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.

Arvind Satyam

Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Pano AI, USA

Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Pano AI (WEF Technology Pioneer), the leader in early wildfire detection and actionable intelligence using AI, IOT and satellites; Previously, Managing Director, Global Public Sector at Cisco; led growth initiatives for $13Bn public sector business including critical infrastructure, cyber security strategy for state and national governments and public private partnerships with multinational institutions. Formerly, drove sales, strategic partnerships and venture investments for Cisco’s IOT & Smart City businesses. Undergraduate degree and Master’s in Computer Science and Finance, University of New South Wales, Australia; alumnus, Harvard Business School. Adams Advisor, UNC. Member: Advisory Board, World Sensing, EQITII and Urbanise; Governor of Illinois's Technology Advisory Board. Investor and advisor to several companies. Has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Fortune, Harvard Business School Alumni Magazine and L’Atelier. Young Leader, World Cities Summit (2016); Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2018), WEF Technology Pioneer (2023), WEF UpLink Top Innovator (2023). Academy judge for $1M Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

Aron Schwarzkopf

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kushki, USA

Mr. Aron Schwarzkopf is a distinguished Ecuadorian-American serial entrepreneur with a remarkable track record in the fintech industry. He currently holds the position of Co-Founder and CEO at Kushki, a fintech company pioneering digital payment solutions across Latin America. Before his role at Kushki, he served as the Founder and CEO of Leaf, a financial technology company that was eventually acquired by Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: GPN).

In recognition of his contributions to the global business landscape, Mr. Schwarzkopf was elected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He actively engages in mentorship roles at Techstars, New York, and MIT Angels, demonstrating his commitment to fostering the growth of emerging talent in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Raised in Quito, Ecuador, he currently resides in Miami, Florida, with his wife and daughters. Mr. Schwarzkopf's diverse educational journey includes stints at Singularity University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Babson College.

Emily Serazin

Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), USA

Emily Serazin is a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Emily is a core member of BCG’s Health Care and Social Impact practices. Within health care, Emily’s focus is on vaccines and global health across the value chain. She also has expertise in digital health and in the formation and optimization of public-private partnerships. Examples of Emily's experience in the commercial health care sector include developing growth and product launch strategies for players in the global vaccines market, leading due diligences, and supporting post-merger integrations. In the realm of global public health, Emily has worked across leading global health institutions such as Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation to define investment strategies, coordinate multi-stakeholder efforts, prioritize portfolios, and identify key levers to drive uptake in low- and middle-income countries. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Emily has worked extensively with public, private and social sector actors to accelerate the development and deployment of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

Daniel M. Shin

Co-founder, KingsBay Capital, USA

Daniel M. Shin is a venture capitalist, executive scholar, and luxury executive. Daniel has run KingsBay Capital, a cross-border venture capital firm based in San Francisco. Daniel also oversees corporate development at MCM, a German luxury brand, that operates in 40+ counties, and has taught at Korea University on adjunct basis. Daniel has served in various executive and board positions at private and public companies such as KT, Hanwha, CJ and Daesung Group. He also worked at Accenture as a summer business analyst. Daniel has published several books and is a frequent speaker on the subjects related to entrepreneurship and innovation. Daniel was nominated as Young Global Leader in 2016 by the World Economic Forum. He was also honored to become Yale World Fellow under the former president Richard Levin's legacy at Yale. Daniel received DBA from l'Université de Paris(IX)-Dauphine, Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL), MSc from Stern School of Business, New York University and BSc from Kelley School of Business, Indiana University at Bloomington. He completed post-graduate studies at Harvard, Oxford and Princeton University. Daniel resides in Seoul, Korea.

Sally Shin

Co-Founder, Raive, USA

Sally Shin is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Raive. Raive is building state of the art multimedia foundation AI models to enable multimedia AI to reach the masses, and solve the fundamental IP problems impeding the widespread adoption of AI by the multimedia industries. Before Raive, she was the Chief Strategy Officer at UnitedMasters. She spent over 10 years in media working at CNBC and Bloomberg. She launched CNBC's first tech show, Squawk Alley and was the youngest ever bureau chief leading the San Francisco office for the network. She is also a scout for Kleiner Perkins.

Navrina Singh

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Credo AI, USA

Navrina is the Founder & CEO of Credo AI , an AI governance platform that empowers organizations to adopt, use & build artificial intelligence /Generative AI responsibly . Credo AI ensures safe, secure, fair ,compliant and auditable development and use of AI. As the pioneer in context driven, continuous and comprehensive AI governance , Credo AI's SaaS enables enterprise to measure, monitor and manage AI introduced risks at scale , ensures regulatory compliance and empowers enterprises to deliver Responsible AI. Credo AI is recognized as a WEF technology pioneer 2021, CBInsights top AI 100 2023 , among others & serves on the WEF AI governance council.

A technology leader with over 18+ years experience in Enterprise SaaS, AI and Mobile, Navrina has held multiple product and business leadership roles at Microsoft and Qualcomm. Navrina is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which advises the United States President and the National AI Initiative Office. Navrina is also a young global leader with the World economic forum & was on their future council for AI guiding policies & regulations in responsible AI.

Navrina holds a Masters in Electrical & Computer Engineering from University of Wisconsin -Madison & an MBA from Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California.

