Maxwell Hall, Senior Media Manager, Tel.: +41 (0)79 329 3500, Email: maxwell.hall@weforum.org
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Geneva, Switzerland, 17 March 2015 – The World Economic Forum announced today the leaders under 40 who are shaping the future of industry and society. A third of the new class of Young Global Leaders (YGLs) come from Asia and about half come from emerging economies. The list of YGLs has a strong representation from women leaders and is split 50-50 between business and non-profit sectors (academia, arts and culture, civil society, policy and government, media and social entrepreneurs). The full list can be downloaded here http://wef.ch/ygl15.
The class of 2015 joins a community which has been growing in significance since it began 10 years ago. Current and former YGLs include 11 heads of state and government, 10 heads of Fortune 500 companies, 15 UN Goodwill Ambassadors, six Guinness World Record holders, four Oscar winners, three Olympic gold medallists, two Nobel Prize winners and an astronaut.
“The YGLs include the world’s most pioneering, next-generation leaders who have developed in their journey to produce positive, tangible impacts in their countries, industries and societies,” said John Dutton, Director and Head of the Young Global Leaders Community at the World Economic Forum. “The class of 2015, together with the community over the past 10 years, shows how the future of business and public leadership is becoming more gender-equal, more geographically diverse, more varied in its expertise and is challenging established ways to get things done.”
The class of 2015 includes 23 people from East Asia, 17 from Greater China, 39 from Europe, 13 from Latin America, 16 from the Middle East and North Africa, 44 from North America, 18 from South Asia and 17 from sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s YGLs include:
The YGL Class of 2015 was drawn from a pool of over 2,000 candidates who were evaluated by Heidrick & Struggles and screened by a selection committee chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Previous YGL nominees include: David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Jack Ma, Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group, People’s Republic of China; Marissa Mayer, Chief Executive Officer, Yahoo, USA; Larry Page, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Google, USA; Claudia Sender Ramirez, Chief Executive Officer, TAM Linhas Aereas, Brazil; Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy; Ashish J. Thakkar, Founder and Managing Director, Mara Group, United Arab Emirates; Naoko Yamazaki, astronaut and mission specialist on the crew of STS-131 Discovery, Japan; and Zhou Xun, Actress and Goodwill Ambassador, United Nations Development Programme, People’s Republic of China.
Notes to Editors
More information on the YGL Class of 2015 at http://wef.ch/ygl15.
Meet the new YGLs on our blog: Agenda
More information on the YGLs on our website, brochure and http://wef.ch/ygl15info
Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/YGLvoices
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/YoungGlobalLeaders
Nominate a potential Young Global Leader through our website
About the Forum of Young Global Leaders
Established by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, in 2004, the Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multistakeholder community of more than 900 exceptional young leaders. Bold, brave, action-oriented and entrepreneurial, these individuals commit both their time and talent to make the world a better place. Every year, the Forum honours about 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.