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.

Krithi Karanth
Dr. Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Executive Director at CWS, Adjunct Faculty at Duke and NCBS. She has a Ph.D. from Duke (2008), a M.E.Sc from Yale (2003) with B.S and B.A degrees from the University of Florida (2001). She has also completed executive education courses at Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford. As a scientist, her research in India and Asia spanning 24 years encompasses many issues in the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. She has conducted macro-level studies assessing patterns of species distributions and extinctions, impacts of wildlife tourism, consequences of voluntary resettlement, land use change, and understanding human-wildlife interactions. She has published 100+ scientific and popular articles in English and Kannada. Krithi served on the editorial boards of Frontiers
in Ecology and Environment, Human Dimensions of Wildlife, Conservation Biology, and Conservation Letters. Krithi has mentored over 250 young scientists from India, US, Chile, UK, Australia, Indonesia etc. and engaged 750 citizen science volunteers in her research and conservation projects. As a conservationist, she has designed Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, Wild Surakshe and Adopt a PHC programs.As a storyteller Krithi has collaborated with painters, illustrators, film-makers, and photographers.
Krithi’s conservation and research work has been featured in 3 award-winning BBC Series - The Hunt, Big Cats, and Dynasties, and in documentaries by CBC and PBS. She has co-produced 5 documentaries Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale, Flying Elephants and Wild Surakshe. In 2020 she co-starred with Kevin Pietersen in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic. She has written a
bilingual children's book with artist Raghava KK and is actively working on various other collaborations with artists.
Krithi's work has been covered by over 250 media outlets such as Washington Post, Time Magazine, Al Jazeera Television, BBC, Christian Science Monitor, GQ India, Harper's Bazaar, Mongabay, Monocle, National Geographic, NPR, New York Times, Scientific American, All India Radio, Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Herald, Down to Earth, Kannada Prabha, LiveMint, New Indian Express, Prajavani, The Hindu, and Times of India.
Krithi is National Geographic Society’s 10,000th grantee and a 2012 Emerging Explorer. Her more than 45 awards and recognitions include the Eisenhower Fellowship, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, University of Florida’s Outstanding Young Alumnus, INK Fellow, India's Power Women by Femina, Women of the Year by Elle India, Vogue Women of the Year and Seattle Zoo’s Thrive
Conservation Leadership Award. In 2019, she received the WINGS Women of Discovery Award for Conservation, GQ Man of the Year-Environmental Hero, Beyond Duke University Alumni Award for Service and Leadership. She was also chosen as one of the five 2019 Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureates. In 2021, she became the first Indian and Asian woman to be chosen for the Wild Innovator Award and was also selected for the 2021 Aspen Ananta Fellowship and Government of India’s Invest
India Women Achiever. In 2022, she won the 'Varshada Kannadiga' (Kannadiga of the year) award for her contributions to science and technology.

Benjamina Karic
Karić was born on 8 April 1991 in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia. She graduated from the University of Sarajevo. She later worked as an assistant at the Faculty of Law at the University of Travnik and in Kiseljak. Following the 2020 municipal elections, Karić became mayor of Sarajevo in 2021 as a replacement for Bogić Bogićević, who decided to pull out of the candidacy for mayor shortly before. She graduated from two faculties simultaneously, the Faculty of Law at, the University of Sarajevo and the Department of History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo. Karić is a recipient of the Silver Badge of the University of Sarajevo for Outstanding Achievement in Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies. She is the author of fifty publications, books, articles, and translations from Latin to Bosnian.

