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.

Ayla Göksel

Chief Executive Officer, Ozyegin Social Investments, Türkiye

Ayla Goksel is CEO of Özyegin Social Investments, a network of non-profit organisations, including ACEV (Mother Child Education Foundation), Hüsnü M. Özyegin Foundation and Iz Child. These organisations work in the fields of education (infrastructure, programs and policy), early childhood and parenting, womens empowerment, rural livelihoods and post-disaster rehabilitation. The programs and investments have reached 1,4 milion people across Turkey. ACEV’s award winning programs have also been implemented in fourteen other countries in the Middle East, Europe and most recently Asia and Latin America. Goksel is also Trustee of Ozyegin University and serves on the boards of the Education Reform Initiative and Tohum Foundation for Autism. She has been selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Senior Fellow of the Synergos Institute, Qatar Foundation WISE Laureate and World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council member. She holds a BSc from University of Bath, MSc from London School of Economics and has conducted fellowships on civil society and non profit organisations at Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University.

Elissa Golberg

Ambassador of Canada to Italy, Ambassador of Canada to Albania and San Marino, High Commissioner to Malta, and Permanent Representative of Canada to, Embassy of Canada in Italy, Italy

Ms. Elissa Golberg was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister - Strategic Policy at the department of Global Affairs Canada in September 2017. In that role she is responsible for developing, leading and coordinating Canada's emerging foreign, economic and international development policy agendas. She is also Champion for Innovation and Experimentation. From February 2015 to September 2017, she served as Assistant Deputy Minister - Partnerships for Development Innovation, where her team programmed some $330 million annually in development aid to reduce poverty in 126 countries, working with international and Canadian civil society, academic, professional associations and the private sector. From September 2011 to February 2015, Ms Golberg was Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and to the Conference on Disarmament. Prior to that, she held several other responsibilities within the Canadian government including Director-General - Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START), and Representative of Canada in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ms. Golberg has a Master's degree in International Relations. She is a member of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament. She is a recipient of the NATO ISAF General Service medal, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal, the Public Service Award of Excellence, and several Ministerial Awards for Foreign Policy Excellence. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010, and served on the WEF's Global Agenda Council on Violence and Fragility, and Global Future Council on Global Governance, Public-Private Partnerships and Sustainable Development.

Yair Goldfinger

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AppCard Inc., USA

Yair Goldfinger is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AppCard, a loyalty 3.0 platform. Previously, he co-founded and was Chief Technology Officer of Dotomi, an on-line advertising company which focuses on creating personal, relevant and timely one-to-one messaging between marketers and their customers; Dotomi was acquired by ValueClick at 2011. At 26, Goldfinger co-founded ICQ, the world's first Internet-wide instant messaging service, which was acquired by AOL in 1998. He holds several patents in the area of instant messaging. Goldfinger is an active investor in several Israeli start-up companies. He is also a co-founder and sits on the management committee of the Friends of Raveh Ravid Fund, dedicated to the creation and formation of a new generation of young educated leaders who will take a part in management and leadership roles. Goldfinger holds a BA in Math and Computer Science from Tel Aviv University and was granted the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award in 2005.

Neal Goldman

Managing Member, Idyllwild Ventures LLC, Spain

Neal Goldman is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Connectivity Data Systems. He is also Co-Founder of Goode Holdings, an investment holding company with interests in the information technology and financial services sectors that is the sponsor of a US$ 225 million private capital fund focused on investing in middle market consumer companies. Prior to Goode, Goldman was Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Capital IQ until its sale to McGrawHill/Standard & Poor's. Previously, he was a Managing Partner at Uhuru Capital Management and an investment banker in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Lehman Brothers and a private equity investor at Lincolnshire Management. Goldman received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he also served as an Adjunct Faculty Member. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Member at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Member of the Young Presidents Organization and a Board Member of Hatzalah and the Jerusalem Foundation.