Shamina Singh

President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth; Executive Vice-President, Sustainability, Mastercard, USA

Shamina leads impact for Mastercard. She is the Founder & President of the Center for Inclusive Growth and the Impact Fund, the social impact and philanthropic hubs of Mastercard. She also serves as Executive Vice President of Sustainability, is a member of the company’s Management Committee and executive sponsor of the PRIDE business resource group. Currently, Shamina serves as an appointed member of the U.S. President’s Export Council, which serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade. She co-chairs the Advisory Board of the Ad Council of America, and is a board member of ADL, an anti-hate organization. She is an alum of the WEF Young Global Leaders program and a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute.

Varun Sivaram

Group Senior Vice-President, Strategy, Innovation, Portfolio, Partnerships and M&A, Ørsted, USA

Dr. Varun Sivaram is Senior Vice President and member of the Group Executive Team at Ørsted, a leading renewable energy company with the world’s largest offshore wind energy portfolio, where he leads strategy, innovation, portfolio and capital allocation, and partnerships and M&A. He previously served in the U.S. Biden-Harris administration as the managing director for clean energy and innovation for Secretary John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, where he spearheaded flagship U.S. initiatives such as the First Movers Coalition. He has also served as Chief Technology Officer of ReNew Power (NASDAQ:RNW), a multibillion-dollar renewable-energy firm that is India's largest; on the faculty of Columbia University and Georgetown University; as director of the energy program at the Council on Foreign Relations; and as senior energy advisor to the Los Angeles Mayor and New York Governor. TIME Magazine named him to its TIME 100 Next list of the next hundred most influential people in the world, and MIT Technology Review named him one of the top 35 innovators under 35. His books include "Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet," "Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission," and "Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Digital Innovations to Advance Clean Energy Systems." His TED Talk on India's clean energy transition has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. A Rhodes and Truman Scholar, he holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University.

Edward Smith

Partner, DLA Piper LLP, USA

Edward "Smitty" Smith has emerged as a rising star in the technology and telecommunications policy arenas.
A graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School, he translated his academic success into professional success as a corporate attorney at one of the world’s largest law firms, Hogan Lovells. While in private practice as a corporate lawyer, Smitty advised clients and helped close over $40 billion worth of merger transactions for publicly traded companies.
Smitty left his firm to join the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. After the campaign, Smitty served as Deputy General Counsel of the Presidential Inauguration Committee and joined the Obama Administration.
At the Department of Commerce, Smitty spearheaded national broadband programs that generated critical data about broadband availability and capability and leveraged technology to create new economic opportunities for millions of Americans. After an emergency detail to the Economic Development Administration, where he led teams developing economic response strategies in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Smitty joined the Federal Communications Commission where he served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel for a special technology taskforce
Smitty left the FCC to run in the first election for Attorney General of the District of Columbia. Though he lost in a hotly contested race, Smitty received over 35,000 votes citywide and gained the endorsements of nearly every major union and labor organization in the District.
Smitty entered local government and served in the Mayor’s Cabinet as the Director of the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants.He then returned to the FCC as Legal Advisor to the Chairman.
Smitty is now a Partner at the international law firm of DLA Piper, where he advises clients on a broad range of telecommunications and technology issues in countries around the globe.

Liam Sobey

Senior Vice-President: Merchandising, National Sourcing & Liquor, Sobeys Inc., Canada

Nourishing families and communities is part of Liam's DNA. He is a value-driven leader with a passion to feed the world. He is Senior Vice-President of Merchandising, Sourcing & Liquor at Sobeys. Being an active member of his family business, Liam ascribes to its more than century-old tradition of giving back to the community. His motivation to support fairness and equality among communities led him to be the only non-aboriginal executive member of NaMeRes, a not-for-profit group that supports Aboriginal men fighting homelessness and addiction in Canada. Liam is a member of his family firm's governance and business committees. He has founded two investment groups that help next-generation family members learn about the financial markets and the positive impact of investing responsibly for a sustainable future. Liam's passion for family and community has also led him to attend multiple family business seminars, including the Scone Project and the WEF Family Business Conference in Gstaad. Liam is currently a board member of Urban Squash of Toronto and has an MBA from McGill University.

Murad Sofizade

Managing Partner, SVTL Ventures, Inc, USA

Managing Partner, svtl.vc, Senior VP, BusDev, Svitla, YGL @WEForum, Harvard MBA, Deloitte'09 Tech Entrepreneur of the year, co-founder @TravelTipz & IPNet, IPNet, named Russia's fastest growing technology company by Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA (2009). Former President and Treasurer, Harvard Club of Russia. Named one of top young entrepreneurs in Russia, Finans magazine, 33 Perca (2009).

Roy Sosa

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Rêv Worldwide Inc., USA

Roy Sosa is Founding Partner of MPOWER Ventures and Chairman and CEO of MPOWER Labs. He founded the socially committed venture fund and affiliated business accelerator with his brother Bertrand in order to identify, create and invest in early-stage financial services companies focused on underserved markets. The MPOWER Ventures portfolio companies span international payments, mobile payments, retail financial services and asset-building and investment products and operate in regions across the globe, including North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Sosa is an accomplished entrepreneur who pioneered the multi-billion-dollar prepaid debit market as the co-founder of NetSpend Corporation, a highly successful company that serves millions of unbanked Americans. As a leading voice for underserved consumers around the world, he pledged to the Clinton Global Initiative to bank five million consumers in five years through the work of the MPOWER group of companies, and he serves as Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Financial Empowerment.