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.

Kieron Boyle

Chief Executive Officer, Impact Investing Institute, United Kingdom

Kieron Boyle is the Chief Executive of the Impact Investing Institute, the UK’s national body for impact investing. Its mission is to change capital markets for a fairer, greener economy.

From 2016 to 2023, Kieron was the Chief Executive of Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation, one of the world's oldest health foundations. Through this period, the foundation developed some of the UK’s most innovative and impactful alliances to reduce health inequalities, as well as transformed its £1 billion investment arm into one of Europe's leading responsible and health impact investors.

Kieron was formerly the UK government's chief advisor on impact investment, and prior to that worked in both Downing Street and the Foreign Office. He started his career at the Boston Consulting Group.

Kieron is a Governor of the Southbank Centre, Europe’s largest arts centre; and on the Boards of Big Society Capital and the Design Council. He chairs LIPH — a multi-trillion dollar global alliance of institutional investors working to improve people's health — and the UK's Cultural Impact Development Fund.

Anu Bradford

Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, USA

Anu Bradford is a Professor of Law at the Columbia Law School. Before joining the faculty, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Law School. She has also taught at Harvard College, Brandeis University and the University of Helsinki Law School. Her research and teaching interests include international trade law and international political economy, international antitrust law, and EU law. Bradford earned her SJD and LLM from Harvard Law School, and holds a law degree from the University of Helsinki. After completing her LLM studies as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard, she practiced anti-trust law and EU law with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Brussels before returning to Harvard for her doctoral studies. She has also served as an Adviser and Expert Assistant in the European Parliament and the Parliament of Finland, and on the Board of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund.

Privahini Bradoo

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plank, USA

MBA, Harvard Business School (Fulbright Platinum Fellow); PhD in Neuroscience, University of Auckland. Formerly: Management Consultant, BCG; Faculty Adviser, Singularity University; founding Chief Executive Officer, Spark, an initiative that promotes entrepreneurship in New Zealand and has successfully helped start over 110 companies in the last 15 years; led business development at cleantech start-ups, including LanzaTech. Passionate about #FutureOfWork, #CircularEconomy, #Entrepreneurship. Previously, co-founder and CEO of BlueOak, a circular economy company focused on recycling high-value metals from e-waste. Currently, Co-Founder & CEO of StriveLabs, a company focused on #FutureOfWork in the wake of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Recipient of honours and awards, including: World Class New Zealander Award 2017; named one of New Zealand's top 10 business influencers; Distinguished Young Alumni Award, University of Auckland; Harvard Alumni New Venture Award; recognized at White House Demo Day in 2015.

Kate Brandt

Chief Sustainability Officer, Google, USA

Kate Brandt credits her time in government for shaping her perspective that partnerships between the public and private sector are key to solving broad, systemic challenges like clean energy and climate change. Kate currently serves as Google's Chief Sustainability Officer, leading sustainability across Google's worldwide operations, products and supply chain. Previously, she served in the White House as the country's first Federal Chief Sustainability Officer where she helped create an executive order that will cut greenhouse-gas emissions by over 40% in the next decade.

Scott Brison

Vice-Chair, Investment & Corporate Banking, BMO Financial Group, Canada

BCom in Finance, Dalhousie University; Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century Executive Education programme, Harvard University. Private sector experience as entrepreneur and investment banker. Former: Chairman, SeaFort Capital; Director, Norvista Capital Corporation; Minister of Public Works and Government Services; Receiver General of Canada; Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister for Canada-US relations; Shadow Minister for Finance and Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Finance Committee; Member, Trilateral Commission. Currently, Canadian Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament. Recipient: Colombia's Order of San Carlos.

Martin Bruncko

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Steam Capital, France

Senior executive and board member in fintech and R&D-based companies, including as EVP for Europe at Binance, founding CFO/CSO at AeroMobil (pioneering flying cars company), and board member in GA Drilling, the global leader in accessing ultra deep geothermal energy.

Previously, founder and managing director of tech investment and advisory firm Steam Capital, member of the investment committee of the European Innovation Council Fund (largest deep tech investment fund in Europe) and the founder and executive chairman of Neulogy.

Senior positions in the Government of Slovakia, including minister for innovations and deputy for European affairs of the minister of finance. Board Member of the European Stability Mechanism and Head of Europe at the World Economic Forum. B.A. from Stanford and M.P.A. from Harvard.

John Hope Bryant

Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Operation HOPE, USA

Referred to as the Conscience of Capitalism by CEOs of Delta Air Lines, Walmart, and First Republic Bank, John Hope Bryant is an American entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and prominent thought leader on financial inclusion, economic empowerment and financial dignity. Mr. Bryant is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, Inc. the largest nonprofit, best-in-class provider of financial literacy, and economic empowerment services in the United States for youth and adults. He is also the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Bryant Group Ventures, and Founder and Principal of The Promise Homes Company, which is the largest minority-controlled owner of single-family rental homes in the United States.

John Hope Bryant has received hundreds of awards and citations for his work, including Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and the John Sherman Award for Excellence in Financial Education from the U.S. Treasury. He is a founding member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a contributor to Huffington Post, THRIVE Global and Black Enterprise. Bryant has been named as Georgia Trend’s “100 Most Influential Georgians in 2023”. In 2021, he was awarded U.S. Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Advocate of the Year. In 2020, he was named one of “LinkedIn’s Top Voices: U.S. Influencers.” Bryant was also named as the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “The Power 100: Most Influential Atlantans in 2020”, American Banker magazine's 2016 “Innovator of the Year”, and one of Time magazine’s “50 Leaders for the Future”. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity, and a member of the World Economic Forum, and OECD Expert Networks.

