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.

Niklas Zennström

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Atomico, United Kingdom

Dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science, Uppsala University, Sweden; final year of university at the University of Michigan. Experienced entrepreneur. Co-founded and managed globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa, Joost and Joltid. From inception until Sept. 2007, Chief Executive Officer, Skype, which was sold to eBay for $3.1bn in 2005, the largest European venture capital exit to date. Subsequently, Skype was bought back by a consortium that included Niklas and was sold to Microsoft for $8.5 billion cash in 2011. Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner, Atomico, created in 2006 to help entrepreneurs primarily outside Silicon Valley scale their businesses domestically and globally. It has so far invested in more than 50 companies on four continents. Works closely with a number of leaders of portfolio companies so that they benefit from own experience as an entrepreneur.

Boju Zhang

Secretary General, Ginkgo Foundation, People's Republic of China

Boju Zhang is secretary general of Ginkgo Foundation, who invests in young social entrepreneurs in China, helping them achieve great personal and career breakthroughs.
He is also a board member and Former CEO of Friends of Nature (FON) , the first green NGO in China, work to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water and safe food. He develops and carries out strategies for FON programs on Environmental Public Interest Litigation, Policy Advocacy, Information Disclosure and Public Participation.

In recent 8 years, Boju and FON Team have filed 50 environmental public interest lawsuits, to protect biodiversity and human health, and promote renewable energy and combat climate change. Among them, the public interest litigation case of protecting Green Peacock was elected as the top 10 biodiversity protection cases in the world at the world environmental justice conference in 2021.

In recent years, Boju has found seven non-profit organizations and social enterprises in China, such as China Zero Waste Alliance which is the nationwide action network on solid waste management, and Gaia Nature School which is the leading social enterprise on environmental education.

Boju is the board member of the Environmental Public Relations and Strategic Communications Institute of China Environment Protection Ministry. He was the youth advisor for United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

Boju graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He won the Ray Dalio Scholarship and pursued Executive Leaders in Philanthropy program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Longmei Zhang

M-RCBG senior fellow, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA

M-RCBG senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund, served as International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Resident Representative for China from 2017-2020. Previously, China Economist in the Asia and Pacific Department based in Washington DC, focused on macroeconomic forecasting, broader China rebalancing and issues on high savings. Co-edited the book “ The future of China’s Bond Market’. Before working on China, worked on regional issues in Asia-Pacific and published research in a wide range of areas, including long-term growth/middle-income trap, macroprudential policies, corporate leverage, and capital flows and asset prices. Prior to that, worked on the Philippines, focusing on macro surveillance and labor market issues. Also worked on Romania, engaged in IMF program negotiations and reviews. Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. PhD in Economics from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Margaret Zhang

Editor-in-Chief, Vogue China, People's Republic of China

Margaret Zhang became Editor in Chief of Vogue China in February 2021. Prior, she wore many hats as a filmmaker, writer, photographer, and consultant. She launched her blog Shine by Three at 16 and is the Co-Founder of Background, a global consultancy company where she specializes in bridging western and Chinese cultures. Zhang was the first Asian face to cover ELLE Australia. In 2017 she exhibited a series of 39 unseen photographic works as a solo show in Sydney and premiered her first short film to critical acclaim. She has been listed in Forbes Asia's 30 Under 30 and TimeOuts 40 Under 40. Her work has been recognized as shaping the international fashion industry by the Business of Fashion BoF500 Index for the past four consecutive years. Zhang received a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Zhang Lu

Founding and Managing Partner, Fusion Fund, USA

Founding and Managing Partner, Fusion Fund. World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2018). Recipient of honours and awards, including: Honouree in VC, Forbes 30 Under 30, Silicon Valley Women of Influence 2018, Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer, and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth. Formerly: Venture Partner, Fenox Venture Capital; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). Speaker at tech events and conferences and also serves as a mentor and adviser to several tech innovation programmes in Silicon Valley. Member of the Board: Youth Council of Future Forum and Future Science Award. MSc in Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Zhang Yaoyu

