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.

Siamak Namazi

Independent, USA

Siamak Namazi is the Head of Strategic Planning at Crescent Petroleum. Prior to joining Crescent, he was General Manager of Access Consulting Group, a private regional energy consultancy based out of Dubai. His former positions also include helping major multinationals with feasibility studies, external affairs and issues management as a partner and CEO of Atieh Bahar Consulting, a private market research and strategic consulting firm in Iran; and developing trade and investment opportunities within the MENA region for the Noble Group. In addition, he has served stints as a fellow in the Wilson Center for International Scholars, CSIS and the National Endowment for Democracy.

A frequent speaker in international conferences, Mr. Namazi has contributed chapters to six books. He has also appeared regularly as a commentator in the international media, including CNN International, BBC World, The Financial Times, Fortune Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, and Business Week.

Nina Nashif

Managing Partner, Generation Health, USA

Nina Nashif is Managing Director of Generation Health, an innovation and investment management platform. She was formerly the Founder and CEO of Healthbox, a business accelerator and venture fund created to support early-stage entrepreneurs and stimulate innovation in the healthcare industry. Nashif is best known for her expertise in building businesses and leading high-performing teams to achieve results. She has more than 15 years of global business experience within the public and private sector in more than 10 countries around the world. Prior to Healthbox, Nashif served on the executive team of Sg2, was a consultant to the leadership team of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi, and was a director of business development in the International Services Division of the Houston Methodist Hospital. She also co-founded a Turkish cotton textile business with operations in New York City and Istanbul. Among many honors, Nashif has been named a “40 Under 40” by Crain's Chicago Business. She is a Member of the Women's Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School, and is active in other leadership and community organizations.

Oliver Niedermaier

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, TAU, USA

Chairman and CEO of Tau Investment Management, a Private Equity firm established to transform global supply chains. Former Operating Partner, Advent Int'l. Previously Founder and CEO, DF King Worldwide. Member Global Exec. Board, Computershare, the world’s largest share registry, which Oliver joined when it acquired Pepper Technologies. Founder, Pepper Technologies. Currently Non-Exec. Director, Equiniti, owned by Advent Int'l, UK. PhD in Strategic Mgmt, Univ. of Munich. 1998. Board memberships include The World Policy Institute and National Museum of the American Indian, both New York.

Boris Nikolic

Managing Director, Biomatics Capital, USA

MD, Zagreb Medical School; clinical training, Medical Centre, University of Zagreb, Croatia. 1994, Harvard Graduate Program in Immunology; postdoctoral fellowship in transplantation immunology; Instructor in Surgery; Instructor in Medicine; Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; since 2002, Founder and Director, Advanced Immunology Laboratory for Tolerance Induction Stem Cell Transplantation, Renal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School; since 2007, current position, on leave from faculty position, Harvard Medical School. Author of over 50 articles and patent applications. Co-Founder, three biotechnology companies. Research interests: immunogenetics, immunological tolerance induction for transplant, auto immunity and stem cell research. Recipient of awards.

Julia Novy

Professor of the Practice and Executive Director, Stanford University, USA

Julia Novy is Professor of the Practice and Executive Director of Stanford University's Change Leadership for Sustainability Program. With 25 years’ experience leading non-profit and philanthropic organizations, Julia is recognized for her innovative leadership in designing and scaling entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges that integrate economic, social and environmental objectives.

She is Founder and CEO of Resilience in Action, dedicated to preparing leaders to radically accelerate the transition to a sustainable society through comprehensive strategy and resilience-building advisory services. Julia leads Resilience Journeys for global leaders to places like the Peruvian Amazon - combining immersion in highly resilient natural systems with training on resilience, leadership and sustainability.

Julia served for 10 years as Executive Director of the Lemelson Foundation, where she was responsible for guiding over $100 million of investment in technology, inventors and social enterprises in the U.S and developing countries. As CEO of Washington STEM, she worked with leaders from Microsoft, Boeing, and the education community to bring business into the classroom and cultivate 21st century skills for underserved youth. As a Director at World Wildlife Fund, she helped develop and launch the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to transform fisheries supply chains into sources of sustainable seafood.

