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.

Shreevar Kheruka

Managing Director, Borosil Ltd., India

Shreevar Kheruka has overseen a decade of substantial revenue, profitability and market capitalisation growth as Managing Director of Borosil Ltd. He has overseen Borosil's shift from an inward looking organisation to a customer focused employee driven one. During this period, Borosil has successfully integrated two acquisitions and has also diversified its product portfolio from glass to include a wide range of materials including steel, electronic appliances, pharmaceutical packaging and high end laboratory equipment. Shreevar graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 with a dual degree in Economics and International Relations. He has also done the Owner President Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Young President's Organization (YPO) as well as the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO). He enjoys traveling, skiing and playing tennis. He has three children and lives in Mumbai with his wife, Priyanka, who is also a University of Pennsylvania graduate.

Dong Kwan Kim

Chief Executive Officer, Hanwha Solutions, Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Corporation; Vice-Chairman, Hanwha Group, Republic of Korea

Mr. Dong Kwan (DK) Kim is the Vice Chairman of Hanwha Group and Chief Executive Officer of Hanwha Solutions, Hanwha Aerospace, and Hanwha Corporation. Key to Hanwha’s rapid global business expansion has been the drive to build a sustainable future through clean energy and cutting-edge aerospace solutions. DK has been at the helm of growing Hanwha’s global footprint as a company with innovative technologies that power an advanced portfolio of comprehensive green energy solutions including next-generation solar modules and systems, offshore wind and clean ammonia/hydrogen solutions. The launch of leading global shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, previously known as DSME, embodies Hanwha’s holistic approach toward clean energy. Together with other businesses, Hanwha Ocean will pioneer tangible and sustainable solutions in the energy transition through an energy value chain that encompasses offshore production, storage, and shipping. Also under his leadership, Hanwha Solutions has announced a $2.5 billion investment to build a complete solar supply chain in the U.S. – the largest investment of its kind in the country – which will help power countless homes and businesses as well as support local communities. DK has led Hanwha’s strategic partnership with the World Economic Forum since 2010, contributing to key agendas such as climate change and participating in WEF’s Trillion Trees Platform, 1t.org. He was selected in 2013 as a Young Global Leader (YGL) in recognition of future leaders who possess the core qualities required to build a more sustainable and inclusive world. DK holds a BA in Government from Harvard University.

Elaine Kim

Co-Founder, Trehaus, Singapore

Elaine Kim is a medical doctor and entrepreneur. She is the CEO of Trehaus (www.trehaus.co) an integrated co-lifestyle space for families with a preschool and childcare, office space and family club. Prior to taking the helm at Trehaus, she was the CEO of CRIB (www.crib.com.sg), a social enterprise she co-founded to empower women to become successful entrepreneurs. She continues to practice medicine part-time as a palliative care doctor looking after terminally ill patients.
She is deeply involved in the non-profit sector through volunteering time and skills, leading and executing successful awareness-building campaigns, and raising over $1 million for multiple philanthropic causes, as well as implementing positive social change through CRIB's charitable arm CRIB Gives Back.
She is married to venture capitalist John Kim of Amasia (www.amasia.vc) and they have 3 young children.

Sophie Seula Kim

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Kurly, Republic of Korea

Sophie is the founder and CEO of Kurly, South Korea's largest and fastest growing dedicated online grocer. Kurly is the destination for consumers looking for quality products and suppliers/producers looking for long-term sustainable partnership. Out of many innovations Kurly introduced to market, Kurly is most famous for its unique cold chain delivery system called “morning star delivery”, through which customers place order by 11pm and have them delivered by 7am. In addition to fast and efficient delivery, Kurly is also known for its unique offerings which account for ~30% of its total revenue. Kurly's contribution to the market is not limited to the business sector; Kurly is the first e-commerce company to go 100% green in its packaging material, and supports small businesses by deriving more than 50% of its revenue from SMEs. Previously, Sophie spent ~10 years working for Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, Temasek and Bain as an investment banker and consultant.

