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.

Miguel Medina

Minister of Investment, Office of the President of Honduras, Honduras

Miguel is a young public leader that is currently the Minister Investment and the Executive Secretary of the National Investment Council. Before joining the Government of Honduras, Miguel worked as a General Manager for the second largest gas retail company in Honduras and Guatemala. He was also the Director of Corporate projects for Grupo Montecristo, a Honduran family owned conglomerate with investment in renewable energy. Miguel has a MBA from Georgetown University; and a bachelor of Arts in Business Leadership from the University of Dallas.

Denis B. Minev

Chief Executive Officer, Bemol e Fogas, Brazil

Denis Minev is CEO of Bemol, a top retailer in northern Brazil. He is also a Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Fundação Amazonas Sustentável, an NGO that promotes development and conservation in poor communities of the Brazilian Amazon. In 2012, he was nominated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Between 2007 and 2009, Minev served as State Secretary for Planning and Economic Development of Amazonas and was previously an analyst at Goldman Sachs. He holds a BA in Economics and an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Sebastian Monroy

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Zubale, Brazil

Sebastian Monroy is CEO and Co-Founder of Zubale, an e-commerce infrastructure start-up dedicated to empowering retailers to win in e-commerce. Established in 2018, Zubale has expanded its operations to six countries in Latin America, boasting a team of over 500 employees, serving more than 100 clients and generating employment opportunities for over 100,000 freelancers. Born and raised in Medellín, Colombia, Monroy is also a Mexican citizen. Driven by a vision of fostering a more equitable and prosperous world, he is committed to achieving this goal through impactful, technology-driven entrepreneurship. Monroy graduated top of his class from Tec of Monterrey in Mexico and furthered his education with an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jonathan Nathusius

Chief Executive Officer, CEMACO, Guatemala

Jonathan is the CEO of Grupo Cemaco, the leading home improvement and home furnishings retailer in Guatemala. Grupo Cemaco is one of the largest Certified B Corporations in Latin America. Jonathan is also the Co-founder of Makbi, a prominent player in the commercial rooftop solar energy markets in Central America. Jonathan is a board member of CentraRSE, Guatemala’s center for business social responsibility. In addition, he participates in the boards of several social impact organizations and is an active member of YPO. Prior to joining Grupo Cemaco, Jonathan was a Senior Associate at Violy&Company, a New York-based boutique investment bank focused on Latin America. Jonathan was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He holds a BS from the University of Colorado and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Avital Saskia Niño de Rivera Cover

Co-Founder and Spokeswoman, Reinserta -Un Mexico A.C-, Mexico

Saskia is a Mexican-American national. She has a Master’s in Human Rights and Fundamental Principles and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She is the President of the non-profit organization Reinserta, which she founded when she was 24 years old, in order to fight for a safer Mexico through its penitentiary system. Previously, she worked at the National Anti-Kidnap Coordination of the Mexican Secretariat of Government. In 2015, she led the creation of the “maternity in prison” section of the Criminal Execution Law, and was invited to create and work for the Social Responsibility Agenda 2015-2016. In 2014, Saskia participated in a number of workshops for the Mexican criminal system reform. Saskia was selected as a Mexican leader of the women’ s first generation of Raising Talent Women’ s Forum and as one of the 3,000 Ashoka Fellows. She was nominated for the Nelson Mandela – Graça Machel Innovation Awards 2016 and was named “Next Generation Leader” by Time Magazine. She was awarded with the UBS Visionaries 2016 prize, is recognized by Global Shapers and Women’ s Forum Rising Talent México, and is a Vital Voices Ambassador as of 2016. She received an American School Foundation Leadership award in 2006, was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2015, was named a Next Generation Leaders by TIME Magazine in 2015, and was selected by FORBES Magazine in 2016 as one of the TOP 100 powerful women. Saskia was selected as a 2019 Global Leadership Award Honoree and a VVLead Ambassador. Saskia works within the prisons and the country’s most dangerous neighborhoods in order to change the extremely rough environments that funnel Mexicans into crime.