Five former U.S. presidents have recognized his work, and he has served as an advisor to three sitting U.S. presidents from both political parties. He is responsible for financial literacy becoming the policy of the U.S. federal government. In January 2016, Bryant became the only private American citizen to inspire the renaming of a building on the White House campus, when the U.S. Treasury Annex Building was renamed the Freedman’s Bank Building. The legacy of the Freedman’s Bank, founded by President Abraham Lincoln, has become the narrative of the work of Operation HOPE—to help all people in the ‘Invisible Class’ become fully integrated into our nation’s economy. John Hope Bryant is the author of bestselling books Up From Nothing: The Untold Story of How we (All) Succeed; The Memo: Five Rules for Your Economic Liberation; How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class, and LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World. He is one of the only bestselling authors on economics and business leadership in the world today who happens to also be African-American.

Thomas Buberl

Chief Executive Officer, AXA, France

Master’s in Economics, WHU Koblenz, Germany; MBA, Lancaster University, United Kingdom; PhD in Economics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. 2008, Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum. 2000-05, with Boston Consulting Group as a Consultant for the Banking and Insurance sector in Germany and abroad. 2005-08, with the Winterthur Group as Member of the Management Board of Winterthur in Switzerland, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer. Then, joined Zurich Financial Services as Chief Executive Officer for Switzerland. 2012-16, Chief Executive Officer, AXA Konzern, Germany. 2012, Member of the AXA Executive Committee. March 2015, Chief Executive Officer, Global Business Line, Health Business, and joined the AXA Management Committee. January 2016, also appointed Chief Executive Officer, global business line Life & Savings. March 2016 - August 2016, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Directeur Général Adjoint) of AXA. Since 1 September 2016, Chief Executive Officer and Director of AXA.

Kelly Buchanan

Head of Enterprise Payment Technologies, Truist Financial Corporation, USA

I am Senior Vice President of M&A at Mastercard responsible for orchestrating the development and execution of acquisitions to meet the strategic and financial objectives. I have lead multiple acquisitions that are now a core part of the company’s long-term strategy while evolving our product and talent profiles. Within my time at Mastercard, I have held several positions across Technology, Customer Delivery and Mergers & Acquisitions within the US, UK and AP. With a passion for tackling complex programs of work, building powerful cross-functional partnerships and leading from strategy to execution, I have a wide breath of business experience coupled with strong leadership capabilities building, driving and motivating teams.

Agnes Budzyn

Chief Executive Officer and General Partner, Bluedge Ventures, USA

Agnes is the Founder and CEO at Bluedge Ventures, where she invests in blockchain and digital assets infrastructure, with a focus on early and growth stage companies. Agnes is a versatile leader and investor, and an experienced operator focused on strategic growth and regulatory compliance. With a decade of traditional finance experience at BlackRock as well as being a part of the leadership team at ConsenSys/Ethereum, Agnes specializes in bridging the gap between legacy finance and emerging blockchain-enabled solutions.

Agnes was formerly Managing Director and Global Head of the Office of the CEO at ConsenSys, a global formation of technologists building solutions for a blockchain-powered future, with over 50 early-stage applications, projects, and companies that emerged from the company’s incubator. In addition to her growth and operator role, she also served as a member of the investment committee where she focused on analyzing potential seed investments and incubations in the space. Her investment portfolio dates back to early 2017 and comprises multi protocols, decentralized storage, payments, DeFi, NFTs, Web3.0 and multiple crypto currencies.

Prior to that, her time at BlackRock provided her with first-hand experience working with many of the world’s largest institutions as well as advising key regulators on strategic challenges. Agnes managed the restructuring of a $40bn multi-asset class portfolio while part of a special situations team at BlackRock and advised European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank, UBS, United States Department of the Treasury, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Central Bank of Ireland, Central Bank of Greece and many others during the financial crisis of 2008.

Agnes has spoken as a thought leader on blockchain and financial technology and its applications at events held by the FTSE Russell, Mobile World Congress in Spain, FDIC, Oxford University, Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, Cornell University, George Washington University, Salesforce, US Chamber of Commerce and the World Economic Forum. She is also currently a member of the Board of Directors at the Biden Institute, FTSE Russell (LSEG) Digital Assets Advisory Committee and the Yale Club Audit Committee and was named to the Forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. Agnes was also featured as a Tech Pioneer by El Pais and was published by the World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/data-oil-digital-world-asset-tech-giants-buy-it/. Executive education modules: Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government “Global Leadership and Public Policies” and Nanyang Technological University Singapore “Smart Cities”.

Fares Bugshan

Chief Executive Officer, Bugshan Investment, Saudi Arabia

Fares Bugshan is the Chief Executive Officer of Bugshan Investments. He is also a Board Member at MenaBev, one of the largest PepsiCo bottlers in the Middle East, and of King's College Hospital, Saudi Arabia. Prior, Bugshan was a social and economic research analyst and General Manger (Saudi Arabia) at the Gallup Organization. He holds a BA in Economics and Psychology from McMaster University, Canada, an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the London Business School.

Yana Buhrer Tavanier

Founder and Director, Fine Acts, Bulgaria

Yana Buhrer Tavanier is the co-founder and executive director of Fine Acts, a global nonprofit creative studio for social impact. As a creative activist, she explores human rights innovation at the intersections of activism, art, tech and science. Yana is also the co-founder of TimeHeroes.org, the largest volunteer platform in Bulgaria; and has a background as an award-winning investigative journalist. She has a BA in communication and MA in political science from Sofia University, along with executive education at Harvard University, Yale University, Oxford University, and NTU-Singapore. She is a TED Senior Fellow, a Fulbright Scholar, a WEF Young Global Leader, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and was named one of 50 people who will change the world in WIRED’s Smart List 2012. Her most recent TED talk, viewed close to 2 million times, deals with her concept of playtivism - the importance of creative play and experimentation in activism.