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.

Yang Lin

President, Innovation Ideas Institute, USA

Lin is named as a Young Global Leader and New Champion with the World Economic Forum. She is a seasoned cross-discipline, cross-culture entrepreneur, executive and former TV News Anchor; Her career spans across Business-Policy-Media; Founder of Innovation Ideas Institute dedicated to foster Innovation thought leadership; With uniquely combined background in TV+VC+higher education, currently building The INNOVATORS, the 1st virtual & visual innovation eco-system for academia, industry leaders, startup disruptors, venture capitalists, and policy makers. She also had extensive experiences in think tanks on international relations.

Her professional footprint ranges from broadcasting at the world's largest TV studios to researching and lecturing at the finest universities to building entrepreneurial 3i think tank and INNOVATORS platform; from fireside chats with policy makers, multinational business leaders to interviews with the most cutting edge startup founders; from researching with farmers in rural mountains to studying the smart manufacturing 4.0 factories; from conversing with Uber drivers in cities around the world to discussing with the brightest minds in US-China policy…

Yoshiki Yasui

President and Chief Executive Officer, Yasui & Company, USA

Yoshiki Yasui is President & CEO of Yasui & Company, an independent financial service firm focused on financial advisory, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financial restructuring as well as principal investments focusing on early stage companies with multiple portfolio companies in the U.S. and Japan. Currently also serving as the mentor and innovation fellow for Harvard Innovation Labs. He was also selected as Young Global Leaders Class of 2020 by the World Economic Forum known for its Davos meeting.

Born in Toronto in 1985, Yoshiki spent his childhood in Toronto and New York until moving to Japan at the age of 10. Yoshiki studied at the University of Sydney and Waseda University. Upon graduation, Yoshiki began his work in the Investment Banking Division for Lehman Brothers. Later he worked at a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm, DCM where he was responsible for investments in the US, Japan and China. Yoshiki founded a mobile payment company Origami in 2012, which was later acquired by a Japanese listed company Mercari. Yoshiki has been a board member of the Payments Japan Association, as well as the New Industrial Structure Council of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. Awarded a certificate of completion for the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Executive Education.

Songyee Yoon

Chairman, NC Foundation, USA

Songyee Yoon is a successful entrepreneur, innovator, and investor. As the President and Chief Strategy Officer of NCSOFT (KRX:036570), a global leader in online game development and publishing, Yoon played a pivotal role in guiding the company through AI transformation. She utilized cutting-edge technology for game development and improved various aspects of the business. Under her insightful leadership, NCSOFT's workforce grew from 350 employees to a team of 5,000 professionals across seven countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, and the company's revenue surpassed 2 billion USD.

As the founder and managing partner of Chamaeleon, a quant and tech-based early stage venture capital firm, she invests in innovative startups at the intersection of gaming, AI, and consumer technology. Yoon's strategic expertise spans a wide range of domains, including early monetization strategy, organizational development, marketing, branding, business development and partnerships, licensing, and other strategic initiatives that have cemented NCSOFT's position as a market leader. She chaired the ESG committee and NC University, demonstrating her commitment to fostering responsible business practices and nurturing talent within the organization.

Yoon is the chairperson and founder of the NCSOFT Cultural Foundation, she actively engages herself in various philanthropic initiatives including main sponsor for Special Olympics, collaboration with UN Food Program and UNHCR. In an effort to support working parents, Yoon personally oversaw the development of the “Laughing Peanut,” a daycare facility that accommodates 400 children and is located at the NCSOFT R&D center. She also oversaw the development of “Projectory,” a program for nurturing and fostering creativity.

Yoon has supported AI and ethics education at higher education institutions through the Embedded EthiCS program at MIT, Harvard, and Stanford Universities. Her passion for this topic led her to publish a book, The Most Humane Future, which is one of the most cited books on the ethical development of AI in Korea. Yoon also served as an advisory board member of the Center for Asia Pacific Policy and a visiting fellow at the Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy at RAND, where she continues to explore the social impacts of AI, equity, and the ethical sides of technology.

Songyee holds a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from MIT, where she also serves as a board member. She is an inaugural member of the Advisory Council of Stanford University's Human-Centered AI and has served on South Korea's Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology under two presidents. She has also been serving on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace board. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, was named one of the 50 Women to Watch in Business by the Wall Street Journal, and also was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum

Kaliya Young

Director, Networks, Planetwork, USA

Kaliya is a leading expert on blockchain and Identity also known as self-sovereign Identity. She served from 2012-2015 on the Management Council for the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group an Obama Administration effort to make the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace real. 2010, Founder, Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium. 2005, Co-Founder, Co-Producer, Facilitator, Internet Identity Workshop. Works with Planetwork to grow open standards-based infrastructure for citizens and organizations to connect outside of commercial silos/platforms. Inspiration to transform how the internet works comes from their work in the early 2000s and the paper they published in 2003: Augmented Social Network: Building Identity and Trust in the Next Generation Internet.

