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.
Samantha Freebairn
As a C-130H Hercules and C-17 Globemaster military pilot, Samantha is committed to ensuring the concept of a woman military pilot is the norm. Leveraged her national Telstra Business Womens award to forge partnerships between inter-government agencies, police, fire and rescue, and civil industry to drive cultural change for women working in male-dominated environments. Wrote Flying Solo, a guide for women pilot trainees and Flying through Parenthood, for military parents negotiating flexible work arrangements. Her team conceptualised the Air Force Experiential Camps for Girls and developed the Air Force Graduate Pilot Scheme. The scheme doubled women pilot numbers in 2 years, when they had remained stagnant for the prior 30 years. Most importantly, she would love to see every little girl who loves rainbows to study physics and take to the skies!
Chrystia Freeland
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland is Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Ms. Freeland was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre in July, 2013. She was elected as Member of Parliament for University—Rosedale in October, 2015 and re-elected in October, 2019 and September, 2021.
From 2015 to 2017, Ms. Freeland served as Canada's Minister of International Trade, overseeing the successful negotiation of Canada's free trade agreement with the European Union, CETA. From January, 2017 to November, 2019, she served as Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. During this time, she was a leading advocate for democracy, human rights, and multilateralism around the world.
As Foreign Minister, she led and successfully concluded the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
In November, 2019, Ms. Freeland was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. In this capacity, she led Canada’s united response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was appointed Minister of Finance in August, 2020. In her role as Minister of Finance, the Deputy Prime Minister has supported the Canadian economy’s strong recovery from the pandemic recession, introduced Canada’s first national system of affordable early learning and child care, and ensured the sustainability of Canada’s finances after the winding-down of emergency pandemic spending.
An esteemed journalist and author, the Deputy Prime Minister was born in Peace River, Alberta. She was educated at Harvard University before continuing her studies on a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford.
After launching her career in journalism as a Ukraine-based freelance correspondent for the Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist, Ms. Freeland went on to various roles at the Financial Times of London. She then served as deputy editor of the Toronto-based Globe and Mail between 1999 and 2001, before returning to the Financial Times as deputy editor and then as United States managing editor.
In 2010, she joined Canadian-owned Thomson Reuters. She was a managing director of the company and editor of consumer news when she decided to return home and enter politics in 2013.
Ms. Freeland has written two books: Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution (2000); and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (2012). Plutocrats has been an international best-seller and won the Lionel Gelber Prize and National Business Book Award.
In 2018, the Deputy Prime Minister was recognized as Foreign Policy's Diplomat of the Year. She was also awarded the Eric M. Warburg Award by Atlantik-Brücke, for her achievements in strengthening transatlantic ties. In 2020, she was awarded Freedom House’s Mark Palmer Prize, in recognition of her years of work in championing democracy and human rights.
She is a member of the Forum's Board of Trustees
Andy Freire
Andy Freire is an entrepreneur both in the social and business sectors. He is Director of Trocafone a company that recycles used phones in Brazil and resells it to the uprising middle-low class. He served as elected congressman of Buenos Aires and Minister of Modernisation, Innovation and Technology and President of the Tourism Agency of Buenos Aires and as Managing Partner and Director of South Cone of Softbank Group International.
As an entrepreneur Andy co-founded and led Officenet (acquired by Staples in 2004), a company that revolutionized the industry of distribution (retail) of office supplies in Latin America and Restorando (acquired by Trip Advisor in 2018), the leading restaurant online booking platform in Latin America, Sirena (acquired by Zeenvia) and most recently Trocafone, the leading used cell phone reselling platform in Brazil.
Recognized as "Global Leader for Tomorrow" in 2002 by the World Economic Forum World, and "Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2001 by the Endeavor Foundation, Andy was also awarded as one of the two finalists in the “World Young Business Achiever Award" held in the Philippines in 2002. He was also distinguished in 2008 as "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Andy holds a degree in Economics from the University of San Andrés and has a OPM from Harvard Business School.
