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.

Daniel Cruise

Senior Adviser, Global Asset Capital, USA

Graduate: Brown Univ.; Univ. of Cambridge. Former: Analyst, JP Morgan & Co.; staff, National Security Council; Assistant Press Secretary, Foreign Affairs, White House; Managing Director, Albright Stonebridge Group. With Alcoa: Corp. VP, Business Dev. and Global Affairs; Member, Exec. Council. Member, Board of Directors: World Resource Institute; Nat'l Assoc. of Manufacturers; Nat'l Security Initiative; Bus. Council for Int'l Understanding; National Cttee for US China Relations. Life Member, Council on Foreign Relations. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2009).

Alejo Czerwonko

Chief Investment Officer, Emerging Markets, Americas, UBS AG, USA

Alejo is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Emerging Markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, based in New York. In this capacity, Alejo leads a team of analysts focusing on emerging economies, influencing the allocation of billions of dollars of the firm's assets under management. As a member of two management forums at UBS, he helps set the strategic direction of the business. Alejo is also a professor at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, where he teaches on capital markets in developing economies. Outside of business and academia, Alejo helps shape the policy debate impacting emerging markets through his involvement with leading global think tanks. He has been named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Wilson Center's Latin America Program and a Millennium Leadership Fellow by the Atlantic Council. He frequently appears on Bloomberg Television, CNBC, and CNN, and regularly contributes to financial publications including the Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal. Alejo earned a PhD in economics from Columbia University. He also holds degrees in economics and finance from Tilburg University and Universidad del CEMA.

Matt Dalio

Founder and Chair, Endless OS, USA

Matt Dalio is Founder and Chair of Endless, a collection of affiliated companies and initiatives focused on building and supporting technology that drives social impact. Prior, he launched The Issue, an online media venture aimed at curating the best of the blogosphere. After merging The Issue into PBS's world news programme, he joined Harbor Point, one of the East Coast's largest urban renewal projects to revitalize the waterfront of Stamford, Connecticut. Dalio also holds positions on the boards of the Half The Sky Foundation and China Care Foundation, which he founded at the age of 16 to offer orphaned children a brighter future. For his work, Dalio was honoured as one of Oprah Winfrey’s People Changing the Lives of Children Around the World, was one of Teen People's 20 Teens Who Will Change the World, and is the youngest recipient of the Fulbright Award for furthering peace and international understanding. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Winston Damarillo

Chief Executive Officer, Talino Ventures, USA

CEO of Talino Ventures, a Global Venture Builder

Rebecca Darwent

Founder, Rebecca Darwent Global, Canada

Rebecca Darwent is an internationally recognized expert in philanthropy and community-led initiatives. Her viral TED Talk, “How to fund real change in your community”, has had over 1 million views, inspiring positive social impact through collaborative approaches. With a diverse background spanning philanthropic advising, consulting and global partnerships, Darwent brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience to all endeavours. She has led multimillion-dollar investments in equity, health and education and is currently Senior Advisor to Philanthropy Together, focusing on raising awareness and funding for collaborative funds, specifically those that are community-led. As Co-Founder of the Foundation for Black Communities (FFBC), Darwent spearheaded fundraising, community engagement and advocacy that resulted in a historic $200 million capital transfer to FFBC by the Canadian government. Under her leadership, an additional $25 million was raised for FFBC from private, public and corporate foundation partners. Darwent has served as Director of Global Partnerships at Singularity University, overseeing tech and education programmes across five continents. She also worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Children and Youth Services, who was additionally responsible for the Anti-Racism Directorate in the Ontario provincial government. She is a dedicated volunteer, currently serving on the Board of Directors of the FFBC, Forward Global Canada and Laidlaw Foundation. She has been recognized as a Women Leaders for the World Fellow and honoured as a Canadian Millennium Laureate.

Geoff Davis

Chief Executive Officer, Sorenson Impact Center, USA

Impact investor, CEO & Entrepreneur.

Eric Dayton

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Askov Finlayson, USA

An apparel, hospitality, and real estate entrepreneur, Eric Dayton started a movement to reimagine the identity of America's north as one of adventure, creativity and the embrace of cold winters. His company is on a mission to keep the north cold by donating 110% of its own carbon impact to organizations leading the fight against climate change. Prior to founding Askov Finlayson, he was a member of Arctic Transect 2004, a six-month, 2,000 mile dogsled expedition focused on climate research and education.

Alberto de Belaunde

Program Adviser, Global Advocacy, OutRight Action International, USA

Alberto de Belaunde (he/him) is the Program Adviser - Global Advocacy at OutRight. He is a lawyer with a master's degree in environmental management and postgraduate studies in public policy. He was the second openly gay congressman in the history of Peru. In 2019, he was awarded the Victory Institute Tammy Baldwin Breakthrough Award for his work on behalf of the LGBT+ community. In 2021 he was part of the Yale World Fellowship. He has published two books, one of them about openly LGBTQ+ authorities in Latin America.