Daniel Noboa Azín

President of Ecuador, Office of the President of Ecuador, Ecuador

Daniel Noboa, the youngest President in the republican history of Ecuador.
The President of the Republic, Daniel Noboa Azín, assumes the leadership of the National Government at the age of 35. He is the youngest president of republican Ecuador and of contemporary Latin America.
He studied Business Administration at New York University's Stern School of Business and has three international master's degrees: Business Administration at the Kellogg School of Management, Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School, and Governance and Political Communication at George Washington University.
His professional experience began at the age of 18 with the creation of several companies, including DNA Entertainment Group, a real estate and logistics company dedicated to event organization. He also worked at Noboa Corporation, becoming the youngest Shipping Director in the company's history.
He was a legislator in the National Assembly. In his first candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic, he was elected on 15 October 2023 with 52.1% of the votes. Ecuadorians elected him to lead a democratic proposal that favors consensus and will concentrate its efforts on protecting dollarisation, reducing unemployment, boosting competitiveness, economic growth, and citizen security.
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Vera Oliveira

Founder and Executive Director, Instituto C - Criança, Cuidado and Cidadão, Brazil

Vera Oliveira is a Brazilian social entrepreneur and Founder and Executive Director of Instituto C – Criança, Cuidado and Cidadão (Child, Care and Citizenship) based in São Paulo. Since its establishment in 2011, the organization has provided support to over 15,000 individuals, with a particular focus on children and adolescents facing social vulnerability. Instituto C guides and assists families through public service networks and social welfare programmes, empowering them to build autonomy and awareness of their rights and responsibilities. The institute's impactful work has earned recognition, including being named one of the 100 Best NGOs in Brazil in the past seven years. Prior to founding Instituto C, Oliveira gained valuable experience in market research at multinational companies such as Nielsen and Ipsos. Her time in this field fuelled her passion for understanding people’s needs and stories.

Adriana Ortiz

President, National Handcraft Institute (IPA), Paraguay

Adriana Ortiz is a Paraguayan designer and entrepreneur who studied fashion design in Mexico and Spain. She has a degree in Psychology. She started working as an entrepreneur building her own commercial brand of feminine accessories and jewellery integrating craft design with contemporary design. In 2018, she was appointed President of the National Handcraft Institute (IPA). Her work focuses on promoting Paraguayan crafts through contemporary design practices that enable the strengthening of the value chains of artisanal production. This creates opportunities for fairer trade and better incomes for 20,000 artisans, of whom 70% are women. She is also leading the creation of "Safeguard Schools" for the protection of ancestral knowledge, mainly in rural communities. During her mandate, the first Paraguayan Artisan Fund was created to give financial support to civil society organizations working with indigenous communities to promote and develop indigenous crafts. The public policies promoted by IPA allowed for the creation of more than 70 new commercial units to sell Paraguayan crafts in national and international markets with a positive economic impact for many families in the country. Ortiz aims to contribute to a better future for the country and the world.

Salvador Paiz

President, FunSEPA, Guatemala

Salvador Paiz is President of FunSEPA, a foundation which is improving the quality of education in Guatemala by leveraging technology. FunSEPA has installed over 26,313 computers in over 1,624 public schools, and has trained and certified over 86,000 public school teachers (over 55% of the total teacher population) on the usage of technology as a teaching tool. FunSEPA is in the process of rolling out Na'at, a revolutionary teacher training platform which does not require connectivity.

Paiz is also Director of the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA) and works on the Mejoremos Guate initiative, a holistic development agenda for the country with short-term actionable projects. Key projects and initiatives include: Roadway Infrastructure Legislative Proposal, Crime Stoppers Guatemala, Guatemala Visible, Criminal Justice Flowchart, among others.