He is the author of the books “Pasión por emprender” (Aguilar, 2004), “50 claves para emprendedores” (Aguilar, 2006), “5%” (Aguilar, 2013), “Libre, la filosofía de vida emprendedora” (Aguilar 2014) and “Argentina Emprendedora” (Aguilar, 2015).
Philipp Freise
Philipp Freise is Co-Head of European Private Equity and serves as a member of KKR's European Private Equity and Growth Equity Investment Committees, as well as its European Portfolio Management Committee. Mr. Freise led KKR's investments in FGS Global, Axel Springer SE, BMG Rights Management, Fotolia, GetYourGuide, GfK SE, Leonine, Mediawan SAS, Scout24 Switzerland and Trainline and played a significant role in various other KKR TMT (Exact, ProSiebenSat.1, SBS Broadcasting) and German transactions (Demag, Duales System Deutschland, MTU Aero Engines, Zumtobel). Mr. Freise currently serves on the board of directors of FGS Global, Axel Springer SE, Leonine and Mediawan SAS. He was a scholar of the German National Scholarship foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) and graduated top of his class at WHU Koblenz, EDHEC Lille and University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business. He later worked at McKinsey & Company in Vienna, Frankfurt and New York, and subsequently co-founded Berlin-based venture investment firm Venturepark, Europe's first pan-European incubator. In 2009, Mr. Freise was named a Young Global Leader and in 2014 a member of the Agenda Council on the Future of Financing and Capital of the World Economic Forum. Mr. Freise is a member of the Kuratorium of the Bayreuth Opera Festival (Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth) and serves on the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation, London as Vice Chairman.
Kumi Fujisawa Tsunoda
Kumi Fujisawa is Chairperson, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies, Ltd. (IISE); and she is assigned Member of Board of several companies and associations as following, The Shizuoka Bank, CellSource Co., Ltd., Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan Dealers Association and so on. She used to be one of the youngest woman entrepreneurs in financial sector in Japan. After her company was acquired by Standard & Poor’s, She established Think Tank SophiaBank and her business field spread various sectors. Now she is board of director of some companies and business associations and advisor to some governors, mayors and CEOs. She published more than twenty books. She supports and leads a lot of kinds of projects by using her wide networks such as public, private, business, sports, culture and so on. Her interest is socio incubation by changing knowledge paradigm.
Chikara Funabashi
Formerly: worked on a subway development project in Jakarta; for Itochu Corporation on an airport construction in the Philippines; and at a major trading firm in Japan. 2000, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Willseed, a company that offers consulting and training services to more than 350 major companies and 600 schools in Japan. Co-Chairperson, Beyond Tomorrow, an organization which was established by several Japanese Young Global Leaders after the tsunami, 3/11. It offers scholarships and provides leadership training to young people to enable them to pursue their dreams and become leaders of tomorrow. Adjunct Professor, MBA programme, Waseda Business School. Member, Structural Reform Committee, responsible for the promotion of special economic zones. Member, Asia Society.
Lord Gadhia of Northwood
Graduate in Economics, University of Cambridge; Sloan Fellow, London Business School. Investment Banker; 1991-98, with Baring Brothers, including Director; 1998, Chief Executive, Manek Investment Managers; 2001-08, Managing Director, ABN AMRO; 2008-10, Managing Director and Head, Advisory, Barclays Capital; 2010-15, Senior Managing Director, Blackstone; 2014-2022, Member of the Board, UK Government Investments. Currently Member of the Board of the Court of the Bank of England; Rolls-Royce Holdings plc; Taylor Wimpey plc, Compare The Market Limited; Bourne Leisure and Accord Healthcare. Appointed as Member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament in August 2016. Former Trustee: Guy's & St Thomas' Charity; National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts, UK. Current Chair: British Asian Trust, established by His Majesty King Charles.
Alessandra Galloni
Graduate, Harvard University; Master’s degree, London School of Economics. Formerly: 13 years at the Wall Street Journal in various positions as correspondent, economics and business writer and editor in New York, London, Paris and Rome. September 2013, joined Reuters as Editor of the Southern Europe bureau; since January 2016, Reuters Global News Editor, based in London. Co-Author of “From the End of the Earth to Rome,” an e-book on Pope Francis. Recipient of several awards, including an Overseas Press Club Award in the US and a UK Business Journalist of the Year Award.
