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.

Bengi Korkmaz

Partner, McKinsey & Company, Türkiye

Johann Koss

Founder, Right To Play International, Norway

A four-time Olympic gold medalist in speed skating for Norway, Johann Koss is Founder Right To Play International, an organization committed to improving the lives of disadvantaged children and their communities through the power of sport and play. Johann is currently an investment partner, investing in growth impact companies and start ups from the Nordic region. Johann has served as a director of several public and private companies from real estate, retail, industrial and shipping companies. Koss has a medical degree from the University of Queensland Medical School and received his MBA from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Carleton University, University of Calgary, Agder University and the Free University of Brussels.

Frank Krings

Non-Executive Director, Deutsche Bank, Luxembourg

Frank Krings is a Franco-German banker and financial services executive who, over the past two and a half decades, has held executive and non-executive directorships and management roles at banks, asset management and investment companies, industry associations and chambers of commerce in numerous developed and emerging market jurisdictions across Europe and Asia. Currently, he serves as Non-Executive Director on the statutory boards of various European financial institutions and organizations within and outside the European Union.
In the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Krings is a Member of the Supervisory Board, the Risk Committee, and the Nomination Committee of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., since January 2021; he is also an elected member of the plenary assembly of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce for the 2019 – 2024 term, and a Member of its Audit Committee. In the Republic of Türkiye, he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deutsche Bank A.Ş., Istanbul, since March 2019, a Member of its Audit Committee, and the Chairman of its Compensation Committee. In France, he is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Franco-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Paris, since June 2022.
Previously, from July 2020 until December 2022, Krings was Deutsche Bank Group’s Chief Executive Officer for Western Europe as well as, from January 2021 to December 2022, the President and General Manager of Deutsche Bank in France. There, he also served on the Board of the Association Française des Banques (AFB). Beyond, from November 2020 until March 2023, he was a Member of the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee, and the Credit Committee of Deutsche Bank (Schweiz) AG, Geneva.
From 2016 through 2020, Krings was the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Luxembourg. He was also a Member of the Supervisory Board and the Audit & Risk Committee of DWS Investment S.A., Luxembourg, from 2016 to 2021. He further served on the Board of Directors of The Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL), chaired its Audit Committee and was a member of its Board Council. Before, from 2011 to early 2016, Krings was the General Manager of Deutsche Bank in Thailand, where he also served as Chairman of the Association of International Banks (AIB), the foreign bankers’ association in the Kingdom, from 2013 through 2015. Krings had rejoined Deutsche Bank in 2011 after serving as Member of the Management Board of Munich-based Hypo Real Estate Holding and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank from October 2008 through 2010, mandated to assure their restructuring. Previously, he had spent twelve years with Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt and New York, holding various senior roles and serving on statutory boards of several regulated Deutsche Bank subsidiaries across Europe.
Krings is of German and French nationality and graduated with a combined degree in Business Administration and Electrical Engineering from Brunswick Technical University.

Christian Kroll

Professor of Sustainability, IU International University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Prof. Christian Kroll, PhD is a professor of sustainability, international thought-leader, much-cited expert and advisor. He was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his achievements. He authored scientific publications in leading outlets spanning several disciplines (e.g. Cambridge University Press, Ecological Economics, Nature Geoscience). Prof. Kroll lectures on sustainable development, sustainable finance (ESG), circular economy, and CSR at IU International University of Applied Sciences, and previously taught classes at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and held positions at Jacobs University Bremen and Bertelsmann Stiftung. He gained a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a thesis entitled "Towards a Sociology of Happiness". He is the inventor of the first measurement tool for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and today serves as the Scientific Co-Director of the SDG Index & Dashboards (www.sdgindex.org). His research has featured in national and international media such as BBC World News, Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, Le Monde, Die Zeit, ARD, Spiegel Online among others.

Michal Krupinski

Senior Advisor, Warburg Pincus LLC, Switzerland

Until November 2019 Michal Krupinski served as Chief Executive Officer of Bank Pekao, 2nd largest universal bank and a leading corporate and investment bank in Poland. Prior to joining the Bank, held number of senior managerial roles in leading financial institutions. Most recently, as Chief Executive Officer, PZU Group, the region’s largest financial group, repositioned the firm for growth and strengthened its presence in banking. Previously, from 2011, was Head of Global Banking and Markets for Central and Eastern Europe at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, responsible for M&A projects, financing and capital advisory. Also has broad-based public sector experience. 2008-11, Alternate Executive Director of the Board of Directors, World Bank Group, Washington. Prior to this, served as Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Treasury. Graduate, Warsaw School of Economics, KU Leuven; MBA, Columbia University. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2012).

Umit Kumcuoglu

Chief Executive Officer, Nyssa Finansal Danismanlik Ltd., Türkiye

Umit Kumcuoglu is the Chief Executive Officer of Kare Investments, a fund management company of the family office of Suna and Inan Kirac who are among the leading investors in Turkey. Formerly, he was an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in New York, London and Istanbul. Kumcuoglu holds Bachelor degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Master's in Human Rights Law from Istanbul Bilgi University. He is currently working towards a PhD in political science at Istanbul Bilgi University. Kumcuoglu has been active in Turkish economic and financial affairs for over 15 years as researcher and writer, with a particular focus on contemporary Turkish politics and comparative Western and Islamic political philosophy.