General Manager, Global LNG and New Energies, PetroChina International, People's Republic of China

Yaoyu joined PetroChina in 2019 and is currently the General Manager responsible for Global LNG, Power, and Emissions. Before joining PetroChina, Yaoyu's career started at Shell, U.K, in 2009. Over a decade, he has held several technical and commercial positions in the UK, Netherlands, Qatar, and Singapore. He has worked across the gas value chain with experiences covering LNG projects development, M&A, and gas trading and marketing. Yaoyu graduated from the University of Cambridge with a master's degree in Technology and Policy and Heriot-Watt University with a bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering (First-Class Honors).

Jinxing Zheng

Division Head, Professor, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China

Zheng Jinxing is a professor and Head of Department at Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he has devised better ways to model the use of powerful superconducting magnets for controlling plasma at extreme temperatures, which is a major advance for fusion-based energy. He has presided over China’s National Key R&D Programme, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other projects. He involves in the research work of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) project, which is the world’s largest fusion experiment project-International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), The Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments (FLARE) in USA and Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility (NICA) in Russia and so on. He also served as Vice-Chairman of the Tooling Branch of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Member of the Electrical Theory and New Technology Committee of the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, and The Transnational Committee (TNC) Member of IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. Zheng has won various awards in technology innovation (such as MIT TR35 Global 2021) and has published more than 60 SCI/EI papers and authorized more than 30 invention patents.

Nancie Zhu

Anchor, Phoenix Satellite Television Co. Ltd, Hong Kong SAR, China

Nancie Zhu, a leading international anchorwoman, hosts finance and current affairs programs and moderates international events and conferences. She is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. As the Founder and CEO of a new media company, she is a social media influencer with 10 million followers. Nancie is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

Zhu Xiaoxuan

Head, Professor, Division of Research and Coordination, China Science and Technology Exchange Center, Ministry of Science and Technology, People's Republic of China

Dr. Zhu Xiaoxuan is the Deputy Director of China Science and Technology Exchange Center at the Ministry of Science and Technology. Dr. Zhu is an expert in international S&T cooperation policy development and has been participating national level research policy development in the S&T fields.

Fabio Ziemssen

Partner, Zintinus, Germany

Fabio Ziemssen has been working at the forefront of food-tech development in Germany and Europe for a decade to create a strong ecosystem for innovators, visionaries and founders. He has built a number of communities, including the Alternative Protein Association, Next Generation Food Think Tank and Foodnext, creating workspaces and innovation hubs, such as Food2025.de and Super7000. In 2017, he was elected by "Business Punk" as the top leader in food innovation in Germany.

Jonathan Zittrain

George Bemis Professor of International Law and Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University, USA

BSc in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Yale; MPA, JD, Harvard. Co-Founder, Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society; George Bemis Professor of International Law, Harvard Law School and John F. Kennedy School of Government; Professor of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science; Director, Harvard Law School Library. Former Trustee, Internet Society. Member, Council on Foreign Relations. Principal, Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund. Justice of the Peace. Author of "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It". Research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, cybersecurity and privacy, the roles of intermediaries within internet architecture, human computing, artificial intelligence, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.

Ali Zuashkiani

Chief Executive Officer, Physical Asset Management Corporation, Islamic Republic of Iran

Ali Zuashkiani is Chief Executive Officer of the Physical Asset Management Corporation, a consulting company dedicated to improving asset management practices globally, with a focus on the Middle East and Iran. As a global subject matter expert in this field, he is a frequent speaker at international events on topics related to physical asset management, maintenance and reliability. Zuashkiani is also Director of Educational Programs at the University of Toronto Centre for Asset Management. In 2003, he co-founded Knowledge Diffusion Network, an organization that aims to promote collaboration between Iranian academics living abroad with the scientific community in Iran. Later, he became Co-Founder and President of International Association of Iranian Managers, which aims to improve management knowledge and practices in Iran and the Middle East. He was recognized by the President of Iran as the most distinguished student of Iran in 1999.