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.

Mark Boris Andrijanič

Member of the Governing Board, European Institute of Innovation and Technology, United Kingdom

Mark Boris is a member of the Governing Board at the EIT, the EU's innovation agency. In 2021 and 2022 he served as Slovenia's first-ever Minister of Digital Transformation. During Slovenia's EU presidency, he led negotiations between the Member States on Digital Services Act and other key digital files. In 2022, he received the Ukraine Peace Price from President Zelenskyy for his contribution to Ukraine's digital resilience. From 2016 to 2021, he headed Uber's public policy and government relations efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. Mark Boris received a master's in public policy from the University of Oxford and a law degree from the University of Ljubljana.

Matthew Anestis

Managing Director; Global Head, Investment Performance for Alternatives, BlackRock, USA

Matt Anestis is Managing Director and Global Head of Investment Process and Performance for BlackRock Alternative Investors - the Alternatives business of the world's largest Asset Manager. He has previously served as Chief of Staff to the President and COO of BlackRock, as the COO of BlackRock's Aladdin Product Group, the COO of BlackRock Alternative Investors and the Global Head of BlackRock Platform Innovation. He has served on various firm leadership committees including on BlackRock's Global Operating Committee, Global Human Capital Committee and Firmwide Risk and Complexity Committee. He also served as Head of BlackRock's Boston office.

Prior to joining Blackrock, Matt Anestis was a Partner and Managing Director with The Boston Consulting Group in Hong Kong and also worked with Microsoft and in the White House. He serves as a Senior Advisor to the Presidential Scholars Foundation and founded the Boston Volunteer Bridge and Toronto Volunteer Bridge. He is also a Founding Curator of the World Economic Forum's Boston Global Shapers Hub.

Matt Anestis earned an undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) in Economics from Harvard, an MBA (with high distinction) from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar) and a JD (magna cum laude) from Harvard Law School.

Kalin Anev Janse

Member of the Management Board; Chief Financial Officer, European Stability Mechanism, Luxembourg

Kalin Anev Janse is the Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Management Board of the ESM and EFSF. He is in charge of the Funding and Investor Relations division responsible for €300 billion of outstanding debt and the Investment and Treasury division investing the €80 billion ESM capital. Additionally, he is in charge of ALM & Lending overseeing the ESM and EFSF balance sheet, and IT & Operations running technology and facilities of the institution.

Before taking on the CFO position, he was the Secretary General responsible for amongst others Corporate Governance, Shareholder relations, HR and Finance & Control. He previously worked in strategy at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, corporate finance advisory at McKinsey & Company in the Netherlands and investment banking at JPMorgan in London. He held several political positions in the Netherlands.

Kalin Anev Janse studied MSc. Business Administration at the Rotterdam School of Management and Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. For his undergraduate degree, he studied Business Administration in Finance, Banking and Insurance at the Vrije University Amsterdam. He is a young global leader of the World Economic Forum.

Bernise Ang

Chief Alchemist, Zeroth Labs, Singapore

Bernise Ang is Chief Alchemist at Zeroth Labs, a systems innovation lab. They tackle “wicked problems” by supporting developing countries and cities to make sense of the messy underlying system dynamics that make their complex policy challenges the way they are.  Her work at Zeroth Labs involves blending disciplines from anthropology, data science, design, behavioural science, foresight methods and system dynamics in order to bring clarity to complexity.

Besides a previous corporate life in private equity, Bernise also founded a youth development nonprofit Syinc, from which alums have gone on to become Forbes 30Under30 and Ashoka Fellow awardees. In international policy, she co-created processes for the development of civil society policy positions at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and UNFCCC. Bernise is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and serves as external faculty at the National University of Singapore on complexity and systems thinking.

Nikolina Angelkova

Chairwoman, Center for Empowerment of Women in Politics, Bulgaria

2003, Master's and Diploma (Hons) in Law, University of National and World Economy, Sofia; 2010, graduate, Harvard Business School, Boston; finance management; certificates in regional policy and management of the European Union structural funds and European policy. Formerly: lawyer; CEO, international companies in the real estate and infrastructure sectors; at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, the European Commission and the European Parliament; Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works; Adviser to the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works; Member of the Managing Board, National Road Infrastructure Agency; Adviser to the President of the Republic, in charge of European regional cooperation, transport and environment, as well as other international and European issues. Former Co-Chair and Founder, Bulgarian-Romanian Committee for inland waterway transport and connectivity of the common BG-RO Danube region. Chairwoman, non-profit foundation Friends of Sport, dealing with the integration of disabled children through sport. 2014, Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communication. In 2019 became political coordinator for Sofia district in our PP Gerb, responsible for all the political and election campaigns.in May 2018 was awarded by the Italian President with Stella d’Italia medal-the highest award for foreigners. Minister of tourism 2014-2020; Member of Parliament (2017 - 2022)

Irina Anghel-Enescu

Managing Director, South Eastern European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Romania

Managing Director, South Eastern European Private Equity and VC Association. On the Representative Committee, European Venture Capital Association (InvestEurope). Appointed Member, Romanian Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Founder and Chairperson, Triple Helix, an NGO dedicated to catalyzing a shift to a more entrepreneurial mentality in the former communist countries in Eastern Europe. Spent a year at Harvard Kennedy School focusing on the role of smart money for kick-starting and/or strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world. Eisenhower Fellow (2008). Mason Fellow, Harvard (2010). Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2014).