Has a parallel independent career designing and facilitating unconferences (interactive participant driven conferences) for a range of professional communities worldwide.

She has a Master of Science in Identity Management and Security from University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, focused on Political, Economic and Human Rights, University of California, Berkeley. She also played on their varsity water polo team and was a member of the Canadian National Water Polo Team.

Monica Yunus

Co-Founder, Sing for Hope, USA

A leading voice in the artist as citizen discussion, Soprano Monica Yunus is the Co-Founder of Sing for Hope, a leading non-profit that brings arts outreach programs to communities in need and presents initiatives that make the arts accessible to all. An internationally-renowned soprano, Monica has performed with the world's leading companies and in recitals in Spain, France, and her native Bangladesh. She has been honored with a 21st Century Leaders Award and, received a US Congressional Citation, among other honors. The daughter of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Monica is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Andrey Zarur

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Greenlight Biosciences Inc, USA

Andrey J. Zarur is Founder and CEO of GreenLight Biosciences, a diversified biotechnology company delivering natural solutions for human health, animal health and agricultural applications. Prior to GreenLight, Dr. Zarur was the Founder and Chairman of Solid Biosciences, a gene therapy company addressing neuromuscular genetic disorders. Dr. Zarur is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lumicell Surgical. Dr. Zarur is a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He obtained undergraduate degrees from the National University of Mexico and doctoral degrees from MIT and Harvard Medical School. He is the author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds over one hundred issued and pending patents.

Michelle Zatlyn

Co-Founder, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cloudflare, USA

Michelle Zatlyn is co-founder, President, and COO of Cloudflare, the Internet security, performance, and
reliability company on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare is a publicly traded company
on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: NET). Prior to co-founding Cloudflare, Michelle held positions at
Google and Toshiba and launched two successful startups. Michelle currently serves on the board of
directors for Atlassian and the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Foundation. Michelle has
been named to Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list and was part of Marie Claire’s 7th Annual New Guard. She
holds a B.S. degree, with distinction, from McGill University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School,
where she was awarded the Dubilier Prize for Entrepreneurship.

Longmei Zhang

M-RCBG senior fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA

M-RCBG senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund, served as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Resident Representative for China from 2017-2020. Previously, China Economist in the Asia and Pacific Department based in Washington DC, focused on macroeconomic forecasting, broader China rebalancing and issues on high savings. Co-edited the book “ The future of China’s Bond Market’. Before working on China, worked on regional issues in Asia-Pacific and published research in a wide range of areas, including long-term growth/middle-income trap, macroprudential policies, corporate leverage, and capital flows and asset prices. Prior to that, worked on the Philippines, focusing on macro surveillance and labor market issues. Also worked on Romania, engaged in IMF program negotiations and reviews. Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. PhD in Economics from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Zhang Lu

Founding and Managing Partner, Fusion Fund, USA

Founding and Managing Partner, Fusion Fund. World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2018). Recipient of honours and awards, including: Honouree in VC, Forbes 30 Under 30, Silicon Valley Women of Influence 2018, Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer, and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth. Formerly: Venture Partner, Fenox Venture Capital; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). Speaker at tech events and conferences and also serves as a mentor and adviser to several tech innovation programmes in Silicon Valley. Member of the Board: Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award. MSc in Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Jonathan Zittrain

George Bemis Professor of International Law and Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University, USA

BSc in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Yale; MPA, JD, Harvard. Co-Founder, Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society; George Bemis Professor of International Law, Harvard Law School and John F. Kennedy School of Government; Professor of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science; Director, Harvard Law School Library. Former Trustee, Internet Society. Member, Council on Foreign Relations. Principal, Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund. Justice of the Peace. Author of "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It". Research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, cybersecurity and privacy, the roles of intermediaries within internet architecture, human computing, artificial intelligence, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Meta, USA

2004, Founder, Thefacebook.

Alix Zwane

Senior Advisor and Former CEO, Global Innovation Fund, USA

Former Chief Executive Officer, Global Innovation Fund, a hybrid investment vehicle that makes debt, equity, and grant investments to accelerate evidence-based innovation that improves the lives of poor people. Some 20 years of experience advancing the agenda of evidence-based aid and international development as investor, social entrepreneur and innovator. Has worked at the intersection of the evidence and innovation agendas. The first employee and Executive Director at Evidence Action, a non-profit that develops service delivery models to scale evidence-based programmes; catalysed school-based deworming for hundreds of millions of children around the world and safe drinking water for millions of people in four countries. Launched Evidence Action Beta, an incubator for innovations in development. Has also advocated for evidence-based philanthropy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Google.org, Began career in management consulting and was a member of the faculty of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department at University of California, Berkeley. Has published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and elsewhere. Former Member, Board of Directors, Innovations for Poverty Action, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, and Evidence Action. PhD in Public Policy. World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.