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.

Mark Hanis

Co-Founder, Inclusive America, USA

Mark Hanis is a serial social entrepreneur. He is co-founding two startups: Inclusive America (a nonprofit to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in government) and Progressive Shopper (a technology company to harness conscious consumption). Mark is also serving as an Associate Fellow at the European campus of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe) and as a Senior Lang Fellow at Swarthmore College.

Previously, Mark has helped found several social impact organizations: the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University to engage global leaders to drive social change at scale; the Organ Alliance (now Organize) to address the unnecessary deaths due to a shortage of transplantable organs; and United to End Genocide to empower citizens and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide.

Mark also served as a White House Fellow working in the Office of Vice President Joe Biden as the National Security Affairs Special Advisor for South America, Africa, and Human Rights. He also served as a Research Fellow with Stanford University's Center for Human Rights and International Justice.

Mark has been awarded several fellowships for social entrepreneurship, including Ashoka, Echoing Green, Draper Richards Kaplan, and Hunt Alternatives Prime Movers. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Hanis graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Public Policy. He is the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors and was raised in Quito, Ecuador.

Dave Hanley

Chief Executive Officer, Tomorrow, USA

Dave is founder and CEO of Tomorrow, a financial services app that aims to bring economic security to millions by empowering anyone to make a plan, receive free estate planning, and receive recommendations for financial products.

Previously, Dave founded Banyan Branch (acquired by Deloitte, 2013), a leading social media marketing agency that propelled blue-chip companies into the new world of engaging customers on social platforms.

Dave’s love of music and technology positioned him to lead product development for the Rhapsody Music Service, where he helped bring the service natively to the web, then to a multitude of social sites.

Dave along with Rhapsody colleagues built a social network for readers called Shelfari. Shelfari grew rapidly through solely social and viral marketing—reaching millions of members within 18 months—and was acquired by Amazon.com.

Dave’s entrepreneurial efforts in microcredit banking include founding and editing the first academic journal and the largest conference on the subject, advising education microloan innovator Vittana, and authoring *Grameen Reference* while a Fulbright scholar with Muhammad Yunus at Grameen Bank.

Nathaniel Harding

Managing Partner, Cortado Ventures, USA

An innovator and entrepreneur, Nathaniel Harding's company in 2018 helped discover one of the largest new natural gas resources in the United States, pioneered waterless completions, and is a founding investor in an Environmental Protection Agency approved fluid with application in medicine and energy. Viewing education and jobs as critical to fighting poverty, he is a recognized leader for both. The Governor of Oklahoma previously named him chairman of the Council for Workforce and Economic Development, and to the White House STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) Summit to develop the five-year federal STEM education strategy.

Assaf Harlap

Member of the Board, Colmobil Group, Israel

Assaf is a serial entrepreneur, impact investor, and owner of Colmobil Corp, Israel's largest car importer, distributor and retailer ($3.5B sales).

He is currently leading his family business through the next stage of its business growth while leading the charge in redefining Israel's stakeholder capitalism and investing in promising, early-stage entrepreneurs. Assaf has recently launched Future Mobility Israel - a think tank + policy lobby group with a vision to turn Israel into one of the global leaders of implementing and leveraging the transportation revolution.

Assaf is the co-founder of MEET, an educational program for outstanding Israeli and Palestinian high school students, in affiliation with MIT. MEET's program has been hailed by President Barak Obama as one of the best examples of how innovation is reshaping the Middle East.

Previously, Assaf served as the Founder and CEO of Switch.co.il an online used car marketplace and as VP of Business Development at Colmobil Corp. Between 2010-2012, Assaf led the relaunch of the smart car in Israel.

Assaf is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS 2015) at the University of London in Japanese studies and received an MBA from Harvard business school (2010). He was selected by the World Economic Forum to become a young global leader in 2015.

Assaf lives in Tel Aviv with his wife Shelly and four daughters, Zoe, Amelia, Eleanor and Naomi

Niel Harper

Director of the Board and Chair, Innovation & Technology Committee, ISACA, USA

Niel Harper is deeply committed to ensuring that individuals and organizations consistently benefit from safety, privacy, security, reliability, and data ethics when using online platforms. He has spent the last 20 years leading and advising on Digital Trust initiatives at global organizations such as Aspen Institute, AT&T Wireless, Bemol, Canonical, CIBC, Deloitte Consulting, Doodle, European Commission, Internet Society, UNICEF, UNOPS, and others. Niel specialises in corporate governance, cybersecurity management, privacy program management, engineering management, enterprise risk management, and digital policy.

Niel is the recipient of the International Security Journal (ISJ) Caribbean Security & Resilience Award (2021) and the ISACA Technology for Humanity Award (2021). Recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader (2014) and by the Internet Society as a Next Generation Leader (2011). He previously served on the United Nations Information Security Special Interest Group (UNISSIG) and the World Economic Forum’s Cyber Risk & Corporate Governance Working Group. Niel currently serves on the Professional Standards Working Group of the UK Cyber Security Council and as a Board Director and Chair, Innovation & Technology Committee at ISACA.

Niel holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Strathclyde specialising in privacy, cyber crime, and national security; Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Leicester; Postgraduate Diploma (PgD) in Telecoms Regulation & Policy from the University West Indies; Diploma in Business Information Systems from Algonquin College; and has completed executive programs at University of Oxford, Stanford University, Nanyang Technological University, Florida International University, and Boston University.