Eleni Antoniadou

APJ Healthcare Technical Lead, Amazon Web Services, Singapore

Eleni Antoniadou is a scientist in the fields of Regenerative Medicine, Bioastronautics and Artificial Intelligence and an advocate against gender inequalities and cyber harassment. Her multidisciplinary research is focused on developing artificial organs as an alternative therapeutic pathway for transplantations, as a means to eliminate illegal organ trading and on artificial intelligence-based applications for space missions. She has been named the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 for Healthcare, Cartier Laureate for USA, Global Leader by the Tallberg Foundation, 2013 Woman of the Year in the UK , BBC 100 Most Powerful Women, “11 Great Greeks of the Past, Present and Future” by the EPP party of the European Parliament among others and received more than 12 scholarships during her academic career. Eleni has conducted research at NASA's Mars Exploration lab, NASA FDL and the European Astronaut Centre.

Since 2009, Eleni is committed to the elimination of harmful and repugnant organ trade by organising medical mission trips to affected areas in Latin America and Africa and by raising awareness about illicit organ trading. Her endeavours serve as a primary driver to create a global regulatory framework that will culminate in the passage of transplant and artificial organ legislation at an international level.

Akudo Anyanwu

Vice President of Development, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, USA

Dr. Akudo Anyanwu is an award-winning global health expert, public health innovator and social entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in the field of international development. She is an Associate Dean at Johns Hopkins University and the Founder of Friends Africa, a pan-African organization that fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by mobilizing African businesses, governments and NGOs. She has also served on the boards of Roll Back Malaria, the Global Health Council and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Anyanwu's pioneering work on the Gift from Africa Campaign has been recognized by the Rockefeller Foundation as a top 100 next century innovation. She has also been recognized as Tufts University's Distinguished Service Award (21015), a Harvard School of Public Health Innovator of the Year (2013), an Ogunte Social Leader of the Year (2013) and Stevie Innovator and Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2012). Anyanwu holds a MD in Medicine from Tufts University, an MSc in Public Health from Harvard University and a BSc in Molecular Biology from Lehigh University.

Paolo Benigno Aquino IV

Co-Founder and President, Hapinoy, Philippines

Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino is the youngest Senator of the 16th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. In 2003, he became the youngest head of a government agency when, at 25, was appointed as the Chairperson of the National Youth Commission, the primary national policy-making body for Filipino youth. Bam also co-founded the social enterprise Hapinoy, which has received global awards for helping lift poor Filipinos out of poverty through micro-finance and micro-enterprise support. Bam has dedicated his entire career to empowering the youth and the poor, helping thousands of Filipinos improve their lives through access to opportunities and crucial support systems. Because of this work, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 2010, one of the Asian Social Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2011 and one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World in 2012.

Nathalia Arcuri

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Me Poupe! Conteudo e Servicos Financeiros Eireli, Brazil

Nathalia Arcuri is a Brazilian entrepreneur, journalist, finance specialist, philanthropist and founder of the world's largest financial entertainment platform, Me Poupe! From content to technology, Me Poupe! has been making it easier for people to understand difficult concepts involving finances and investments, her company helps over 21 million people each month to improve their financial life. Nathalia believes that education is the first step for true financial freedom and her mission is to make people free through democratic access to quality knowledge.
Nathalia disrupted the Brazilian financial market by bringing the concept of entertainment to the service of financial education. Her work at the forefront of Education has earned her several awards over the past 4 years. Me Poupe! democratized access to personal finance content, introduced complex concepts in a simple and fun way and among its platforms has the largest YouTube channel in the world, with more than 5.5 million engaged subscribers.

She is an author, a student of behavioral economics with a specialization in choice architecture.

Bibliography:

Spare me! 10 steps to never run out of money in your pocket. 2018
+500 thousand units sold

Practical Guide Mee Save! 33 days to change your financial life.
2021
+30 thousand units sold

Jacinda Ardern

Member of Parliament, New Zealand Labour Party, New Zealand

Bachelor’s in Professional Communication, University of Waikato. Former Adviser, Office of then New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark; then worked in London for the British Cabinet Office. Also volunteered at a soup kitchen in New York. 2008, entered New Zealand’s Parliament at the age of 26; 2017, became the youngest-ever leader of the Labour Party. Only two months after assuming the leadership, led the party to electoral victory and was sworn in as Prime Minister heading a three-party government involving the New Zealand First Party and the Greens. Currently the youngest woman elected head of government in the world and only the second elected head of government to have had a baby while in office. Also holds the roles of Minister for National Security and Intelligence, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and Minister for Child Poverty Reduction.

Yara Argueta

Member of the Board, Mergers and Acquisitions and Expansion, Grupo Solid SA, Guatemala

Former CEO of Grupo Solid, market leader of Paints and Coatings in Central America with headcount of 1,500 employees and above US$ 100 million in turnover. Currently became board member of Grupo Solid, also in charge of M&A and expansion.
Yara was appointed as one of the most powerful woman in Central America by Forbes Magazine in 2016, and as one of five more admired women in Central America by the business magazine Estrategia y Negocios, for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 and 2010). Honored as Distinguished Professional of the year by INCAE Business School in 2013.
Member of the Central America Leadership Initiative – CALI / Aspen Global Network. President and Mentor of Vital Voices´ Guatemalan Chapter. Board Member of the Guatemalan Board of INCAE Business School. Has served as Industrial Engineering Director in Universidad Rafael Landivar. Electoral Coordinator and Delegate for the last four Guatemalan presidential elections.
Yara has an MBA from INCAE, an Industrial Engineer degree from Universidad Rafael Landivar and additional education in Harvard Kennedy School and in Stanford Graduate School of Business.