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.

Fawaz Farooqui

Managing Director, Cruise Saudi, Saudi Arabia

Fawaz Farooqui is a public sector entrepreneur and innovator who led multiple transformations and established several entities and companies. He dedicated his career to improving the quality of life in Saudi Arabia and creating unforgettable experiences that are inspired by the culture and people of Saudi. He currently serves as the Chief Advisor to the Saudi Minister of Culture and sits on the board of several organizations such as Saudia Airlines, Cruise Saudi Corporation, AlUla Development Company and the Saudi Sports for All Federation. In addition, he is the interim CEO of Cruise Saudi, which he led to launch the cruise industry in Saudi and promote the Red Sea to global cruise lines. Previously, Fawaz was appointed as the first CEO of the country’s National Transformation Program (NTP) to lead the first revamp of the program to enhance execution and delivery, resulting in specialized programs, such as Quality of Life, which he helped establish and was a board member of. Before that, Fawaz served as an Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Planning, focusing mainly on recreation and quality of life portfolio of the country. He led the establishment team of the General Entertainment Authority and various other public and social programs focused on improving the quality of life of the citizens in Saudi. Before joining the government, Fawaz led key initiatives in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) where he launched KAEC’s entrepreneurship program, as well as partnering with the global Messengers of Peace (MoP) initiative to initiate several programs in add KAEC on the global agenda of MoP initiative. Fawaz started his career with Saudi Aramco, where he led several transformations, starting from revamping field operations and establishing technology support in Aramco’s Satellite Communications to a complete turnaround and re-launch of the Corporate Telecom Network Operations Center. Fawaz has an MBA from Stanford University. He also earned a BSc in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, a BA in Political Science, and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. He has authored several technology articles including 3 technical papers that were published in global journals and were presented in different conferences worldwide.

Joelle Faulkner

President and Chief Executive Officer, Area One Farms, Canada

Joelle Faulkner co-founded and manages four funds with aggregate commitments of C$300 million. Area One Farms has maintained over 120,000 acres under Canadian ownership and control, helped 28 families establish equity positions in land that they farm, and brought over 15,000 acres into agricultural production from Area One's unique methods of land rehabilitation. Faulkner is a Director of Cognicity Inc., Baycrest Global Solutions Inc., Western University Entrepreneurship Advisory Board and the Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation.

Michael Faye

Executive Chairman, Co-Founder, GiveDirectly, USA

Michael Faye is the co-founder and CEO of Taptap Send, which is working to ensure everyone has access to fairly priced remittances consistent with the SDGs. He's also the Executive Chair and co-founder of GiveDirectly, which has recognized by FastCompany as one of the top 10 most innovative companies in finance, and on the Board of Crown Agents Bank HoldCo.

Michael’s work has been published in the American Economic Review, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Foreign Affairs and others. He is a term member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 leading Global Thinkers. Michael holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard, where he also studied Math and Classics.

Daniel Feldman

Founder and Architect, Zona Industrial Taller de Arquitectura, Colombia

Daniel Feldman Founder and Chief Executive of ZITA (Zona Industrial Taller de Arquitectura), a mission-based architecture and urban design and development firm whose processes are rooted in community participatory design, environmental innovation, and historic preservation centered urban development. Since age 26, he has been a university educator leading architecture studios and seminars where he challenges his students to immerse themselves in complex social realities as a way of practice. He designed and developed multiple kindergartens in underserved rural communities as the Lead Architect in the office of the First Lady of Colombia, and was Head of Architecture at the Colombian office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) where he led the infrastructure investments that support the extreme poverty reduction programme in war-stricken areas. The public buildings he has designed and developed within secluded and overlooked communities in Colombia, Brazil, Kenya and the US have been internationally awarded and published in multiple occasions including the ward for the Best Young Latin American Architect in the Venice Architecture Biennial, 2018. Feldman holds an MA in Urban Design from Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar, and a BA in Architecture from Universidad de Los Andes.

Valerie Feldmann

Senior Vice-President, Verizon Global Services, Verizon Communications, USA

Valerie is a Senior Vice President in Verizon Global Services with a focus on global location strategy and accelerated digitization and automation of service operations. Previously, Valerie served as COO in a cleantech start-up, as an Associate Partner in McKinsey's High Tech practice in New York and Beijing, as a policy advisor to the International Telecommunication Union, and as Adjunct Faculty at Free University Berlin. Valerie holds an M.Sc. in business management and a M.A. from University of Muenster, a Ph.D. from Free University Berlin, and an Executive Certificate in Technology and Operations Management from MIT.

Carlos Fernandes

Managing Partner, Next Opus Ventures, Singapore

Carlos Fernandes is a deep generalist and an expert in digital disruption, transformation and its implications on society, businesses, competition and the economy. Currently, he runs a venture studio in the education space with ventures such as Puzzicle, Rookieverse, Daring Awards as currently public ventures. He's been a C-level executive at a billion-dollar company, a startup entrepreneur, an inventor (with award-winning patents), government regulator board member and an adjunct professor. His ideas have been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Business Times to name a few.

