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.

Pete Buttigieg

U.S. Secretary of Transportation, US Department of Transportation, USA

One of the most visible political figures from the Millennial generation, Pete Buttigieg is mayor of the once-struggling industrial midwestern city of South Bend, Indiana. A winner of the JFK Library Foundation New Frontier Award, he has guided the comeback of his city and works to help peer cities prepare for the future as chair of the US Conference of Mayors Task Force on Automation. An emerging leader in the US Democratic Party and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

François-Philippe Champagne

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Canada

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne was first elected in 2015 as the Member of Parliament for Saint-Maurice—Champlain.

Minister Champagne is a businessman, lawyer, and international trade specialist with over 20 years’ experience at large international companies in Europe, particularly in the fields of energy, engineering, and innovation.

Before entering politics, Minister Champagne was Vice-President and Senior Counsel of ABB Group, a leader in cutting-edge technology that operates in more than 100 countries. He also served as Strategic Development Director, acting General Counsel, and Chief Ethics Officer and Member of the Group Management Committee of AMEC Foster Wheeler, a world leader in the energy sector.

In 2009, Minister Champagne was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He has served on several boards over the years, and was notably President of the Canadian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the Banff Forum.

After his election in 2015, Minister Champagne served as a parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Finance until 2017, when he was appointed Minister of International Trade. During his time as Minister of International Trade, the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement entered into force, and Canada signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. In 2018, he was named Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and oversaw the federal government’s ambitious $187 billion infrastructure investment plan. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2019.

Minister Champagne holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Université de Montréal and a Master of Laws in American law from Case Western Reserve University. Minister Champagne also studied public and private international law at The Hague Academy of International Law, in the Netherlands.

Rohit Chopra

Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, USA

Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Has been an outspoken advocate for fair competition, consumer rights and accountability for corporations that break the law. Widely recognized for his expertise on America's trillion-dollar student loan crisis.

Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas

Mayor of Monterrey, Government of the State of Nuevo León, Mexico

Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas is the Municipal President of Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León and a major metropolitan area in Mexico. With a strong passion for public service, he is driven by the vision of transforming Monterrey into a city known for its compassion, innovation, and sustainability. His approach focuses on fostering collaboration between citizens and the government, ensuring that people are at the forefront of decision-making and urban design processes. Prior to his role as Municipal President, he started his career in public service as a local deputy in the Nuevo León congress in 2018. During this time, he gained recognition for his efforts in promoting transparency practices within legislative work. Additionally, he has served as an entrepreneur, providing legal support to start-ups and emerging ventures.

H.R.H. Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme

Climate Envoy, Netherlands Government, Netherlands

Jaime is the Climate Envoy of the Netherlands. He has an extensive diplomatic career in forging partnerships for innovative solutions to complex global challenges. He was the Senior Advisor on Private Sector Partnerships to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), where he worked on the energy transition in refugee settlements. As the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Holy See (Vatican), he partnered on peace, climate action and forced migration. As Special Envoy for Natural Resources, he initiated the Responsible Mining Index and set up conflict-free supply chains of metals and minerals in the DRC with the private sector and civil society. He was a member of the Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Competition, worked in the field as Political Advisor to the Dutch Commander of the NATO Peacekeeping Mission in Afghanistan and helped set up the Netherlands Embassy in Iraq. He has held various other functions in MENA, Africa and Latin America. Born in the Netherlands in 1972, he holds an MA from Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a BA from Brown University. He is married and has two young daughters. Concurrently he is a Member of the Board of the Forum of Young Global Leaders (WEF).

Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda

Governor of the State of Baja California, Government of the State of Baja California, Mexico

Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda is a Mexican lawyer and politician affiliated with the Morena political party . She is a Deputy licensed by the District 2 of Baja California in the LXIV Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union and currently elected municipal mayor of the city of Mexicali. She studied law in the Center for Technical and Higher Education from 2004 to 2009, and have completed two master's degrees, the first in Public Law by the Graduate School in Government and Public Policy of the Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey de 2010 to 2011 and the second in Public Administration by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of the Autonomous University of Baja California from 2014 to 2016.

Deshal De Mel

Economic Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Ministry of Finance Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka

Deshal de Mel is economic adviser to the minister of finance of Sri Lanka and the youngest director to have served at Sampath Bank. An economist by training, de Mel is passionate about and committed to economic reform in Sri Lanka in order to create competitive and fair markets along with broader economic and political reform to further economic and political freedoms.

Gila Demri Gamliel

Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Israel

Gila Gamliel is Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection. She served as the first ever Minister for Social Equality in the last 5 years, until May 2020 in which she was appointed as the Minister for Environmental Protection.

The ministry for Social Equality encompasses the advancement of senior citizens, young people, gender and minority equality, as well the Digital Israel project, which aims to leverage the country's standing as the Start-Up Nation to ensure that governmental and business services offered to the public use the most advanced methods in the world.

A member of the Knesset (Parliament) from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud Party for over a decade, Ms. Gamliel has previously served as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Deputy Minister for the Advancement of Young People, Students and Women. Among other roles, she chaired the Knesset's Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, and served as a Member of the Knesset's Finance Committee, Economics Affairs Committee, and the Education, Culture and Sports Committee.

