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.

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.

Eric Parrado

Chief Economist; General Manager, Research Department, Inter-American Development Bank, USA

Chief Economist and General Manager of the Research Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. PhD in Economics, New York University. Former Manager of the Chilean sovereign wealth funds, with assets under management of $22 billion. International Consultant, advising central banks and governments of Colombia, Guyana, Mongolia, Nigeria, Panama and Papua New Guinea on fiscal policy and implementation of sovereign wealth funds. Former Chairman of the Regulatory Banking Authority of Chile (Superintendencia de Bancos) and Professor of Economics and Finance at the ESE Business School.

Catherine "Kitty" Parry

Chief Executive Officer, DeepView, USA

Serial entrepreneur with deep experience in the regulatory and compliance spaces. 2014, Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DeepView, an enterprise compliance software solution that recognizes data and compliance breaches in digital and social media images. This machine learning product is built from a deep understanding of global regulation and law, the solution is used by regulators and regulated organizations that grapple with the spectrum of global regulation surrounding social media and digital usage. Formerly: with WPP as part of a team designed to help listed clients boost share prices; then started Templars Communications, a strategic communications firm specializing in financial services, with clients including London boutique investment firms. 2013, founded the Social Media Charter, an organization that provides firms and regulators social media compliance guidance. Speaker on regulation, digital and social media, including on World Economic Forum panels at the Annual Meeting in Davos as well as on the BBC, Radio 4 and CNBC.

Josef Penninger

Director, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Canada

Josef Penninger is the Founding Director of IMBA, a research initiative of the Austrian Academy of Sciences that promotes excellence in molecular biology and genetic research. Penninger is one of the world's leading mouse geneticists. In 2006, he received the Descartes Prize from the EU, the Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine and the Carus Medal for his work on finding genes that control life and disease. He is also the youngest Member of the Academy of Sciences in Austria and holds professorships in Toronto, Vienna and Beijing. Penninger has published more than 300 scientific articles; he was the first to identify the key function of a gene that controls bone loss in osteoporosis, arthritis, bone metastases, AIDS patients and in children with leukaemia and also found genes that regulate pain, heart disease, the circadian clock and, recently, lung failure involved in bird flu and bioterrorism. He has a degree in Medicine, studied Art History and worked for many years in Toronto.

Cheryl Perera

Founder and President, OneChild Network and Support Inc., Canada

Founder and President, OneChild, empowering a movement of children and youth to combat child sex trafficking. Her career in child protection began at age 17, after playing the main role of the decoy in a STING operation with Sri Lankan authorities to apprehend a child sex perpetrator. Today, her career spans over a decade where she has investigated child sex tourism (CST) cases; lobbied across private, public, and civil society organizations to increase action against CST legislation; and provided shelter and long-term comprehensive care to hundreds of victims in Asia.

Canadian Youth Ambassador, UN Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative. Youth Advocate, Global Partnership for Education. Adjudicator, Canada’s Top 20 Under 20 and World of Children Awards. Former Board Member, Canadians Addressing Sexual Exploitation. Youth Ambassador, Free the Children and Me to We. Mentor, Women’s Executive Network. Youth Volunteer, National Child Protection Authority of Sri Lanka.

Recipient: Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 (2006), World of Children Honouree (2006) and Canada's Top 20 Under 20.

Lucas E. Pescarmona

Founder, Sitrack Corporation, USA

Lucas Pescarmona is President of Mercantil Andina Compania de Seguros (insurance) and Chief Operating Officer of VENTI, one of the leading industrial groups in Latin America. VENTI has its core businesses in the manufacturing and developing of renewable energy equipment and power stations. The capital goods manufacturing (IMPSA) includes hydromechanical and wind generation equipment, development of hydropower stations and wind farms for electric power generation; waste management and environmental services; auto industry supplies; and property and casualty insurance (Mercantil Andina). Pescarmona holds a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as an MBA from Luigi Bocconi University.

Jacques-Philippe Piverger

Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Goodlight Capital, USA

Bachelor's degree, Georgetown University; MBA, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth; executive certificates, Yale University and the Harvard Kennedy School. Entrepreneur harnessing business and philanthropic acumen to effect change where it is needed most in the globe. Formerly: Director, PineBridge Investments, participated in directing over $10 billion of private equity, hedge and real estate transactions globally; with AIG Investments, Friedman Billings Ramsey and Barclays Capital. Co-Founder and President, REALICITY, a technology-driven brokerage firm developed to manage marketing, streamline booking and communication, and automate the bidding process in a real estate transaction. Co-Founder and former Chief Executive Officer, MPOWERD, a solar product company with global distribution in more than 70 countries. Founded The Soleil Group, a strategy firm. Co-Founder and Member of the Board, Council of Urban Professionals. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Former: Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations; Member of the Advisory Board, George Clooney's Hope for Haiti Now Fund. Interests: martial arts & transcendental meditation.

