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.

Nicolás Shea

Founder and Executive Chairman, Cumplo Chile S.A., Chile

Chilean entrepreneur. Founder of Start-Up Chile, eClass & Cumplo. Founding president of the Chilean Association of Entrepreneurs (ASECH), Socialab & TODOS. Former advisor of entrepreneurship & innovation to the Chilean Ministry of Economy. M.Sc. Management from Stanford, M.Sc. Education from Columbia, B.A. in business and economics from the Catholic University of Chile. Married, 5 children, 1 dog.

Otto Sonnenholzner

Vice-President of Ecuador (2018-2020), Ecuador

Otto Sonnenholzner was elected to be the vice president of Ecuador in December 2018. For 12 years, he was a radio personality with his own talk show. Sonnenholzner also served as the president of the Ecuadorian Association of Broadcasters and is a champion for freedom of speech. He was part of the faculty at Universidad Católica de Guayaquil and is a successful entreprenuer in the broadcasting, telecommunications, construction, commerce and agriculture industries.

Ilona Szabó de Carvalho

President, Igarape Institute, Brazil

Ilona Szabó de Carvalho is the co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute – an independent think-and-do tank focused on improving human, digital, and climate security. Igarapé develops applied research, technologies, partnerships, and solutions to improve public and corporate policies and practices to overcome global challenges.

As an entrepreneur and a globally recognized thought leader, Ilona serves on several boards, including the UNSG High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation (FFHC), the Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI) and Re.green (an ecological restoration company) boards. She is currently the co-chair of the Global Future Council on the Future of Nature and Security of the World Economic Forum, a member of the Expert Panel on the Inter-American Development Bank Group Institutional Strategy, and of the Social and Sustainable Economic Development Council of Brazil’s Presidency and its Commission on the Environment and Sustainable Development.

She was previously the Executive-Secretary of the Global Commission on Drug Policy and led a national gun control campaign in Brazil. Before that, she worked for 5 years in investment banks in Rio de Janeiro.

She earned a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Uppsala in Sweden, is an affiliate scholar at the Princeton University Brazil Lab, and was a public policy fellow at Columbia University in NY.

She is a columnist at Folha de São Paulo, a podcast and TV anchor and commentator, a TED speaker, and an author of 3 books.

Ilona was nominated a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in 2015 and in 2018, she received the Public Security Order of Merit, from the Brazilian Ministry of Public Security. She was also highlighted as one of the world's top 50 thinkers for the Covid-19 age by Prospect Magazine in 2020, and in 2023, she was awarded the Bertha Lutz Diploma, from the Brazilian Federal Senate.

Joice Toyota

Executive Director and Founder, Vetor Brasil, Brazil

Joice Toyota is a rising entrepreneur whose pioneering work in social innovation is helping boost civic engagement among Brazil's youth. As the founder of Vetor Brasil, she has helped select and develop hundreds of young public management leaders across Brazil's 27 states. Her organization has received numerous awards and attracted attention from nationwide media as one of the most promising and scalable initiatives to support the consolidation of Brazilian public institutions.

Felipe Valencia-Dongo

Managing Partner, Grupo Estrategia, Peru

Felipe Valencia-Dongo is Managing Partner at Grupo Estrategia. In Grupo Estrategia they work with large-scale investment projects in emerging markets to achieve Social Acceptance (permission to enter or start a project) and Sustainable Relationship (long-term harmonious relationship with the communities and social organizations of the project's area of influence). He articulates efforts between the private sector, communities, and the public sector to achieve sustainable development for the three of them. They work with several projects of +1 billion USD investment, and Grupo Estrategia is a social-purposed firm that has articulated investments for social good for +USD 500 million.

He served as CEO & Fund Manager of an investment fund in higher education. He also served as Advisor to Peru’s Prime Minister and as Advisor to Peru’s Minister of Education while implementing the educational reform. He worked in poverty reduction with Muhammad Yunus at the Grameen Creative Lab and in the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru.

Felipe is a former Global Shaper. He has served as Vice-President of IPAE (distinguished private sector non-profit). He was appointed as the youngest President in 60 years of CADE Ejecutivos (the annual gathering for Peruvian business leaders, politicians, and civil society). He is Board Member of IPAE and Sistema B Perú (B Corps); Member of Es Hoy (Movement of private sector leaders working for Peru) and L+1 (leaders for sustainability).

Felipe graduated with honours in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico (Lima, Peru) and holds a Master’s degree in the University of Cambridge as a Chevening Scholar. He was selected as Young Global Leader in 2023.