Ms. Gamliel is also a member of the Young Leaders Community of the Davos World Economic Forum, (the first Israeli public representative to the Forum) and was the first woman Chairperson of Israel's National Students' Union.

Ms. Gamliel holds an L.L.M. from Bar Ilan University, a L.L.B. from Ono Academic College, an M.A. in Philosophy and a B.A. in Middle Eastern History and Philosophy from Ben-Gurion University. She holds the rank of Sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), having served as the head of an air force investigative staff.

Ms. Gamliel, who lives in Tel Aviv, is married and the mother of
two.

Suzanne Ehlers

Chief Executive Officer, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, USA

Suzanne Ehlers is the Executive Director and CEO of USA for UNHCR (effective 1/17/2023) where she is working toward a world where refugee crises would cease and people fleeing are welcomed into new communities with dignity and security.

Prior to this appointment, Suzanne served as CEO of Malala Fund and, in this role, she provided leadership to a global staff of experts and advocates who are breaking down barriers that prevent girls from going to school. Suzanne worked closely with co-founders Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai and a highly regarded board of directors and professional team to advance progress toward girls’ education around the world.

Previously, Suzanne served as President & CEO of PAI, a global leader in the effort to protect and promote the reproductive rights of women and girls. Suzanne led the organization for 10 years, and was at PAI for 16 years. Under Suzanne’s leadership, PAI’s budget almost quadrupled and the organization dramatically expanded its work to more countries, spreading more shared wealth, technical assistance and capacity building.

Suzanne repeatedly served on the U.S. government delegation to the United Nations’ Commission on Population and Development under President Obama. She currently serves as a board member for Ibis Reproductive Health in Boston and the Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, DC; she was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2012; and she has served on the boards of the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign, the Global Health Council, the Janelia Family Foundation, The Biodiversity Project, and the Asia Pacific Alliance.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Ehlers was a grantmaker at the Wallace Global Fund. At WGF, she supported a grants portfolio that broke new ground in the fields of sustainable forestry and laid the early foundation for philanthropic engagement on climate change.

Ms. Ehlers served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic following her graduation from Cornell University with a degree in Government. Suzanne speaks French, Spanish and Sango at various levels of proficiency. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two daughters.

Marcela Escobari

Special Assistant to the President of the United States, National Security Council (NSC), USA

Marcela Escobari joined the National Security Council as a top migration advisor to President Biden in March 2024. Escobari spearheads the Administration’s efforts to promote safe, orderly and humane migration and advance a collaborative, regional response to the historic displacement of nearly 10 million people across Latin America. Prior to taking on this national security priority, Escobari served as the Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID from 2021-2024, where she oversaw foreign assistance programs aimed at promoting inclusive growth and good governance across the region.

Escobari previously served in the Obama-Biden Administration as Assistant Administrator at USAID in 2016, during which time she reinforced U.S. support for Peace Colombia, mobilized humanitarian responses to the crisis in Haiti, and operationalized Congress’ doubling of funding to Central America. Prior to serving in government, Escobari was Executive Director at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, and she served as Senior Fellow at Brookings, where she created the Workforce of the Future initiative to map the industrial path of American cities and identify policies to help workers prosper in the face of evolving labor markets.

Her career has spanned the private sector, government and academia, with a common thread of producing growth that is inclusive and sustainable. She began her career as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and worked across the globe on export competitiveness projects as a strategy consultant. The World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2013. She co-authored the book “In the River They Swim: Essays from Around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty.” She holds a B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Kow Abaka Essuman

Legal Counsel to the President, Office of the President of Ghana, Ghana

Kow Essuman is an international lawyer in every sense, who specializes in corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration. He is currently serving as counsel at the office of the President of Ghana. He is licensed to practice law in England & Wales (2008), New York (2010) and Ghana (2011). He holds a Master of Laws degree with Honors in International Mergers and Acquisitions and Financial Institutions from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (2009). He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from BPP Law School, London (2008) and is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn. He obtained a Bachelor of Laws from University of Westminster, London (2007) and was previously a Global Shaper at the Accra Hub.

Reem Fadda

Director, Cultural Foundation and Abu Dhabi Cultural Sites, Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, United Arab Emirates

Independent curator and art historian. 2010 to 2016, worked as Associate Curator, Middle Eastern Art for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project of the Solomon R. Guggenheim based at their headquarters in New York City. Had a leading role in shaping the strategy and holdings of West Asian and North African art within its collection and the curatorial vision for the future museum. 2005 to 2007, Director of the Palestinian Association for Contemporary Art (PACA), Ramallah and served as Academic Director for the International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah, which helped found in 2006. Has curated many international exhibitions and biennials, especially those pertaining to art and geopolitics in the Middle East, including Jerusalem Lives (Tahya Al Quds), the inaugural exhibition at the Palestinian Museum, Birzeit (2017); Not New Now, 6th Marrakech Biennale (2016) and the United Arab Emirates National Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale (2013). Recipient: eighth Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement in 2017; Fulbright scholarship to pursue PhD at the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies, Cornell University, 2008. Director of the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi affiliated with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.