Ellen Gonda

Communications Adviser, EDG Consulting, USA

Ellen Gonda counsels public and private companies and individuals in various capacities, particularly during critical inflection points. She is a passionate and strategic communications professional with global experience across industries and disciplines. Ellen's clients have included The Rise Fund, Innit, and Overture Partners. Ellen has held top communications roles at Etsy, where she led Communications, Values and Alignment, at Hilton Worldwide, as the Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Communications and Corporate Responsibility, and at The Carlyle Group, where she was the Vice President and Director of Communications for the Americas. She began her career in the agency world, with positions at Brunswick Group, Gavin Anderson & Company, and Abernathy MacGregor Frank. Ellen graduated with high honours from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gong Yingying

Founder and Chairlady, Yidu Tech, People's Republic of China

Chairlady of the Board, and Founder of Yidu Tech Inc. Ms Gong is responsible for the overall strategy, business direction and management of the Company.

She has previously worked for Credit Suisse First Boston, Global Infrastructure Partners LLP, Deutsche Bank AG and other well-known investment banks and institutions, where she accumulated extensive investment experience and industry insights. Ms. Gong also founded Guizhou Province Xiao Yingying Charity Foundation (贵州省笑盈盈慈善基金会) in March 2019, a charitable foundation focusing on the support of children with rare or major illnesses.

In 2019, she was elected as one of the nine Young Global Leaders from the Greater China region by the World Economic Forum. She holds an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Andrés S. Gonzáles-Silén

Executive Chairman & Co-founder, Asistensi, Spain

Dr. Andres Simon Gonzalez-Silen is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Venemergencia, a conglomerate dedicated to provide health services in Venezuela.
Established in 2004, Venemergencia employs +300 Venezuelans and serves more than 3.5 Million affiliates nationwide on a 24 hour basis. It is composed of five companies and one non-profit organization. The companies focus on emergency medical services; homecare; clinical laboratory; primary care; and technology for telemedicine and mobile health. The non-profit organization educates paramedics in association with the Universidad Simón Bolívar and establishes emergency medical brigades in shantytowns, as a means for developing a sustainable model of emergency care for vulnerable communities.
Dr. Gonzalez-Silen holds an M.D. degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, an M.B.A. from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), and a certificate in occupational health from the Universidad J.A. Páez. During medical school, he gained accreditations as a Paramedic in courses sponsored by the American Heart Association. Lastly, he attended an entrepreneurship short-program at Babson College in the US.
His achievements have been recognised by his induction into the prestigious Forum of "Young Global Leaders-YGL" were he is a member of the Advisory Board and "Global Shapers" from the World Economic Forum, were he was invited to attend the Annual Meeting in Davos 2015, he is an "Influential Leader" of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, “Young Presidents Organization-YPO" 2015, a "Millenium Leader 50-ML50" from the Group of Fifty (G50), "Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014" from Venezuela Sin Limites and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and was recognised as one of the "50 Influential Leaders of IESA" in Venezuela and was invited included into the "Hall of Fame for IESA Entrepreneurs". More recently he has been honoured with hierarchy of "Major" in the National Firefighter Squad.
He has also been appointed as member of the Board in different organizations: Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración-IESA, Young Global Leaders-Advisory Board (World Economic Forum), Venezuela Sin Límites Foundation (Digitel), Alcarín Group, Salsano Group, Advisory Council of Health of the El Hatillo-Caracas Municipality, Goodwill, Global Dignity and the National Transplant Organization of Venezuela-ONTV.

Charmian Gooch

Co-Founder and Co-Director, Global Witness, United Kingdom

Charmian Gooch is Co-Founder and Director of Global Witness, a non-profit campaigning organization that addresses the links between natural resource exploitation and the funding of conflict and corruption. Gooch jointly led Global Witness's first campaign, exposing the trade in timber between the Khmer Rouge and Thai logging companies and their political and military backers. She also developed and launched Global Witness's second ground-breaking campaign to combat blood diamonds. Gooch is involved in the strategic leadership of Global Witness and has spoken publicly across these issues. In 2014 she and Global Witness were awarded the TED Prize for work on Anonymous Companies, and she was a co-awardee with fellow GW founders of the Skoll Prize also in 2014. Global Witness was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on conflict diamonds, and in 2005 Gooch received the Gleitsman International Activist Award.