Vidhya Ganesan
Vidhya Ganesan is Managing Partner of McKinsey and Company’s Malaysia office and was previously Co-Founder and Co-Leader of McKinsey's Sri Lanka office. Ganesan has steered several transformative government programmes in the social, economic and financial sectors with a special focus on digital government and digital economy. Her focus on leveraging technology in low and middle-income nations has enhanced education and healthcare outcomes while fostering transparency and efficiency. As a McKinsey Center for Government fellow, she contributed to global research and innovation in government digitization and performance. Her expertise extends to advising apparel manufacturers, particularly in sustainable practices and digital manufacturing. Notably, Ganesan collaborates with a leading apparel manufacturer on their ambitious goal to become the world's first traditional apparel manufacturer World Economic Forum lighthouse. She also provides strategic counsel to high-tech and telecommunications clients on digital business development and impact investing. Ganesan was also Co-Founder of McKinsey’s All In, Diversity and Inclusion initiative in South-East Asia and she is passionate about advancing women in the workforce at McKinsey and beyond. Ganesan regularly conducts training sessions for women entrepreneurs; she is a mentor and coach for women and publishes and gives talks on the topic.
Amy Gao Chao
Amy Gao comes from Non-profit background. Her passion in making change in the education field led to her own initiative, the May Foundation that focuses on helping college students build capacity. Gao has a masters degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Javier Garcia-Martinez
Renowned scientist and global expert in sustainable energy and materials chemistry, celebrated for pioneering large-scale industrial decarbonisation technologies that have significantly reduced CO2 emissions in the chemical industry. His innovations, particularly in nanotechnology, have significantly improved the energy efficiency of major industrial processes and advanced key technologies in decarbonisation, hydrogen production and solar energy. A passionate advocate for sustainability, Javier holds influential roles in organisations such as the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the International Science Council. As a successful entrepreneur, he has commercialised decarbonisation technologies that are now in use worldwide. His scientific contributions and policy advice continue to shape industry efforts to achieve net-zero emissions and sustainable development goals.
Badruun Gardi
Badruun Gardi is a social innovator, creative strategist, and educator from Mongolia.
He is founder of the newly established New Nomad Institute, a research and action institute that aims to uncover the enduring knowledge of nomadic societies and apply those learnings towards addressing the climate crisis, particularly in the areas of climate migration and adaptation. Nomadic pastoralists have a unique and close relationship to nature, land, and other living beings. Positioned at the crossroads of research and education, the Institute tackles challenges spanning individual to national scales. The Institute’s initial research focus is on nomadism in Mongolia, where nearly a third of the population still maintains a traditional nomadic pastoralist way of life.
Badruun is also co-founder of GerHub, a nonprofit social innovation firm that develops creative solutions to the challenges caused by rapid urbanization in Mongolia. GerHub primarily works in the ger (traditional nomadic dwelling) areas of Ulaanbaatar, where over 60 percent of the city’s residents live, with little access to basic infrastructure for water, sewage, and heating. A key focus for GerHub is its work on adapting the ger dwelling to be more suitable in an urban context.
Passionate about nurturing the next generation of creative problem solvers, Badruun devotes significant time working with youth through teaching and mentorship. He is currently teaching Stanford University Structured Liberal Education’s pilot hybrid course on moral philosophy at a high school in Ulaanbaatar.
A lifelong fan of film and the performing arts, Badruun was previously creative executive at Salmira Productions, a company that develops, finances, and produces thought-provoking and conversation-catalyzing projects in film, theater, television, and podcasts.
Badruun is a member of the Climate Migration Council and serves on the boards of Arts Council of Mongolia, Mongolia Education Initiative, and Smart Air Mongolia. He is a former trustee of The Asia Foundation. As a 2023 Loeb Fellow, he spent an academic year in residence at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Badruun holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and communication from Stanford University.