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.

Jane Burston

Chief Executive Officer, Clean Air Fund, United Kingdom

Jane Burston is Clean Air Fund’s founding Executive Director. The Clean Air Fund is a philanthropic organisation dedicated to creating a future where everyone breathes clean air. It grants ~$20m/year to air pollution reduction activity on behalf of a collaboration of philanthropic donors from health, climate, children's development and sustainable mobility.

Previously Jane was Head of Climate and Energy Science in the UK Government, where she was responsible for the UK greenhouse gas inventory and a £45m science programme. Prior to that she led a team of 150 scientists working on Energy and Environment at the National Physical Laboratory.

Jane was featured by WIRED as one of their changemakers of tomorrow and is a WEF Young Global Leader and a social entrepreneur of the year in the UK. She is a regular commentator and a trustee of Parkinson’s UK.

Matthew Caruana Galizia

Director, Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Malta

Advances the causes of transparency, anti-corruption, freedom of speech and access to information. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose work on the Panama Papers uncovered the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens.

Caroline Casey

Founder and Director, The Valuable 500, Ireland

Caroline Casey is the businesswoman and activist behind The Valuable 500, the world’s largest CEO collective and business move for disability inclusion.
Casey launched the movement at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Summit in 2019 and since then has signed up 500 multinational organisations with a combined revenue of over $8 trillion, employing 20 million people worldwide to radically transform the business system. The membership includes 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 46 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of the Nikkei.
In addition to being President of the IAPB, Caroline also sits on several diversity and inclusion boards to include L’Oréal, Sanofi and Sky and is a much sought-after speaker.
Caroline has received an honorary doctorate as well as multiple awards and accolades for her work as a disability activist.

Merieme Chadid

Explorer and Astronomer, Antarctica Research Station, France

Merieme Chadid is Explorer and Astronomer. She is considered the first astronomer in the world to have been committed to install a large astronomical observatory in Antarctica and was the first to place an Arab flag (Moroccan) at the South Pole. She is also one of the first pioneering astronomers to install VLT telescopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest desert in the world. Chadid has been honoured by the MY HERO project. She was listed as one of the 30 most fascinating workers in the world by Forbes Magazine. Chadid received her PhD in Astronomy and Space from Paul Sabatier University and completed several executive education programmes at Harvard University. Her research fields are focused on stellar and universe evolution. Her scientific discoveries are published in numerous international reviews and books. She gives lectures and supervises PhD students.

Matthew Chamberlain

Chief Executive Officer, London Metal Exchange, United Kingdom

Matthew Chamberlain is the CEO of the London Metal Exchange and a member of the Management Committee of HKEX Group. In this role, Matt is responsible for an organisation of 500 colleagues, who collectively and responsibly steward the annual trading of 3.5 billion tonnes of base metals around the globe. Matt’s passion is sustainability in business, and believes strongly that leaders have an obligation to use their corporate platforms as vehicles for positive change. Under Matt’s tenure, the LME has introduced ethical standards for the metals traded on its exchange, including working closely with the OECD to give industry effect to metals supply chain standards, ensuring that metal arising from child labour or conflict financing cannot find its way to the global market. Matt is particularly interested in digital solutions for enhanced transparency, and is sponsoring the introduction of the LMEpassport system to provide full disclosure of sustainability credentials (such as carbon footprint) across the metals supply chain. Matt believes that culture sits at the very heart of an organisation, and is particularly proud to have championed the introduction of the LME’s Code of Conduct, which has driven standards of respect, inclusivity and diversity across the global metals trading industry.