Mariana Vasconcelos

Chief Executive Officer, Agrosmart, Brazil

Mariana Vasconcelos is the Chief Executive Officer of Agrosmart, a technology pioneer alumni of the World Economic Forum and serves as an advisory board member at Thought For Food, Fundação Espaço ECO (BASF) and Instituto Interamericano de Cooperação para a Agricultura (IICA). She is a climate activist and an expert in digital agriculture, considered one of the most influential people in Latin America by Bloomberg Linea. An advocate for gender equality, she was recognized by Globant with a "Women That Build" award in the game-changer category. With a business background and degrees from UNIFEI, LSE and Singularity University, she was also recognized as an Innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review, Forbes 30 Under 30 Brasil and Fast Company world's 100 Most Creative in Business.

Elisa Vegas

Artistic Director, Fundación Orquesta Sinfónica Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, Venezuela

Elisa Vegas founded the first orchestra aimed at improving quality of life of Venezuelans through music and cultural change. She is a living example of how the arts unify people of very different backgrounds and beliefs.

Ricardo Weder

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, JUSTO, INC., Mexico

Ricardo Weder is an entrepreneur and promotor of the technological ecosystem in Mexico and Latin America.
He is the Founder and CEO of Jüsto, a company that seeks to transform the Retail and Consumer Industry in LATAM through technology and fair practices; with operations in Brazil, Peru and more than 300M USD received in investment.
Previously, he was the COO and Global President of Cabify. There, he was a key player in its growth and expansion strategy, from having a small operation to becoming a tech Unicorn valued at 1.4B USD with presence throughout Latin America, in more than 120 cities.
He is an independent Board Member of Principal Financial Group in Mexico; part of the investment committee of Nazca, the leading Venture Capital in Mexico; a member of the advisory board of Engen and Tip, as well as of various technology startups. He is also an Angel Investor in more than 30 startups and one of the first investors in 5 unicorns.
In 2021 he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was previously a member of its expert network and a founding member of its Global Vanguards Community. In 2020 he was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur and in 2021 recognized as a member of its Outliers community.
In his professional career, he has collaborated with companies in the Financial Sector such as HSBC, J.P. Morgan and PWC.
Born in Mexico, he is an Industrial Engineer from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and has an MBA from the University of Mannheim, Germany, with a stay at the CUHK University of Hong Kong. In addition, he is certified by Endeavor's Innovation and Growth program at Stanford University

Nicolas Wertheimer

Co-Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, Waterplan, Uruguay

Nicolás Wertheimer, a medical doctor and social water entrepreneur for almost a decade, is Founder of Proyecto Agua Segura, a Latin American consulting firm that provides access to safe water and hygiene training to over 300,000 people. Wertheimer has delivered 3,260 water projects in collaboration with Fortune 500 companies. As a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum and member of the Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas, he has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 and a finalist for the Chivas Venture. Currently, he is Co-Founder of Waterplan, a climate platform that assists multinational companies in measuring, responding, reporting and monitoring climate water risk. Waterplan combines operational data and satellite imagery to assess water risk and offers tailored mitigation and adaptation solutions.

Gregorio Werthein

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Calwaro Capital, Argentina

Gregorio Werthein is CEO and Chairman of Calwaro Capital. Before he was Co-Chief Executive Officer Replay Acquisition Corp. He also served as a board member and an executive committee member of Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (NYSE: TGS) from 2016 to 2020. Previously, he served as an Executive Managing Director of Werthein Group (2012 to 2019), and also as a board member of GNNW S.A., Experta ART and Cachay S.A. Mr. Gregorio Werthein received an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires in 2008, an MBA from Columbia Business School in 2011 and participated in the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School in 2017. In addition, he is a former Olympic athlete, former president of the Argentine Equestrian Federation and currently board member of the Argentine Olympic Committee.

Fernando Zavala

Chief Executive Officer, Intercorp, Peru

He is currently CEO of Intercorp, a holding company for one of Peru’s largest business groups. Focused on Peru’s growing middle class. Intercorp’s businesses are mainly focused on four sectors: financial services; retail (including shopping malls), education and health.
Also, he is Vice President of the Private Council of Competitiveness, Think Tank promoted by IPAE to propose public policies.

In the Public sector he has been Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Peru in two occasions.
In the private sector, he has served as CEO in both, Peru and Panama for the multinational SABmiller. He has also been a member of the Board of several companies in Peru, as well as business associations and NGOs.

Economist at the Universidad del Pacifico, with a master’s degree in Business Management from the University of Piura and with a MBA from the University of Birmingham in United Kingdom.