Dina Powell McCormick

Vice-Chairman and President of Client Services, BDT & MSD Partners, USA

Dina is global head of sustainability and inclusive growth. In this role, she partners with leaders globally to advance our sustainability efforts across all of our businesses. Dina is also global head of the firm’s sovereign business, responsible for helping build and enhance the firm's relationships with global sovereign clients. She serves on the Management Committee and the Firmwide Client and Business Standards Committee. Dina rejoined Goldman Sachs in 2018 as a partner in the Investment Banking Division after serving as the US Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy from 2017 to 2018.
Dina initially joined the firm in 2007, and from 2007 to 2017, she led the Impact Investing Business and the Environmental Markets Group, which deployed more than $5 billion in market-based loans and equity to drive sustainable economic development and revitalize under-served communities. During this same period, she was also president of The Goldman Sachs Foundation, developing and overseeing two major initiatives to drive economic growth and opportunity — 10,000 Women and 10,000 Small Businesses — that successfully provided business education and capital to women and small businesses, respectively.
Earlier in her career, Dina served as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and Deputy Undersecretary of Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy and as a senior White House advisor as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel.
Dina is currently a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Kristin Rechberger

Chief Executive Officer, Dynamic Planet, USA

Kristin Rechberger is CEO of Dynamic Planet, a firm that helps advance and invest in markets that restore nature. Through a combination of new business models, blended finance, cutting-edge technology, public-private partnerships, and leadership engagement, we help develop conservation businesses that maximize environmental, social and economic returns to regenerate landscapes, seascapes and communities. Prior to founding Dynamic Planet in 2012, Kristin was Senior Vice President of Global Programs and Partnerships at the National Geographic Society, where over 14 years she helped lead its global expansion and impact through the launch and growth of its international cable channels, corporate partnerships, leadership gifts, and research, conservation, exploration, and education programs. Before National Geographic, Kristin lived in Seoul, Korea as a Luce Foundation Fellow and traveled extensively throughout Asia for four more years, designing inclusive educational systems and producing documentary films. In 2009 Kristin was selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, where she has served on the Advisory Council and working groups including oceans, the circular economy, and the future of global development. She is an active advisory board member of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, the Smithsonian's Earth Optimism platform, Global Island Partnership, Global Dignity, the Environmental Investigation Agency, the Environmental Film Festival, and the Anacostia Waterfront Trust. Kristin has a public policy degree and documentary film certificate from Duke University and has completed executive programs at Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Oxford. She is certified with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Kristin has a wide variety of productions and publications, and her work has taken her to the wildest places on the planet, from the tropics to the Arctic.

Lee Redden

Entrepreneur and Co-Founder, Hands On Robotics, USA

Lee is a visionary technologist and remarkable people leader. His technical genius, loving, positive nature, and intense curiosity propelled him to successfully build a revolutionary company in the agriculture space, Blue River Technologies. They are building robots with cameras that detect every plant and spray just the weeds. Lee has been passionate about bringing this technology to market and its significant impact on improving agriculture on a global scale. Because of the technical decisions Lee helped make early on, this technology can scale across the earth, and it's impressive that he's attained market dominance in this innovative multidisciplinary area seeing this cause through for so long (10+ years). Lee is an active leader in the Forbes 30 under 30 community leading international travel, hosting dinner events, and accelerating this group's mission. Lees has been an active mentor to startups, working with several in the technology and cancer detection space. His philanthropic efforts include advising and donating to a non-profit called Marci, an organization that combats child sex trafficking, and co-founding the non-profit Hands-On Robotics that is developing dog robots for education purposes. Lee has been a speaker at multiple technology and educational conferences, led John Deers' internal training in machine learning of 5,000 employees and over 100 engineers, and has made curriculum recommendations changes to over ten universities in the US.

Carol Reiley

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Reiley Consulting, USA

An entrepreneur and an active advocate for diversity/bias in AI, Carol E. Reiley has touched many applications of AI/robotics: healthcare (Intuitive Surgical), space (Lockheed Martin), self-driving cars, etc. She co-founded and was president of the leading start-up drive.ai where she led partnerships with Lyft and Grab and raised over $77 million. She founded Tinkerbelle Labs, specializing in low-cost healthcare. She was an instructor at Johns Hopkins and led a robot outreach event for low-income students. She's written a top selling children's book, is a brand ambassador for Guerlain and was selected by Forbes and MIT Tech Review as one of the top women in AI.