Sebastián Kind

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, GREENMAP, Argentina

Undersecretary of Renewable Energy of Argentina (2016-2017), and Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (2018-2019), he was responsible for the country’s energy transition toward a cleaner matrix. Sebastian is the architect and primary driver of the innovative RenovAr program, which has resulted in over US$ 7,4 billion and 5 GW in clean energy investments since its launch in 2016.
Sebastián has 20 years of experience in the energy industry. He is the founding director of the Master of Science in Renewable Energy Program at National Technological University (UTN), and played an instrumental role working with Argentina’s National Senate as author of the Renewable Energy National Law. He has advised on renewable energy projects for many public and private institutions around the world and has held various executive positions in the private sector in Europe and Latin America.
In 2017, Sebastián worked with Harvard University in setting up RenovAr as a Case Study due to its outstanding achievements. In 2018 he was appointed as Chair of the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and was selected as Fellow of the Eisenhower Foundation (EF) in Philadelphia and as Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva in recognition of his accomplishments and commitment to promoting a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. In 2019, he received the Clean Energy Award of the Latin American and Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy (LAC- CORE) and the Climate Breakthrough Project award (an initiative of the Packard Foundation with the support of the Oak, Good Energies, and IKEA Foundations), a 2 Million USD prize for developing GREENMAP (Global Renewable Energy Mass Adoption Program), a breakthrough strategy to help deploying renewables at a global scale. Sebastian has also received in 2019 the LIDE award of the year in recognition to his contribution to the Energy sector.
Sebastián holds a degree in mechanical engineering from UTN in Argentina and earned a MSc. in Renewable Energy from EUREC Agency in Brussels, NTUA in Greece and University of Zaragoza in Spain. He also holds an Executive Development Diploma from IAE Business School and has participated in various executive programs at Harvard University.

Neha Kirpal

Co-Founder, Amaha, India

For over a decade, Neha worked at the intersection of the creative and social sectors. Having founded India’s first international art fair, she ran it successfully for ten years before selling the business to MCH Basel and moving her focus to the marginalised sector of mental health.
Being a passionate social entrepreneur, Neha brings tremendous experience in weaving impact networks, with great passion and commitment, stemming from her own experiences and her family’s struggle with schizophrenia.

Her consulting venture, Librum Ltd, recently launched in the UK as the world’s first strategic think tank for mental health solutions; co-founded with leading global scientist Dr. Vikram Patel and policy expert Dr Shekhar Saxena.

Neha’s full focus is now on InnerHour, where she has joined Dr Amit Malik as co-founder. The digital platform solves for ease of access and delivery of early interventions that help users with personalized self-help tools to support their mental health journey.
Neha is a trained counselor and mental health caregiver.

An Aspen fellow and an Eisenhower fellow, Neha is part of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders community and a recipient of the President of India’s prestigious Nari Shakti Award. She has been named amongst Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 and received the coveted Business Today’s India’s Most Powerful Women award for three consecutive years.

Emily Kirsch

Founder and Managing Partner, Powerhouse Ventures, USA

Emily Kirsch is the Founder and CEO of Powerhouse and Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures. Powerhouse is a company that connects startups, corporations, and investors building the future of energy and mobility. Powerhouse Ventures is a fund that invests in startups changing the way we power our world. Global corporations partner with Powerhouse to engage with cutting-edge clean energy and mobility startups via founder scouting, executive visits, and customized innovation services.

Emily serves on the Investor Advisory Board of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Emily served on the World Economic Forums Advanced Energy Technologies Council and was selected as a 2019 Young Global Leader. Her work has been cited in Bloomberg, The Guardian, TechCrunch, and The New York Times.

Akira Kirton

Chief Executive Officer, bp Chargemaster Ltd, United Kingdom

Akira Kirton is a purpose & values driven leader, with a huge passion for diversity and sustainability. He has spent his career working in the chemicals & energy manufacturing sectors - in both commercial/operational & business development/innovation roles.

Akira is Vice President of Global Acetyls. In this role, he has full commercial & operational accountability for Acetyls Globally (~$2.5bn business). His business is at the forefront of fighting CV-19, with product sales going into key sectors such as pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, paracetamol, insulin) and powder detergents. Akira has accountability for 9 operational sites across US, Europe & Asia (Korea, Malaysia, & 6 China JV's).

Prior to this role, Akira was Commercial Director for the European Acetyls business. In this role, Akira led on programmes in sustainability, agile, and digital for the business – particular Zero-Carbon Humber, WEF Low Carbon Chemicals Biomass Group, and Acetylated Wood (Tricoya). Akira is bp's Board Director for Tricoya Technologies (sustainable wood production), having structured & led the investment/spin-out from Accsys plc in 2014/15.

Across 2012-17, Akira was Managing Director for bp Ventures Europe & Asia, growing the portfolio to $500m capital invested, having led a number of game-changing deals in green manufacturing, CO2 to chemicals, mobility & digital. Akira was Portfolio Director & Board Director for the green manufacturing sector, with board roles with Fulcrum Bioenergy (waste to biojet), Solidia (low carbon cement/concrete products), Tricoya (acetylated wood), Liquid Light (CO2 to chemicals), CarbonFree Chemicals (CO2 to bicarbonates), StoreDot (ultra-fast charging batteries); and originated and led the structuring for the OGCI CI ($1bn climate fund).

Akira has experience in the public sector and was seconded to the UK Energy Technologies Institute ($1b UK Gov backed climate change/sustainability fund) for three years. He sat on the UK Chief Scientific Advisor’s Group on Bioenergy and was Director for Strategy for Biomass and Distributed Energy; developing the priorities to 2050 for >$1trn in investment focus.