Suhas Gopinath

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Globals, India

Suhas Gopinath is Founder & CEO of Globals Inc, the company he founded at 14 and was recognized as the World's Youngest CEO then. Globals focuses on Enterprise Cloud Solutions, AI-based Cyber Security, Cyberwarfare and Mobility Solutions. Suhas is also the founder of fintech company called Eaze that enables brands and merchants to offer Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). Previously was ICT Board Member, World Bank; Venture Fellow, NYCEDC; Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Suhas is also the Member of the National Expert Advisory Committee, Govt. of India and the National Co-Chairman of FICCI, ICT & Digital Economy.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty

Senior Vice-President, Delivery, Uber Technologies, USA

As Senior Vice President for Delivery, and member of the management board, Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty oversees the company's on-demand delivery efforts, including the Uber Eats app, which operates in more than 6,000 cities around the world. Prior to this role, he served as the Vice President for Uber's ride-hailing business outside of North America. After spending time at Goldman Sachs, starting a hedge fund at the age of 26, and harnessing a big urge to build something, Pierre joined Uber as the General Manager of France in 2012, launching Paris, Uber’s first international city. As one of the earliest members of the team, he scaled Uber across Europe before taking on the challenge of international expansion. He now brings his experience and expertise to Uber Eats. As a business leader, Pierre champions diversity and inclusion, and has become a driving force to empower women within and outside Uber. Pierre is an Executive Sponsor of the Women of Uber Employee Resource Group and a strong proponent of new ways to attract and retain female talent at Uber. He is a French citizen and lives in Amsterdam with his wife and two sons.

Karina Gould

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, House of Commons, Canada

The Honourable Karina Gould was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Burlington in 2015.

A graduate of McGill University and the University of Oxford, Minister Gould is passionate about public service and international development. Before her election as the Member of Parliament for Burlington, she worked as a trade and investment specialist for the Mexican Trade Commission in Toronto, a consultant for the Migration and Development Program at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., and spent a year volunteering at an orphanage in Mexico.

Minister Gould has deep roots in her hometown of Burlington, Ontario, and is an active member of the community and an advocate for women’s issues and affordable housing. She has volunteered with and actively supports the Iroquoia Bruce Trail Club, the Burlington chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women, the Mississauga Furniture Bank, Halton Women’s Place, and other local organizations.

Minister Gould lives in Burlington with her husband Alberto and son Oliver.

With the birth of Oliver, Minister Gould became the first federal cabinet minister to have a baby while holding office. She is passionate about breaking down barriers for women, youth, and underrepresented groups.

Soulaima Gourani

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Happioh Inc., USA

CEO/ co-founder of Happioh Inc. Palo Alto.

Happioh SaaS B2B software helps teams achieve their productive meeting goals and avoid low-quality meeting hours.

Executive Education from Yale, Harvard, Wharton, Indian School Of Business, University of Cambridge, Wharton, INCAE Business School, Nanyang Technological University, and MBA from Copenhagen Business School.

Born in Morocco and raised in Denmark. Awarded with the WEF Young Global Leader (YGL). Nominated the Thinkers50 Ideas into Practice Award alongside Reid Hoffman in 2019. Thinkers50 Radar Award, 2020, Nordic Thinkers 20 alongside Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA, and "40 under 40 Europe". Mentor at Olam Ventures, board member at "The Aventures" fund, and Judge at Entrepreneur Of The Year®.

Author of 3 books/ co-author of 16 books.

A former executive at Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Maersk as responsible for early-stage software, global sales/deployment/distribution, consulting, and engineering teams (45 direct reports). 25 + years of tech experience.