On the business side, Paiz is the Co-Chairman of Grupo PDC, a holding company with interests in distribution and real estate finance throughout Central America.

Paiz obtained a Bachelor's degree with honours from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Business as a Martin Trust Merit Scholar. His econometric work on the topic of contagion has been published.

Roberto Patiño

Founder, Convive, Venezuela

Roberto is a Venezuelan social entrepreneur focused on democracy and human rights. He holds a master’s in public policy from Harvard University, a master’s in advanced peace studies and mediation from ETH Zurich and a BS in manufacturing engineering from Universidad Simon Bolivar. Patiño is the founder of the NGOs Mi Convive and Alimenta La Solidaridad that work in 240 vulnerable communities empowering +4,500 women volunteers to feed daily 15,000 children and reduce violence in hot spots. Patiño is also a director of Institute 2100 focusing on the intersection between democracy and technology. Roberto is a boardmember of Primero Justicia, a political party. He is a former leader of the student movement. He currently resides in Caracas, Venezuela.

Mia Perdomo

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Aequales, Colombia

Mia Perdomo is an entrepreneur, activist and feminist. She is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aequales, a company that provides tools for organizations to close their gender gaps through measurement, consultancy and technology. She is also the Co-Creator of Par Ranking, the largest corporate gender equality ranking in Latin America. She was named one of the 100 transforming women of Colombia, one of the 101 people that are changing the world of work by the BBC, and one of the most creative people in business in 2020 by Fast Company. She received a degree in Psychology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia and an MSc in human rights from the London School of Economics. She is also a Global Competitive Leadership Program Fellow at Georgetown University and an ECLA Program Fellow at Columbia University's Business School. She loves nature, dancing, and is curious about anything that brings passion to people's lives.

Rodrigo Pérez-Alonso

Partner, Koalsulting, Mexico

Partner at Koalsulting, a firm specializing in public and government affairs. Former Executive Director of the National Air Transportation Chamber in Mexico, a major industry association for air transportation in Mexico. Law degree, ITAM; MSc in Public Policy, UCL; MPA, Harvard Kennedy School. Formerly Served in the Mexican Congress (2009-2012), in the Presidential Transition Team and as Director of Regulatory Affairs for Televisa, among other positions.

Specializes in law, policy and regulation of network and regulated industries.

Accomplished weekly columnist for Excelsior Newspaper and weekly commentary on national TV and radio for Grupo Imagen. Young Global Leader 2013 of the World Economic Forum. Law Degree (ITAM). MSc In Public Policy (UCL), Master in Public Administration (Harvard University).

An executive with more than 17 years experience in managing teams in the public and private sectors; regulatory affairs, legislation, regulation, finance and economics.

Until May of 2019, he served as the Executive Director of the National Air Transportation Chamber (CANAERO), a private industry association with a 52-year history that represents 67 national, international, and cargo airlines, as well as aviation service providers and private air taxi operators. He manages an annual budget of US$500,000 and seven staff members. Under his tenure, eight new members have been affiliated at CANAERO including Airbus. Participated in negotiations on behalf of the industry for the New International Airport, fuel market liberalization and passenger taxes.

Previously served as Director of Financial Planning and Evaluation at Telecomm-Telégrafos, a state-run telecommunications company with more than 15,000 employees (federal government’s satellites and its fiber optic backbone). Federal Congressman in the LXI Legislature where he chaired the Special Committee on Digital Access and served as Senior Member in the Economics Committee. In the private sector, he worked as a lawyer in various top-tier firms, as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Televisa Corporacion and as a partner at Techonomics, where he advised various companies.

In March 2013 the World Economic Forum selected him as a member of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. Since 2010 he is a national columnist in Excelsior (Opinion, Money) and has written for magazines such as Forbes Mexico. Select speaking engagements at events organized by Forbes Mexico, the World Economic Forum and Harvard Business Review.

Alternative name spelling: Rodrigo Perez-Alonso, Rodrigo Perez Alonso