Maja Kuzmanovic

President, FoAM, Belgium

Maja is a generalist - experience designer, artist, futurist and process facilitator, with a fondness for contemplation and futurecrafting. She is the founder and president of FoAM, a laboratory for speculative culture at the interstices between art, science, nature and everyday life.

Maja leads transdisciplinary teams in prototyping possible futures as creative experiments. She co-creates multisensory experiences, facilitates participatory processes, writes, speaks and cooks worldwide. Maja's academic background is in design futures and interactive media. In recent years, her embodied experience of living with uncertainty became the backbone of her creative practice.

Danae Kyriakopoulou

Distinguished Policy Fellow, Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom

Danae Kyriakopoulou is Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, where she leads the policy work on climate, economic development and international finance.

Stéphanie Lacour

Professor, Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Neuroprosthetic Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

PhD in Electrical Engineering, INSA de Lyon, France; completed postdoctoral research, Princeton University, USA, and the University of Cambridge, UK. Currently, Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Neuroprosthetic Technology, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Research focuses on the materials, technology and integration of soft bioelectronic interfaces including artificial skin and ultra-compliant neural electrodes for therapeutic neuroprosthetics. Founding Member, EPFL Centre for Neuroprosthetics. Recipient: MIT TR35 (2006); University Research Fellowship, Royal Society (UK); European Research Council ERC Starting and Proof-of-Concept Grants; SNSF-ERC Consolidator Grant.

Peter Lacy

Global Sustainability Services Lead and Chief Responsibility Officer, Accenture, United Kingdom

Peter Lacy is the global sustainability services lead and chief responsibility officer, overseeing the integration of sustainability in all client work and ensuring the responsible business agenda across Accenture services and internal operations. Peter is a member of Accenture's Global Management Committee.

He leads sustainability services with clients and ecosystem partners, working across Accenture's service offerings to help clients create value and impact. Peter's work spans environmental, social and governance issues as they impact business, clients and ecosystems, as Accenture builds toward achieving the United Nations Global Compact's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. He directs market growth for sustainability services and demand for responsible business consulting.

Peter previously led Accenture Strategy in Europe and Asia Pacific and helped launch the company's sustainability practice in 2008.

He has led the world's largest CEO studies on behalf of the United Nations Secretary General and co-led a global research program on digital transformation with the World Economic Forum, where he also sits on the Forum of Young Global Leaders foundation board.

Peter is the author of two books on the value of the circular economy: Waste to Wealth, an international best seller, and its follow-up, The Circular Economy Handbook.

Peter achieved First Class Honours at the University of Nottingham, winning the David and Elizabeth Marsden prize, and has been a Business Fellow at the University of Oxford since 2010. He has completed executive programs at Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Cambridge and INSEAD.

He lives in London with his family.

Tamás Landesz

Director, Administration and Finance, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), France

Dr Tamás Landesz is Director, Administration and Finance at the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) based in Lyon. Prior, Landesz held senior management functions in international organizations and advised governments, including the Office of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, European Defence Agency, and United Nations system organizations. He has been posted in complex post-conflict hot spots across four continents. Landesz started his career as a management consultant, providing strategic advise to companies expanding to Eastern Europe, during the transition from centrally planned to market economies. He is a Member of Prof. Michael Porter`s Harvard Business School network, lecturing on the microeconomics of competitiveness. Landesz holds a PhD from Paris, an MPA from Harvard University, an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an MBA from Vienna. His research interest focuses on the future of leadership, and his PhD dissertation dealt with Authentic Leadership and Machiavellianism in Young Global Leaders.

Hilal Ahmed Lashuel

Associate Professor of Life Sciences, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

1994, BSc in Chemistry, City Univ., NY; 1999, PhD, Texas A&M Univ. and Scripps Research Institute. Formerly: Research Fellow, Picower Institute for Medical Research, NY; 2001-04, Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital; 2005, Asst Professor, Neurosciences, Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Currently: Assoc. Professor of Life Sciences; Director, Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Neuroproteomics, Brain Mind Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lecturer. Author of +80 research publications; holds three patents. Academic Editor, PLoS ONE. Assoc. Editor, Frontiers of Molecular Neuroscience and ChemBiochem. Adviser to universities on biomedical research and higher education. Founding Member and Secretary-General, Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World.

Hilal Ahmed Lashuel was born in Taiz, Republic of Yemen. He received his BSc degree in chemistry from the City University of New York in 1994 and completed his doctoral studies in biological chemistry at Texas A&M University and the Scripps Research Institute in 2000. In 2001, he moved to Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital as a research fellow and was later promoted to Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. In 2005, Lashuel moved Switzerland to join the Brain Mind Institute at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, where he is now Associate Professor of Life Sciences and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Chemical Biology of Neurodegeneration. His research has resulted in the identification of potential therapeutic targets and new hypotheses concerning the mechanisms of pathogenesis in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders. Lashuel is a co-founder and Secretary-General of the Society for the Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World (SASTA).