In 2010, she served as Topic Leader for the Clinton Global Initiative on “Market-based solutions to environmental challenges.” A Fulbright and Marshall Scholar, Julia speaks French, Spanish and Kiswahili, and has lived and worked extensively in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Her short, self-paced “Strategies for Sustainability” online course, co-led with Professor Pamela Matson and industry leaders from Google and Method, has been taken by executives world-wide: https://online.stanford.edu/courses/xsfs110-essentials-business-put-theory-practice

Chinny Ogunro

Chief Operating Officer, The Africa Center, USA

Dr. Chinny Ogunro is the Chief Operating Officer of The Africa Center, a New York based non-profit that seeks to serve as a hub for the exchange of ideas around culture, business, and policy related to the continent, and in the spirit of collaboration and engagement with individuals and institutions who share the Center’s values. The mission of the organisation is guided by a leadership team that includes Board Co-Chairs Chelsea Clinton and Hadeel Ibrahim, and Board President Halima Aliko Dangote.

Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of WellSpring Health, an Africa-focused integrated care consortium backed by DAI, committed to delivering quality, affordable healthcare at scale. Chinny is a co-founder of Africa Health Holdings (AHH), a healthcare investment and operations company in which she raised over $13M in investor funding. AHH was born out of her doctoral research and her first company, CarePoint Hospitals and Clinics.

Chinny also currently serves as Director of Health Research at the Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa, where her research has explored innovative business models for health care delivery in growth economies, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. She was also a Senior Director at BroadReach Group, responsible for technology implementation and operational excellence. She is the founder of Company Is You, a professional development edtech firm that prepares individuals and companies for the future of work.

Her work in healthcare operations has delivered high-quality, low-cost healthcare to over 40,000 patients across West Africa and India. Her research has received over $700,000 in direct support from organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank.

Chinny is an advisory board member at Growth Capital—the investment arm of CCHub, a Steering Committee member of the Africa Leadership Academy’s Health Network, serves on the leadership committee of MIT Solve, and is frequently a guest lecturer at top international business schools. She has previously worked at Morgan Stanley, Veralon Partners, and provided long-term consultancy for the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health, the U.N. Special Envoy for Malaria, as well as multiple other development and partner organizations.

Chinny holds a Ph.D in Health Management (Technology and Operations Management, Strategy) from the Harvard Business School, a M.A. in Health Administration from Cornell University, and Bachelors degrees from Stanford University.

Juan Carlos Ortiz

President, US Hispanic, Latin America and Spain; Creative Chairman, Americas, DDB Latina, USA

Multiawarded at the Cannes Festival, Ortiz won the first Film Gold Lion at Cannes Festival in
Colombian history with a campaign for the
government program against drugs. Ortiz collects
several awards in advertising competitions all
over the world.
Ortiz was a member of the jury in the Titanium &
Integrated and Outdoors categories at the
prestigious Cannes Festival. This year was
appointed President of the Jury in the Outdoors
category at the Cannes Festival.

John B. Osborn

Director, Ad Net Zero, USA

John Osborn was recently appointed as the Director for Ad Net Zero (ANZ) in the United States in October, 2022. Originally launched in the UK, ANZ has grown to over 100 supporting companies, and now counts over 50 supporters in the US, which officially launched in early February this year. Under John's leadership, ANZ's mission is to leverage the power of its supporters, alongside the ANA, 4As and IAB, to educate, set benchmarks & standards, measure and take action to lower the carbon emissions associated across all advertising-related operations. Prior to ANZ, John was CEO of OMD in the US over five years from 2017 until August of 2022. John's experience also includes 25 years of service at BBDO, where he was President & CEO for 13 consecutive years prior to joining OMD. John has a wealth of non-profit board experience including the Red Cross of Greater New York, Global Dignity, Police Athletic League, AdCouncil, AAF and more.

