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.

Joud Abdel Majeid

Senior Managing Director; Global Head, Investment Stewardship, BlackRock, USA

Joud Abdel Majeid, Senior Managing Director, is the Global Head of Investment Stewardship for BlackRock and a member of the firm’s Global Executive Committee. She is responsible for leading the stewardship team and all its activities as it engages with companies to promote effective governance and create long-term value for clients.

Prior to stewardship, Ms. Abdel Majeid was Deputy Chief Financial Officer for BlackRock where she led the Investor Relations, Corporate Development, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Management Information Initiatives functions within BlackRock’s Finance Department.

She previously served as Chief of Staff to the CEO and was responsible for oversight of the Executive Office of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and oversaw engagements with clients, policymakers, public officials, and BlackRock’s Board of Directors.

Ms. Abdel Majeid joined BlackRock in September 2017 as Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock Solutions, which delivers the firm’s Aladdin technology. In this role, she was responsible for the commercial strategy and day-to-day operations of the business.

Tendayi Achiume

Alicia Miñana Chair in Law, UCLA School of Law, USA

E. Tendayi Achiume is Professor of Law at the at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, and a research associate of the African Center for Migration and Society at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and the Refugee Studies Center at Oxford University. She is also the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and is the first woman to serve in this role since its creation in 1994. She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2017. The current focus of her scholarship is the global governance of racism and xenophobia; and the legal and ethical implications of colonialism for contemporary international migration law. Her UN reports have addressed issues ranging from international human rights obligations requiring reparations for racial discrimination rooted in colonialism and slavery, to racial discrimination resulting from emerging digital technologies, among others. She is also a recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award—the highest university-wide honor for excellence in teaching. Professor Achiume is a graduate of the Yale Law School, Yale University, and the United World College of the Atlantic. She is also a former law clerk of Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Justice Yvonne Mokgoro of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Daniel Ahn

Global Fellow, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA

Dr. Daniel P. Ahn is the co-founder and CEO of Delfi Labs, which provides machine learning-driven financial risk management solutions for businesses. He is also a non-residential Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Previously, he was Managing Director, the Chief U.S. Economist, and Head of Markets 360 – North America at BNP Paribas in New York. From 2014 to 2018, he was the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of State, where he advised the Secretary of State and senior principals on a wide range of international economic and security topics, including global macroeconomic growth, economic warfare and sanctions, international trade, and energy and environmental issues.

Prior to entering public service in 2014, Dr. Ahn was the chief commodities economist at Citigroup in New York and also held senior positions at Citadel, Barclays Capital, and Lehman Brothers. He has also held research and teaching positions at Harvard University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, Columbia University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Monetary Fund, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

He is the author of multiple research articles, Congressional testimony, and a textbook, Principles of Commodity Economics and Finance with MIT Press.

He was featured in Forbes Magazine as one of 30 under 30 in Finance. He is the recipient of both the Superior Honor Award and the Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State.

He completed his A.B. in economics and finance with honors from Princeton University, and his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Peter Biar Ajak

Visiting Fellow and Adjunct Faculty, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, USA

Peter Biar Ajak is a prominent civil society leader, political dissident, and scholar from South Sudan. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies of the National Defense University. Peter is also the Chairman of the South Sudan Young Leaders Forum, Senior Advisor to the LSE-based International Growth Centre, and the Founder of the Juba-based Center for Strategic Analyses and Research. He was previously a Senior Advisor to the Minister of National Security in the Office of the President of South Sudan and an In-Country Economist for the World Bank. An outspoken advocate of human rights, free and fair elections, he was arbitrarily detained and convicted in a politically-motivated show trial for “disturbing the peace” and jailed for eighteen months in South Sudan’s notorious Blue House prison. Peter is also a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow, and a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics & International Studies from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Economics from LaSalle University.

Imtiaz Ali

Researcher, Analyst and Fellow, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), USA

MA in Journalism and MA in Political Science, Peshawar University, Pakistan. Journalist specializing in Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghanistan border. Formerly, with English language newspapers: The News; Dawn. 2001, with Pashto Service, BBC; reported on Pakistan's military operations against al-Qaeda militants in tribal region. 2006-07, Knight Journalism Fellow, Stanford University; 2008, World Fellow, Yale University. Author.

Saleem Ali

Distinguished Professor of Energy and the Environment, University of Delaware, USA

Bachelor's in Chemistry, Tufts University; Master's in Environmental Studies, Yale; PhD in Urban Studies and Planning, MIT. Author of books, including: Earthly Order: How Natural Laws Define Human Life (Oxford, 2022). Member of United Nations International Resource Panel; Lead on Critical Minerals and Inclusive Energy Transitions at United Nations University.