Fernandes has served on the "Future of Media" Global Agenda Council as well as on the AI and Blockchain Expert Networks at the World Economic Forum. Fernandes has been appointed to the Competition Appeals Board by the Singapore Government. Previously, he served on the Entrepreneurship Review Committee for the Singapore Government and the Pro-Enterprise Panel (PEP), a board that was recognized by the United Nations, and tasked with reviewing the regulatory framework around new innovations. He's a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and was named as the youngest ever Young Professional of the Year by the Singapore Computer Society.

Fernandes has an MBA (High Honors) from the University of Chicago, a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from Bombay University, a Masters in Information Technology. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Yale University Global Leadership programs.

Alvaro Fernández Ibáñez

Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, SharpBrains, USA

Alvaro Fer­nan­dez runs Sharp­Brains, an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm track­ing how neu­ro­science and neu­rotech­ can improve health and per­for­mance across the lifes­pan. A fre­quent pub­lic speaker, he has been quoted by The New York Times, The Wall Street Jour­nal, CNN, Reuters, and Asso­ci­ated Press. Alvaro is the Editor-in-chief of a recent report on Pervasive Neurotechnology, and co-authored "The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness", translated into Spanish, Japanese, Polish, and Portuguese. He holds an MBA and MA in Edu­ca­tion from Stan­ford Uni­ver­sity and a BA in Eco­nom­ics from Uni­ver­si­dad de Deusto, in his native Spain. Previously he worked in McKinsey & Company, Bertelsmann and Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.

V. R. Ferose

Senior Vice-President, Globalization Services, SAP Labs LLC, USA

V. R. Ferose is Managing Director of SAP Labs India, responsible for research and development based in India. He drives innovation, customer-focused initiatives and delivers operational efficiencies at SAP Labs facilities. At the age of 33, he was one of the youngest managing directors of a global multinational in India. Ferose is also a Member of the IT Vision Group of Karnataka and a Member of the Development Advisory Board of HOPE worldwide in India, and he is actively involved with multiple non-profits in the education, disability and social entrepreneurial space. Ferose is Co-Founder of the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Karnataka Hub, with a vision of creating opportunities for youth in Karnataka. He graduated from the National Institute of Technology in Warangal, India, in 1997 with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He is a regular speaker in academia and several industry forums.

Carola Ferstl

Founder, Learn money eV, Germany

Carola Ferstl is Anchor and Filmmaker with the German news programme N-TV. She has dedicated her entire career to helping people understand their personal finance and investments on the stock exchange by translating complicated terminologies into simple, clear language. Ferstl graduated with a degree in Business Administration in Hamburg and began working for N-TV in 1992. She has written several books, including Woman Are Better Investors; her lectures are widely regarded. In 2009, Ferstl founded ?learn money e.V.?, a German-based foundation for financial literacy.

Rossanna Figuera

Founder and Chief Creative Mind, All Minds Count, USA

Rossanna is the founder of All Minds Count, a sustainable apparel company that spreads positive messages on neurodiversity and invites us to celebrate the beauty of thinking differently.

Rossanna is also the co-founder at Wafels & Dinges, an urban food concept credited with pioneering the Food Truck revolution in 2007. Started in NYC, the company's award-winning products are paired with a strong focus on improving local communities & public spaces with its iconic, award-winning yellow food trucks, carts & kiosks, which have been showcased extensively in national and international media outlets and have consistently ranked Best in Class.

In 2016, in tandem with her work at Wafels & Dinges, Rossanna launched Perros y Vainas. This gastro-social venture creates awareness around Venezuelan issues and donates part of its revenue to organizations working to feed the children in Venezuela. Through a partnership with Venezuelan NGO Alimenta Venezuela, Perros y Vainas fed 125 kids per day in some of the poorest slums around Caracas.

Rossanna is proud to have crafted a fulfilling, successful, non-traditional career path. She has been a Diplomat to the United Nations, a banker on Wall Street, an executive recruiter finding and placing talent for her clients worldwide, and an effective executive coach who can draw from her experience to help others thrive.

Justin Finnegan

Managing Director, Bloomberg New Economy, Bloomberg, USA

Justin Finnegan is Founding Managing Director of Bloomberg New Economy. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he held a number of positions including co-founder and Managing Director for Mountain Hazelnuts Group and later as a White House Fellow and Deputy at USAID for Feed the Future, the U.S. Government's Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative. Finnegan has more than 15 years of operating experience in Asia, speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and served as a Fulbright and Trustman Scholar. He received his BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University and is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

Marlene Finny

Chief Financial Officer, Mexico

Marlene was selected as one of the 500 Latin Americans most influential, 2022 Bloomberg. In her role as CFO of Grupo México, she has managed to maintain the company with the lowest cash coast in the sector worldwide and return quarter after quarter dividends to its shareholders. Marlene is responsible for managing investments valued at US$2,274M.