Freshta Karim
Freshta Karim is the Founder and Director of Charmaghz, a Kabul-based Afghan NGO dedicated to promoting critical thinking among children through providing resources and space on buses turned into mobile libraries. Prior, she worked at different UN agencies and international organizations and in the President's Office of Afghanistan. Karim studied political science at Panjab University, India, and completed an MA in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Karen Karniol-Tambour
Karen joined Bridgewater in 2006. As Co-Chief Investment Officer for Sustainability, she leads the design and oversight of new investment solutions with both financial and sustainability objectives. Karen is also a member of Bridgewater’s Executive Committee and Investment Committee, co-chair of the firm’s Sustainable Investing Committee, and a Partner. She has 15 years experience developing systematic insights on global markets and overseeing Bridgewater’s investment logic and portfolio construction, and previously headed Bridgewater’s Investment Research function. Karen received her AB from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs with a Certificate in Finance. She serves on the boards of the Truman Center for National Policy and Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit cultivating young leaders to transform conflict in the Middle East and South Asia. Karen is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, was included in Fortune’s "40 Under 40" most influential leaders in business in 2019 and has been named to Barron's list of "Most Influential Women in US Finance" for three years in a row.

Dennis Karpes
Dennis Karpes is the Founder of Dance4Life, a dynamic international movement that inspires, mobilizes and unites young people to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS through educational projects and dance events. Dance4Life has become an internationally recognized organization that is active in more than 30 countries worldwide. Karpes' strength is to develop and realize creative concepts and market these to the public. Besides Dance4Life, one of these concepts is Kuyichi, a sustainable international jeans brand, which he co-initiated as Marketing Director. Currently, Karpes is also Co-Founder and Director of the Naga Foundation, which aims to tackle one of the greatest environmental challenges of today: pushing back desertification. The Naga Foundation transforms desertified land into fertile land by restoring the water absorption capacity and soil stability to enable sustainable agriculture and improve biodiversity while benefiting rural livelihoods.

Neema Kaseje
Dr Neema Kaseje: is a humanitarian surgeon, health leader, and an expert in health systems strengthening in rural & refugee contexts. Her main focus is to work towards sustainable and comprehensive health services for refugee and host communities in Turkana by leveraging health insurance schemes including national health insurance funds.
She is an expert in building pediatric surgical care delivery with previous experience in Kenya, Haiti, Congo, CAR, and Liberia. In Haiti, she served as the only pediatric surgeon in the public sector and scaled up pediatric surgical care delivery in the region through the training of junior doctors. As a result, her team was able to double the number of children accessing life saving pediatric surgical care. Similarly in Liberia, she was part of the first cohort of surgeons stationed to the first pediatric surgical program by a humanitarian organization such as Doctors Without Borders. Once again, she emphasized training and the setting of minimum standards and protocols as the foundation for improving access to pediatric surgical care in complex humanitarian settings. In Kenya, she has contributed to improved access to pediatric surgical care by leveraging technology and community health workers as powerful forces for the early detection and referral of children in need of life saving surgical care. In Turkana, Kenya, she is mobilizing women leaders to tackle the persistently elevated maternal mortality that is disproportionately affecting adolescent girls. These activities are key to the global conversations on health leadership as a mechanism for improved health, social cohesion, and inclusive economic development.
She is Founding Director of the Surgical Systems Research Group based in Kisumu, Kenya. She is committed to global health equity and improving access to surgical care as a pathway to rapidly achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. She is committed to youth in Africa and recently launched leadership training bootcamps for young girls aspiring to be leaders in health, technology, and science. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2017. She successfully led a Wellcome Trust funded integrated community and health systems based COVID -19 health intervention in Siaya, Kenya which resulted in significant reductions in COVID-19 related deaths. She is currently leading the establishment of the first pediatric surgical operating room in a refugee camp in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya ( (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35724669/; https://vimeo.com/781809259/b1b118ebf5).

Sam Kass
Sam led food and nutrition policy for the Obama Administration, and was the Executive Director for First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign. He was also the chef for the Obamas. Sam is now focusing on the intersection of health, climate change and food systems in numerous ways through strategy work and investing.