Prior to this, Akira worked globally in business development roles, engineering, and technology roles in Chemicals, Fuels, and Trading for both bp & Ineos.

External Profile: Akira has been recognised as #4 Rising Star (out of 10,000) by Global Corporate Venturing in 2018; a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2015-20); A Fellow of the Marshall Memorial Foundation 2012; and a 2008 IChemE Award for Innovation.

On a pro-bono basis, Akira is a Trustee of #iamthecode: A UN HCR & WEF YGL backed global charity focussed on providing STEM skills/digital skills to underprivileged young women/girls, targeting 1m by 2030. Akira sits on the board of trustees with Founder/CEO Marieme Jamme (#Truly Inspirational), Kelly Buchanon (YGL), and Patron - Christoper Schlaeffer (YGL) - with strong support from Unilever, UBS, Salesforce, AliBaba, Coursera and more....

Smriti Kirubanandan

Director and Head, Strategic Marketing, Healthcare, Tata Consultancy Services, USA

Smriti has a strong background in robotics and public health and currently serves as a Director, Healthcare at TATA Consultancy Services, where she focuses on driving significant transformations within the healthcare ecosystem, concentrating on customer experience, Intelligent automation, digital analytics, and insights, and is determined to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. She is also the Head of Strategic Marketing for Healthcare and Lifesciences, North America, where she drives brand development, thought leadership, and market research. Smriti serves on the Board of the World Food Bank and as a Vice Chair for the American College of Healthcare Executives, Southern California.

An empathetic and innovative strategic policy advisor has helped organizations globally to build the capacity to empower people to engage in wellness programs and is responsible for educating small farmers in Africa to lift them out of poverty to improve food & nutrition insecurity, impacting 2 million people per year. In 2022, Smriti was appointed to serve the Los Angeles County food equity round table as a Nutrition & Policy Advisor to design and strategize programs to address food insecurity by educating and improving access and affordability to nutritious food. Smriti is also the founder of HLTH Forward Podcast- a space that hosts healthcare leaders, policymakers, and artists such as Bryan Adams,Dr. Joneigh Khaldun of CVS Health, and many others to discuss the challenges in the system and what we could do collectively to move healthcare forward.

Smriti has shared her thought leadership by speaking at The Adama Carolla show, SXSW, HLTH, and other national forums. She is a health news contributor at Medcity News and is featured on Washington Post, ABC News, Huffington Post, Times of India, The Hindu, VegNews, Medium, and Yahoo News.

Smriti holds her Bachelor of Science in Robotics, Master in Engineering Management from the University of Southern California, and Masters in Public Health from the University of California,Los Angeles, Certified Raw Vegan Chef and Nutritionist, and is currently in Fellowship with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Christer Kjos

Chief Executive Officer, Canica Holding, Switzerland

Christer Kjos is Chief Executive Officer at Canica International. As CEO, and family member, he has transformed Canica to become a modern family investment company with a strong emphasis on responsible leadership, sustainable investments and purpose. Kjos plays an active role in the development of the company's future strategy and has built trust throughout the organization with his professional leadership and solid values. His systematic approach to the sustainability agenda and the owner-family's willingness and ability to challenge current business models, has yielded strong results for the company and society at large.

Daniel Klier

Chief Executive Officer, ESG Book, United Kingdom

Dr. Daniel Klier joined ESG Book as Chief Executive in June 2021. ESG Book is a leading ESG data and technology company with offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo.

Prior to this, Daniel was Global Head of Sustainable Finance for HSBC, where he developed the global climate strategy for the bank and led the sustainable finance business across the organisation. Daniel chaired the Bank of England Climate Risk Working Group and the Sustainable Finance Working Group at the Institute of International Finance. He is a member of the Board of Sustainable Energy for All.

Daniel joined HSBC in 2013 as Group Head of Strategy in London, following a successful career at McKinsey & Company where he was a Partner. In 2016, Daniel was selected as Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

Sean Klimczak

Sr. Managing Director, Global Head of Infrastructure, Blackstone Group, USA

Sean T. Klimczak is a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone’s Private Equity Group, where he oversees the Firm’s global investment activities in power, transmission and natural resources.

Before joining Blackstone in 2005, Mr. Klimczak was an Associate at Madison Dearborn Partners. Prior to that, Mr. Klimczak worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions department of Morgan Stanley & Company’s Investment Banking Division.

Mr. Klimczak received a B.B.A. in Finance and Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, and an M.B.A. with High Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he graduated first in his class and was selected as a Baker Scholar, a John L. Loeb Fellow, a Henry Ford II Scholar and a William J. Carey Scholar. Mr. Klimczak serves as a director of Cheniere Energy Partners, Black Rhino, Fisterra, Global Water Development Partners, PQ Energ y, Utility One Source, Sithe Global, Meerwind, Transmission Developers and The Blackstone Charitable Foundation.