Jonathan Harris

Artist, Number 27, USA

Combining elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art and storytelling, Jonathan Harris designs systems to explore and explain the human world. His projects range from building the world's largest time capsule (with Yahoo!) to documenting an Alaskan Eskimo whale hunt on the Arctic Ocean (with a warm hat). He is the creator of wefeelfine.org, which continuously measures the emotional temperature of the human world through large-scale blog analysis and has made other projects about online dating, modern mythology, anonymity, news and language. After studying computer science at Princeton University, he won a 2005 Fabrica fellowship and three Webby Awards. His work has also been recognized by AIGA, Ars Electronica, the state of Vermont, and by Print Magazine, which named him a “2008 New Visual Artist”. His projects have been shown at The Museum of Modern Art (New York), Le Centre Pompidou (Paris), and have appeared on CNN, NPR, BBC and Bhutanese television. He lives in California.

John Harthorne

Managing Director, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, USA

John Harthorne is Founder and Managing Director of Two Lanterns Venture Capital, a seed fund investing in software startups in the US and Israel.

Prior to launching Two Lanterns, John was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MassChallenge, the largest-ever start-up accelerator and the first to support high-impact start-ups with no strings attached. MassChallenge is the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, we are obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across any industry.

We also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through our global network of 9 accelerators in 7 cities and 4 countries, and unrivaled access to our corporate partners, we are creating a massive impact - driving growth and creating value the world over.

As of early 2021, MassChallenge's 2,900+ startups have raised $8.5B+ in funding, generated 3.5B+ in revenue and created over 185,000 jobs.

The Boston Business Journal has identified Harthorne as one of Boston's 50 Most Influential Business Leaders. Harthorne received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007. While at school, he won the Grand Prize in the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and the 2007 Patrick J. McGovern Award for impact on quality and visibility of entrepreneurship at MIT.

Sahar Hashemi

Entrepreneur and Author, United Kingdom

Sahar Hashemi co-founded Coffee Republic, one of the United Kingdom's leading coffee chains, in 1995. She also started Skinny Candy, a guilt-free confectionery brand, which was sold to Glisten in 2007. Hashemi left Coffee Republic in 2001 and co-wrote the best-selling book, Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee Republic from our Kitchen Table, which has been translated into six languages and is the second highest selling book on entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom. Her latest book, Switched On, is about entrepreneurial behaviour in established companies. Hashemi lectures around the world on how to use entrepreneurial habits to promote innovation and creativity in the corporate world. She was awarded an OBE for services to the United Kingdom's economy and to charity in the Queen's 2012 birthday honours list. Hashemi studied Law at Bristol University and qualified as a corporate lawyer at Frere Cholmeley in London.

Abdulsalam Haykal

Chief Executive Officer, Haykal Group, United Arab Emirates

Abdulsalam Haykal is CEO of Haykal Group, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Haykal Group invests in various sectors and includes the following operating companies:

- Transtek Systems: enterprise software in assets lifecycle management, inventory, and maintenance.

- Majarra: publisher of the Majarra app, which offers high quality Arabic content including the Arabic editions of Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, Popular Science, Fortune, among others.

- Manhom: the main source on professionals and companies in the Middle East.

Lableb: Arabic-language NLP and AI-based products.

Haykal serves on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut. He is a member of the UAE government's Arabic Language Advisory Council, and of the Advisory Board of the Institute on AI and Humanities at New York University Abu Dhabi. He was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and received the Arab Thought Foundation's Innovation Award. Haykal is a graduate of the American University of Beirut and SOAS, University of London.

Jeremy Heimans

Chairman and Co-Founder, Purpose Campaigns PBC, USA

Studies, Harvard University and University of Sydney. Began career with McKinsey and Co. 2004, Co-Founder, an advocacy group in US presidential elections that ran a highly publicized online and media campaign. 2005, Co-Founder, GetUp.org, an Australian political movement and internationally recognized social movement. 2007, Co-Founder, Avaaz.org, the world's largest online citizens' movement. Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Purpose.com. Chair, Global Agenda Countil on Civic Participation and Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. Work recognized in several publications. Recipient, 75th Anniversary Visionary Award, Ford Foundation.

Bettina Hein

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Juli AG, Switzerland

Bettina is a serial software entrepreneur that has built technology companies in both Europe and the United States. She is most recently the founder of juli, a digital health company, her third software company. She is also the founder of Pixability, a video advertising company in Boston. Prior to Pixability, Bettina co-founded SVOX, the Swiss-based speech technology company which was acquired by Nuance Communications (NUAN) for $125 million. Bettina has received numerous awards and recognitions such as the 2018 Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year Award, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, L’Oreal NEXT Generation Award, and The Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 Award.” Bettina holds an MS degree from MIT, a law degree from the University of Constance, and a business degree from the University of St. Gallen. She holds a software patent in video distribution optimization and is the author of "Video Marketing for Dummies".

He Jin

Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer, Maimai, People's Republic of China

Mr. Jin He co-founded MAIMAI, the China-based profession service and social-networking platform in 2013. MAIMAI has been leading for years in China profession social market with over 120 million users. Mr. He is passionate about building up the energizing and improving work environment for the workforces and bringing more opportunities for the society. Mr. He is YGL 2020 from China. Mr. He is also passionate about A.I. technology. He has deeply implemented A.I. into his profession service product and constantly explored the more suitable service scenario.