Pamela Chan

Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Lingotto Investment Management LLP, United Kingdom

Pam Chan, Managing Director, is Chief Investment Officer and Head of Direct Private Opportunities (DPO) at BlackRock. She is Chair of the Direct Private Opportunities Investment Committee and Chair for the BlackRock Impact Opportunities (BIO) Fund Internal Investment Committee. She is also a member of BlackRock's firmwide Global Operating Committee, the Alternatives Executive Committee, BlackRock's Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee and the BIO Executive Investment Committee. Ms. Chan's service with the firm began in 2012. She co-founded Alternative Solutions (predecessor group to Direct Private Opportunities) in 2013 and prior to becoming CIO of that group, she served as a senior portfolio manager and primary deputy to the CIO. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. Chan worked as a senior research analyst for the Financial Stability Board, as a Senior Investment Associate at Bridgewater and as a member of the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., first as an investment banker and subsequently, in their Capital Markets group, focused on private placements and structured finance. Ms. Chan was recognized in 2020 by the World Economic Forum ("WEF") as a Young Global Leader and presented at Davos in 2022. Additionally, she is a member of the WEF's Women in Finance community and has been appointed to the Global Future Council on the Future of Responsible Investing. She was previously nominated as a WEF Global Shaper in 2012, serving as curator for the New York City hub in 2014. She currently co-chairs the Harvard College Schools and Scholarship Committee of New York City and has previously served on the Board of the Harvard Club of New York Foundation and the Harvard Business School Alumni Board. She is also an incoming member of the Board for the HBS Club of New York. She serves on the Boards of Forbright, Inc. and Macro Media, Inc. She has previously served as a Board member for Home Partners of America. She is also a member of Extraordinary Women on Boards and Chief. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint concentration in Philosophy and Government and, earned an MBA with high honors from Harvard Business School. She loves to golf and enjoys reading, mega-former pilates and contemporary art (including creating some pieces of her own). She currently lives in Nomad with the two Texan loves of her life (Allen, her partner, and Socrates, their very charismatic and curious beagle).

Suranga Chandratillake

General Partner, Balderton Capital, United Kingdom

Suranga Chandratillake is a technology entrepreneur who founded the video search engine blinkx in 2004 and launched it in 2005. He took the company public on the London Stock Exchange in 2007 and led it as Chief Executive Officer until 2012. Chandratillake has been named one of 25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment by Digital Watch, a Top 10 Leader in Science and Innovation by The Observer's Future 500 list and is often invited to speak at leading industry events, including the Financial Times' Digital Media Conference, MIT's Emerging Technologies Conference and the Monaco Media Forum. Chandratillake is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and has an MA in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Patrick Chappatte

Editorial Cartoonist; President, Freedom Cartoonists Foundation, Switzerland

Political cartoonist and comics reporter, Der Spiegel, The Boston Globe, NZZ am Sonntag, Le Temps and Le Canard Enchaîné. Formerly with The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. Pioneer of graphic journalism, a genre of reporting developing in print, web and animation form. Reports include the slums of Nairobi, gangs in Guatemala, death row prisons in the USA. Organizer of projects involving editorial cartoonists in conflict-ridden countries to foster a dialogue on human rights through art (www.crossed-pens.com). President of the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation in Geneva, formerly Swiss foundation Cartooning for Peace, whose honorary chair was Kofi Annan. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2006). Visiting Fellow, University of Southern California Annenberg School of Journalism. Recipient, Cartoon Award, Overseas Press Club of America (2011, 2015 and 2018). TED speaker (2010 and 2019).

Roksana Ciurysek-Gedir

Founder, PossibleX, United Kingdom

Roksana Ciurysek-Gedir is a Board member, artist, and seasoned financier, renowned for her commitment to impact investing and pioneering innovations.

Currently, she serves as the Chairwoman of the Advisory Board at Therme Art and as Managing Director at Therme Group - the world leader in the wellbeing infrastructure. She is the founder of Possible X that connect Technology, Finance and Art for good.

With a 20-year career in banking, Roksana has held senior roles at international institutions including Credit Suisse, Edmond de Rothschild, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Notably, from 2018 to 2020, she was the Vice-President and Deputy CEO of Bank Pekao, Poland’s largest bank and in 2020 President of Pekao International.

At Possible X, she harnesses creativity, art, and technology to disrupt the conventional, inspire innovation, and redefine the future of global enterprises.

