as per Jan 2024) in financing for disruptive companies. Hence, the delivery of important technological results for the tourism industry

Furthermore, Natalia has been instrumental in establishing the first UN Tourism Online Academy to enhance opportunities in education for the tourism industry, boasting students from more than 150 countries and offering courses with scholarships available to students worldwide in partnership with some of the best universities in the world such as Les Roches, HSLU (Lucerne University of Applied Schiences and Arts), Basque Culinary Center, IE University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, or Sharjah University among others. In addition, she enjoys sharing her knowledge as lecturer in different universities including Harvard, Cornell and MIT,

Following her aspiration of generating investment opportunities for tourism, Natalia created the first Official UN Tourism Investment Guideline; she has worked alongside more than 50 countries on the construction of their Tourism Investment Strategies (including Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Chile among others) generating a concrete outlook that reflects their potential for international investors and the opportunities for diversification.

Candice Beaumont

Chief Investment Officer, L Investments, USA

As CIO of L Investments, oversees capital allocation for the family office. Advisory Board Member, Family Office Association. Steering Committee Member: Yale University School of Management College of Family Offices; Princeton University Council of Family Offices and Endowments; NYU Stern Family Office Council. Chairman, Salsano Group. Served on Board of Directors: I2BF Venture Fund II; several charitable boards, including Most Valuable Kids of Greater New York, and Care for Kenya. Thought leader and active speaker on family office investment allocation and diversification across fixed income, hedge funds, private equity, real assets, commodities, alternative energy and impact investing. Worked previously at Lazard Frères executing over $20 billion of merger and acquisition advisory assignments, and in private equity at Argonaut Capital. Trusted Insight: Top 30 Family Office Chief Investment Officers, Young Global Leader World Economic Forum. Active proponent of increasing women on boards. Former world-ranked professional tennis player.

Jessica Beckerman

Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Muso, USA

Jessica Beckerman is a health justice advocate who works to end preventable deaths rooted in poverty by building rapid universal healthcare systems. She is Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Muso, which has given care to 330,000 patients throughout Mali and supports the country’s national community health efforts to deliver health systems impact for 3.4 million of the country's most vulnerable citizens. Muso's work has been featured by The Atlantic, Forbes, The Guardian, BBC World Service and The Financial Times. She is also a practicing Obstetrician-Gynecologist in Oakland, California.