Alfa Demmellash

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Rising Tide Capital, USA

Born and raised in Ethiopia, Alfa now lives in New Jersey with her husband and two little boys. She is also the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Rising Tide Capital, a non-profit organization that provides underserved entrepreneurs with the resources needed to grow successful businesses. Over the past 15 years, the organization has run hundreds of Community Business Academies, which provide intensive business management training coupled with year-round coaching and mentorship to over 1,000 entrepreneurs annually. Corporate, foundation and governmental funders underwrite the cost of tuition for all participants. By building successful businesses, these entrepreneurs meet their families’ basic needs, create opportunities for social mobility and help transform their local communities into thriving economies.

Alfa is also the co-founder of Future Tide Partners, which equips cross-sector leaders to shift capital, policy and culture to respond to a new world of work in service to a flourishing future economy. She was named Young Global Leader in 2015 and has appeared in leading media outlets, such as CNN, the Suze Orman show, O the Oprah Magazine, Essence Magazine, Bloomberg, Inc Magazine, BusinessWeek and Entrepreneur Magazine. Recipient of honours and awards, including: recognized by President Barack Obama; named a CNN Hero; named one of the Most Powerful Women Changing the World, Forbes.

Christopher Deri

President, Corporate Advisory Businesses, The Weber Shandwick Collective, USA

For over two decades, I have advised corporate, NGO and government leaders in dozens of markets across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East around: corporate and executive positioning, public diplomacy, organizational design, digital strategy, crisis & issues management, sustainability & ESG.

At Weber Shandwick, Lead the Weber Shandwick Collective's 600+ professionals, globally, in corporate & public affairs, management consulting and research & insights businesses, advising clients at the intersection of organizational strategy, societal engagement and public positioning.

Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, at Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, I advised Fortune 500 CEOs on formulating and implementing their agendas related to corporate reputation, organizational transformation and financial performance. I also worked with colleagues to establish Teneo’s Digital practice which advised clients on content & engagement strategies, digitizing their organizations and using data and analytics to produce insights specifically designed for the C-Suite.

Previously, I was the President of WCG, a full-service communications, digital marketing and analytics firm with 180 employees in seven U.S. and European offices. Before that, I was Burson-Marsteller’s Market Leader in China, overseeing the agency’s operations across its five offices in Mainland China. At Burson, I launched the Burson-Marsteller Leadership Institute, a first-of-its-kind communications leadership training offering in China; and I spent a decade at Edelman, where I co-incubated and led the global Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability practice which grew to 110 practitioners in 15 offices around the world.

Earlier in my career, I led fundraising in the Northeast for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee; and before that, I was the Director of Institutional Affairs for the National Minority AIDS Council, an advocacy and training organization representing 1000's of local community-based AIDS service providers.

I was also a Young Global Leader in the World Economic Forum; and I served as a Term Member in the Council on Foreign Relations (2003 – 2008).

David de Rothschild

Founder, Voice for Nature, USA

David de Rothschild is a British adventurer, ecologist and environmentalist. He is the Founder of the Sculpt the Future Foundation, which promotes positive environmental change towards global sustainability. He is also the author of several books, numerous documentaries and TV show, and a regular contributor to media outlets such as Treehugger, CNN and the Huffington Post. He has been recognized by UNEP as a Climate Hero and Nat Geo's Emerging Explorer programme for his exploration, which has seen him undertake adventures in some of the planet's most fragile ecosystems - from crossing the Arctic Ocean from Russia to Canada with 16 dogs to sailing a boat kept afloat with 12,500 reused plastic bottles across the Pacific to raise awareness about plastic pollution.

Matias De Tezanos

Chief Executive Officer, PeopleFund, USA

In the year 2000 founded Hoteles.com, one of the leading hotel reservation sites targeting Spanish speaking users around the world, now owned and operated by Expedia. In 2003 he co-founded and led as CEO ClickDiario Network, at the time, the #1 Internet advertising network in Latin America, acquired by FOX International Channels (Newscorp) in 2006. From 2008 to 2011, de Tezanos led BrokersWeb as CEO, an online insurance marketplace in the United States, which became the 20th fastest growing company in the US in the INC 500 ranking of 2011.

Matias de Tezanos was Honored Young Global Leader by the WEF in 2009 and named one of the top 10 Hispanic entrepreneurs by INC Magazine during 2011 and 2012.

In 2012, founded PeopleFund, a private holding company that invests in tech-startups around the world, including several top INC 500 ranked companies like Healthcare.com, AutoWeb.com (merged with Nasdaq: ABTL), DiamondFoundry, Orionis Biosciences, GetAround, Bluekite (Acquired by Nasdaq: Xoom), among 30+ other companies and social impact projects like KingoEnergy.