Roksana launched Impact Art movement during COP26 supported by Singularity University with recycled stainless steel sculpture Aurea and continues fusing art and technology towards SDGs. She is on the Board of Super Blue, most important experiential art gallery based in Miami.

In the realm of film, she produced "Battle for Britain," a short film depicting the valor of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain, featuring Julian Glover. She is also an Executive Producer for Oliver Stone’s documentary, "Nuclear Now," which aims to demystify nuclear power as the only available at scale reliable green energy and one of the key solutions towards climate change.

As an international speaker, Roksana has lectured at Stanford University, CFA Institute, Milken Institute, World Economic Forum.

She was recognized in 2014 as a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum. She is YPO member, CFA Charterholder with Engineering and Masters degrees in Management and Economics and mother of two sons.

Patricia Cobian

Chief Financial Officer, Virgin Media O2, United Kingdom

MSc in Industrial Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Comillas - ICAI, Madrid. Experienced TMT executive. Started career at Hewlett-Packard. Former Member, Telecommunications and Corporate Finance practices, McKinsey & Company, Madrid, New York and London. Most recently, Managing Director, Business Development, Telefonica Europe; key role in Telefonica's strategy, portfolio management, the development of multiple infrastructure partnerships and an increasing focus on business model transformation and digitalization. Member of the Supervisory Board, Telefonica Deutschland. Director, Wayra I+D, Telefonica's global network of start-up accelerators. Strong supporter of the Red Cross and of Borne, an initiative launched to prevent disability and death in childbirth and to create life-long health for mothers and babies in the UK and overseas.

Andrew L. Cohen

Executive Chairman, Global Private Bank; Global Chair, Investment Banking, JPMorgan Chase & Co., United Kingdom

Andrew Cohen is the Executive Chairman of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. He oversees J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Institutional Wealth Management practice and leads the partnership between the firm’s Corporate & Investment Bank and Private Bank. In this role, Mr. Cohen focuses on servicing the Private Bank’s largest and most sophisticated clients globally. He is a member of the Asset & Wealth Management Operating Committee and the Wealth Management Operating Committee.
Prior to this role, Mr. Cohen was Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan’s International Private Bank, which operates in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Before relocating to Hong Kong in 2010 as the Asia Private Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, he was Head of the Southern California region, based in Los Angeles. Previously, he worked with ultra-high-net-worth families in Northern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Mr. Cohen holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and attended the Executive Program of Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mr. Cohen sits on the Board of Directors of the Serpentine Galleries, the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University, and is an alumni of the Young Global Leaders Forum (World Economic Forum) and the Hong Kong Forum. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, sailing, philanthropy and traveling.

Francesca Colombo

Managing Cultural Director, Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano (BAM), Fondazione Riccardo Catella, Italy

Arts and culture entrepreneur. Public Speaker. Managing and Cultural Director of BAM - Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, an innovative public-private partnership for the management of a public park, an open air theater. Senior consultant in corporate strategy and ESG policy for organizations. Board member in NGO, social and cultural Insititutions. Focus on the importance of arts and culture in the education of young generations, leadership develpment and in the solution of global issues. Young global leader of the WEF 2011. Expert in arts and culture for the WEF Forum network. Holds seminars and tutorials at universities and postgraduate schools.
Degree in Management Engineering, Politecnico Milano; Degree in Piano, Conservatorio Musica Verdi Milan; Erasmus Scholar, Technical University of Munich; Aspen Junior Fellow.
Formerly: worked at Teatro alla Scala Opera house for 13 years, including as Head of Co-Production and Digital Asset Management; CEO and Artistic Director, Florence Opera House - Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Head of artistic programme for the start-up of Expo 2015 Milan. Co-Founder and General Director, MITO SettembreMusica international music festival, held annually in Italy with more than 270 performances by 4,000 artists. General director of MAST Foundation, a philanthropic organization on innovation, culture and education. Artistic director of the StradivariFestival in Cremona. Has conceived various artistic initiatives with strong social and cultural impact, including the integration of design, architecture and music language at the Triennale Milan. Former Coordinator, Micheli International Piano Competition with Pollini Berio.