Samar Ali

Chief Executive Officer, Millions of Conversations, USA

Samar S. Ali is a skilled mediator, a careful listener, and a compassionate teacher. Pulling up a chair to tables around the world, Ali engages in some of the most entrenched conflicts of our time, always with the intent of finding positive resolution through common ground.

In this pursuit, Ali is a Research Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University, the founding President and CEO of Millions of Conversations, and co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy with Jon Meacham and former Governor Bill Haslam.

Ali has nearly two decades of experience in international relations and national security. Working at the intersection of national security, human rights, and economic development, Ali served as a White House Fellow in President Obama’s administration and as Assistant Commissioner of International Affairs in Tennessee Governor Haslam’s administration. While at the White House, she worked closely with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, gaining experience in bilateral negotiations on behalf of the U.S. government. As a conflict resolution practitioner and mediator, Ali joined an international mediating team in Syria from 2013-2016.

Ali recently cowrote the opening ceremony on "Unity" for the 2022 World Cup with Laeta Kalogridis and Gregg Hurwitz, and co-produced the Heartland to Holy Land series in Bethlehem with music producer T Bone Burnett. Ali, T Bone Burnett, and Callie Khouri also co-produced “John Lewis Celebration of Life” at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 2021.

Ali is currently working on a memoir, "Sweet Tea, Sacred Land", about one family's century-long quest for peace through belonging.

Carlos Alvarado Quesada

Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA

Forty-eighth President of Costa Rica. Formerly Minister of Labour and social security during the presidency of Solís Rivera. At age 38 on the date of inauguration, became the youngest serving Costa Rican president since 1914.

Renato Amorim

Senior Director - Global Market Access Policy, Medtronic, USA

Renato Amorim is Executive Director for Latin American public policy and corporate responsibility at Merck & Co. He previously worked at Brazilian mining company Vale as Director of International Public Affairs, and founded the China-Brazil Business Council, a business-advocacy group. Prior to moving to the private sector, Renato was a Member of the Brazilian diplomatic corps, working in Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Beijing. He holds degrees in Diplomacy from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry's Rio Branco Institute and Electrical Engineering from the State University of Campinas.

Matthew Anderson

Strategic Advisor, Lupa Systems, USA

Matthew Anderson is Chief Marketing Officer of Roku, the Internet TV pioneer. He is also a senior adviser to 21st Century Fox and serves on the boards of MOBY Media Group, the emerging-markets broadcaster, and Team Sky, a top World Tour Cycling team and twice winner of the Tour de France. Previously, Anderson was Group Director of Strategy & Corporate Affairs, Europe & Asia, of News Corporation. Before that he was Group Director of Communications & Brand Marketing at the British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB). Anderson was instrumental in News Corp's Global Energy Initiative and to Sky becoming the world's first carbon neutral media company. Before Sky, he was Chief Executive, Asia Pacific & EMEA, of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a global agency network and subsidiary of WPP. He is also an Advisory Board Member of Tokyo University's health policy think tank, a Board Member of the Institute of Public Relations and a Trustee of Malaria No More UK. Anderson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Global Leadership and Public Policy program.

Mark Boris Andrijanič

Vice President, Kumo.AI, USA

Mark Boris is Vice President at Kumo.AI, a Sequoia-backed deep learning venture based in California. He also serves on the Governing Board at the EIT, the EU's innovation agency. In 2021 and 2022 he was Slovenia's first-ever Minister of Digital Transformation. During Slovenia's EU presidency, he led negotiations between the Member States on Digital Services Act and digital files in the EU. In 2022, he received the Ukraine Peace Price from President Zelenskyy for his contribution to Ukraine's digital resilience. From 2016 to 2021, he headed Uber's public policy and government relations efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. Mark Boris received a master's in public policy from the University of Oxford and a law degree from the University of Ljubljana.

Matthew Anestis

Managing Director; Global Head, Investment Performance for Alternatives, BlackRock, USA

Matt Anestis is Managing Director and Global Head of Investment Process and Performance for BlackRock Alternative Investors - the Alternatives business of the world's largest Asset Manager. He has previously served as Chief of Staff to the President and COO of BlackRock, as the COO of BlackRock's Aladdin Product Group, the COO of BlackRock Alternative Investors and the Global Head of BlackRock Platform Innovation. He has served on various firm leadership committees including on BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, Global Human Capital Committee and Firmwide Risk and Complexity Committee. He also served as Head of BlackRock's Boston office.

Prior to joining Blackrock, Matt Anestis was a Partner and Managing Director with The Boston Consulting Group in Hong Kong and also worked with Microsoft and in the White House. He serves as a Senior Advisor to the Presidential Scholars Foundation and founded the Boston Volunteer Bridge and Toronto Volunteer Bridge. He is also a Founding Curator of the World Economic Forum's Boston Global Shapers Hub.

Matt Anestis earned an undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) in Economics from Harvard, an MBA (with high distinction) from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar) and a JD (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School.