Felipe Kast
Felipe Kast was the youngest (age 32) Minister of Social Development of Chile under the Presidency of Sebastián Piñera.
From 2011 to 2013 he was the Presidential Delegate for Chilean Reconstruction after the 27F earthquake.
In 2017 he was Presidencial Candidate, and since March 2018 he is serving as Senator.
Felipe is an economist, PhD from Harvard University. He also studied Economics and Sociology at the University of Havana in Cuba, where he met his wife and the mother of his four children.
Felipe lives in Santiago, Chile

Drue Kataoka
Technology Artist Drue Kataoka is known for creating interactive and engaging artworks with significant social impact using cutting edge technologies like virtual reality, brainwaves (EEG), and mobile platforms. Drue’s painting Up! has been featured in the first zero gravity art exhibit at the International Space Station. Drue is sought after for her intricate mirror-polished steel sculptures, cast with ancient metal-working techniques, and shaped with free form organic expression only recently made possible with virtual reality.
Drue’s piece “400,000 Is Not a Number” helped shine a light on the backlog of 400,000 untested rape kits waiting for justice, and her “Touch Our Future” digital tapestry drew the attention & participation of dozens of Nobel Laureates and heads of state to help reduce infant mortality.
Only 24 hours after its creation, Drue’s portrait of British M.P. and humanitarian Jo Cox flooded social media, newswires and TV. Drue’s posters were carried by tens of thousands of people in Trafalgar Square, Batley, Dublin, Buenos Aires, New York, Washington DC, and many other cities, as a symbol of our shared humanity.
Named a Young Global Leader & Cultural Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Drue was invited to give a solo exhibition at the WEF in Davos. Drue was also a featured speaker at the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016.
Celebrating American women's "firsts," Drue’s iconic image Now Is The Time was launched around the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign. The only artwork officially unveiled at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Recent work has been featured on CNN, Returs, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS and ABC, and in Stanford Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and others.
Graduate of Stanford University. Reacipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute Award for her extensive community service along with Secretary George Shultz.

Matthew Katz
Matthew Katz is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of Data Science for Blackstone. He leads Blackstone’s team of data scientists and in this capacity partners with management teams and operators to accelerate growth across Blackstone’s portfolio companies by leveraging data science. He and his team additionally work closely with Blackstone’s investment teams to provide a differentiated viewpoint through advanced analytics during the investment process.
Before joining Blackstone in 2015, Mr. Katz was a Vice President at Point72 Asset Management where he focused on data science and investing. He began his career at Credit Suisse.
Mr. Katz graduated with honors from Princeton University. He serves on the advisory board of Virginia Tech’s Academy of Data Science and is on the Blackstone Charitable Foundation Leadership Council.

Brian Kaufmann
Mr. Kaufmann is the Head of Private Equity and a Portfolio Manager for Viking Global Investors, LP, a global investment firm that manages over $40 billion. He is also a member of the firm's Management Committee. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Kaufmann was a public equity Portfolio Manager and Investment Analyst responsible for investment ideas in the healthcare and life sciences sector. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Kaufmann was an Associate at TA Associates, where he was responsible for originating, researching and executing private equity investments in the healthcare and business services sectors. From 2003 to 2005, he was an Investment Banking Analyst in Merrill Lynch's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Mr. Kaufmann is a graduate of Harvard Business School, where he received an MBA and was a Baker Scholar, and of Cornell University, where he received a B.S. in applied economics and business management, magna cum laude. In 2021, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Piia-Noora Kauppi
Partner, Odgers Berndtson. Member of the Board of Directors, UPM Kymmene plc & Gofore plc. Member of the Trilateral Commission. Member of the Board of Trustees of Helsinki Deaconess Institute. Managing Director of Finance Finland 2009 - 2022. Member of the European Parliament 1999–2008, Head of the Finnish Delegation in the EPP-ED Group 2004–2008. President of the European Banking Industry Committee EBIC 2010-2011. Chairman of the European Banking Federation Executive Committee 2014-2015.
Mrs Kauppi is married to Mr. Jussi Antero Järvinen (Partner, KPMG Finland) with four children, born in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2017. On her freetime she loves skiing, running and triathlon.