Eva Otieno

Co-Founder, Filamujuani Foundation, USA

Eva Otieno is a connector between governments and institutional investors to channel much needed capital into Africa. As a strategist, she discusses Africa-focused market opportunities in order to attract financial flows into the region's local currency and hard currency fixed-income securities. Otieno has led roadshows in the region with investors that have combined assets under management of an estimated $50 billion, which is substantial capital that is seeking for robust returns in frontier Africa. Otieno also participates in thought leadership and media events through providing market insights where solutions are deliberated on how to attract capital into the region. In her role, she also engages with policy-makers to discuss solutions in fixed-income markets. Eva also engages with corporate clients where she provides market insights. This information assists the clients in making decisions as to which country to invest in bringing much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Jill Otto

Managing Director and Partner, Merrill Private Wealth Management, USA

Jill Otto is a Managing Director and Partner of the Grausam Otto Group at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Previously, she was an UHNW Banker at the J.P. Morgan Private Bank where she built the Financial Institutions and Sponsors Group in Florida. Prior to moving to Miami, Jill ran, in New York, business development for J.P. Morgan’s Global Investment Opportunities Group (GIO), a multi-asset class investment desk for institutional UHNW clients of J.P Morgan. Prior to J.P. Morgan, she managed the investment offices in Rio de Janeiro and Paris of her family's 75 year old business. Jill sits on the board of the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University's Divinity School. She sat on the board of the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami and was a member of the Group of Fifty (G50), a select group of private business leaders from Latin America. In 2010, Jill was honored as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum where she helped build the Family and Private Company Community. Her other past board memberships include serving for International Planned Parenthood, the alumni councils of Princeton University and Phillips Academy Andover. Jill received a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, a Master of Arts from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.

Alec Oxenford

Co-Founder and President, letgo, USA

Alec Oxenford is an ecommerce expert and entrepreneur from Argentina. He is a cofounder of letgo, the fastest growing mobile marketplace to buy and sell locally. The app – which has raised over $375M in funding from Naspers, Accel, Insight Venture Partners and others since launching in 2015 – has already been downloaded over 45M times. Named one of 2016’s “Hottest Startups” by Wired and among the year’s “Best Apps” by Google, letgo is built on cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence, image recognition and machine learning. It’s drawn recent attention from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Mashable, Fast Company and others.

Oxenford previously co-founded OLX, a high growth markets-focused online classifieds platform. Today, OLX is one of the most trafficked Internet platforms globally and installed on hundreds of millions of devices in dozens of countries like India and Brazil. He launched the company with cofounder Fabrice Grinda in 2006. Oxenford continues to serve as Chairman of OLX, which today is owned and operated by Naspers.

In 1999, Oxenford cofounded DeRemate, one of the two largest online trading platforms in Latin America, which he later sold to an eBay affiliate in 2005. He was also cofounder of DineroMail.com, a popular payment platform in Latin America, and previously worked for The Boston Consulting Group.

Oxenford received his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1997 and is active with the Harvard Club of Argentina. He was elected Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2006 and serves as President of ArteBA. Oxenford received the CNN Internet Leader Award in 2001 and the Entrepreneur Award in 2003. He has been a featured commentator on CNN and Bloomberg, and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, TechCrunch and Recode, among others.

Rajiv Pant

General Manager, Technology Platforms, Hearst, USA

Rajiv Pant is a well-respected product, design, and engineering executive and entrepreneur. As General Manager of Technology Platforms, he leads product, design, engineering, and technology operations for Hearst Magazines, Hearst Autos, and CDS Global, Inc. He served as Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company. He has been advising the AI startup you.com since its beginning. He served as Chief Product & Technology Officer of The Wall Street Journal, responsible for Product, Design, and Engineering where he reported jointly to the WSJ editor-in-chief and to Dow Jones corporate. He was then promoted to Deputy CTO of News Corp, parent company of WSJ and several other global brands. Previously, as CTO of The New York Times, Rajiv led the successful development and delivery of dozens of acclaimed mobile and web products over four years. Earlier, he headed up digital technology at Conde Nast for four years, where he managed multiple successful teams including Reddit. His leadership experience includes CTO of Cox Media Group, VP Engineering at Knight Ridder, and roles at startups. He has experience building and supervising small teams to 400+ employees. He received several prestigious awards during his career including being honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014. He serves as a regular in-person volunteer with the charity New York Cares, especially during the pandemic when help is needed most.