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.

Christian Wenk
Despite a life-threatening bicycle accident in 2000 that left him as a paraplegic, Christian Wenk went on to complete his medical studies and became a Senior Physician in the Emergency Ward of Clinic St Anna in Switzerland, specializing in internal and emergency medicine. He is also an accomplished triathlete and is the winner of Paralympic gold medals as the Swiss handcycling head coach. In addition, Wenk is a musician who plays the piano thanks to a sophisticated pedals system. He has recorded a number of CDs and performs regularly for charity. He also gives inspiration talks throughout Switzerland, acting as an ambassador for inclusion and dignity.

Adam Werbach
Adam Werbach is a sustainability leader working at the intersection of technology, business and politics. He is currently focused on developing the sustainable shopping customer experience and product assortment as the Global Lead for Customer and Employee Impact at Amazon.com. After a YGL journey, he founded Trove (formerly Yerdle), the re-commerce company that manages resale for Patagonia, Nordstrom's, Eileen Fisher, Arc'Teryx, and REI. He previously founded Act Now, which was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi and the Publicis Groupe, after he helped Walmart launch its sustainability efforts. At age 23, Werbach was elected President of the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the US, after helping pass the legislation to create Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks in California. He spent almost ten years producing an indie-rock documentary film entitled "This is Noise Pop," which was named one of the top five music documentaries of the year by Rolling Stone Magazine, even though it was only shown once. Werbach lives between San Francisco and Bolinas, California with his wife Lyn and their three kids, Mila, Pearl and Simon.

Lea Wermelin
Lea Wermelin currently holds the position as Minister for the Environment in The Social Democratic government of Denmark. She is a member of the Danish Parliament and former Chairman for The Parliament's Fiscal Affairs Committee as well as former co-chair for the Environment and Food Committee and the Climate, Energy & Utilities committee. Since she was elected to parliament at the age of 30, she has represented her home region, Bornholm, and their key interests in green energy and circular economy. For more than a decade she has been actively engaged in politics and was in 2020 elected to be one out of the 40 most promising young leaders under 40 in Europe.

Gregorio Werthein
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.

Christian Wessels
MSc in Business Administration, University of Cologne. 20 years consulting and industry experience with a focus on Africa.
Founder and CEO of Sunray Ventures, which focuses as an Africa/Middle East Venture Builder on high-impact companies. Sunray currently scales up companies in renewable energy (Daystar Power), green logistics (Bisedge) and industrial services (Nordic Degrees). Promoter of sustainable economic growth in Africa through cleantech/circular economy initiatives. Endeavor Entrepreneur. Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (class 2012).

Silvia Wiesner
Silvia Wiesner is an FMCG Executive (General Management, Sales, Marketing), who has led business and organizational transformation that improved P&L structure, growth, internal and external collaboration, and engagement. Her 17-year tenure at Unilever – including the roles as Country Managing Director and Category General Manager – enabled her to gain deep insights into purpose-led business development.
In 2021, she was selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. In 2022, she joined the Executive Committee of European Women on Boards, developing and chairing the Committee for European Memberships and Partnerships. In 2023, she joined IMAGINE, developing the transformational leaders our world needs and driving collaboration across value chains, as the Chair of the Global Membership Committee. Silvia is also a member of the CMO Club, the LEAD Network, the Club of European Female Entrepreneurs, and The Corporate Governance Institute.
Silvia currently contributes to the WEF workstream of “Defining and Building the Metaverse”, educates on Diversity and Inclusion in Advertising and in the Metaverse, and regularly talks about Positive Leadership as the source for individual wellbeing an organizational growth. She is a strong believer in cross-company, cross-industry, and cross-country collaboration.

Ted Wiley
Ted Wiley is the Co-founder and President of Form Energy (formerly Baseload Renewables), a startup company developing ultra-low cost, long duration energy storage to enable a 100% renewable energy future. Previously, Ted was president and of McDonough Innovation, a consulting and product development company focused on helping companies implement cradle to cradle and circular economy principles developed by William McDonough. Prior to McDonough Innovation Ted was a co-founder of and head of product at Aquion Energy, a start-up that manufactures sustainable, cost-effective batteries for stationary energy storage applications. Prior to Aquion, Wiley was a Senior Associate at Hudson Clean Energy Partners where he worked on biofuels and solar investments. Before Hudson, he served as a captain in the US Army. As a platoon leader for the 1-23 Infantry Battalion, he spent a year in Iraq leading combat missions and helping to organize the country's first free elections. Wiley earned a BSc in Physics at Seattle University and an MBA from Harvard Business School with concentrations in clean technology entrepreneurship.

will.i.am
Creative innovator, Futurist and entertainer and technology investor. Member: World Economic Forum Fourth Industrial Revolution Advisory Committee and Global Artificial Intelligence Action Alliance. Advisor, Bias & Ethics to Stradigi AI. Honorary Fellow, Institutions of Engineering and Technology. Recipient: TIME 100 IMPACT Award (2022), seven Grammy Awards; Emmy; CLIO; World Economic Forum Crystal Award (2016).
As an advocate for STEAM education, started i.am Angel Foundation, which uses project-based learning modules to deliver STEAM education for at-risk youth via dedicated STEM Academy preparatory schools, after-school tutoring and enrichment activities within the US. At-risk students participate in project-based learning modules for robotics, coding, app development, geographic information system mapping, and study Mandarin Chinese. The i.am Angel Foundation recently teamed with the Los Angeles Unified School District, America's second-largest state-run public school system to offer robotics clubs as an official after-school activity, with capacity to serve 12,000+students. Keeping child safety and protection at the forefront in the US as pertains to school and community shootings that urgently require gun safety law reform, Co-Executive Producer, "Parkland Rising", a documentary film about the students and families that survived a mass school shooting and their journey as advocates for US gun safety reform. Interests: promoting the health and planetary benefits of a plant-based (Vegan) diet; alternative energy-powered cars.

Adebola Williams
Adebola Williams is a pioneer at the intersection of media, democracy and social change. He is co-founder and chief executive officer of RED, which owns Africa’s largest portfolio of youth media brands that engages millions of youths on the continent, including Red Media Africa, StateCraft, the Future Awards Africa, and YNaija.com. Williams co-founded EnoughisEnough (EiE) in 2010, one of Nigeria’s foremost civic participation groups and a voice for young people on politics. He was chairman of the board until resigning to take the lead on the communication and rebranding of the current Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari In 2014. Williams led the team that shaped the national discourse and optimized media engagement to change longstanding perceptions. He did the same in Ghana in 2016, helping the opposition candidate win the presidency on his third attempt. He and is team have recently concluded the Macky Sall campaign with a big win in February 2019.Williams consults in other regions in the continent.

Kiah Williams
Kiah Williams is Co-Founder and Managing Director of SIRUM, a non-profit social enterprise that drives the future of healthcare by connecting people with surplus medications. Prior to SIRUM, Williams helped create the Alliance Healthcare Initiative, a public-private partnership spearheaded by the American Heart Association and Clinton Foundation that engaged Fortune 500 companies to expand healthcare benefits for 2 million children. Her work at SIRUM has been recognized by Forbes 30-Under-30 and Marie Claire's America's 50 Most Influential Women. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University.

Bryony Winn
Bryony Winn is president of Anthem Health Solutions, where she is dedicated to using her platform to champion and advance health equity, maternal health, and whole health across the healthcare system. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring that the 45 million consumers in Anthem’s family of health plans have access to high quality, affordable care. In 2021, she was named as one of Business Insider’s 30 Under 40 in Healthcare and one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40.

Lisa Witter
Lisa Witter is a serial political and policy entrepreneur. She’s the co-founder of Apolitical, a global peer-to-peer learning platform, used by 180k+ public servants in 170 countries and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World. She's the CEO of the Apolitical Foundation whose mission is to support the next generation of trusted and transformation politicians. They have recently released Better Leaders, Better Democracies: Mapping the Organizations Shaping 21st Century Politicians. She’s a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, co-chairs the Forum’s Council on Agile Governance. She is a former public servant with deep experience in gender and behavioral science and has founded numerous political leadership incubators over the last 25 years. She was awarded the 2020 Creative Bureaucracy Award and named a BMW Foundation Futurity Fellow in 2022. Lisa co-authored, with Lisa Chen, The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them. She loves wearing dresses, her childhood nickname was ‘Animal’ from the sports fields, and dreams of being a stand-up comedian (but might not be funny enough).