Europe
• Annika Saarikko, Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. She is the woman managing the Social and Health Care Reform, one of Finland's most extensive social projects.
• Diane Binder, Vice-President, International Development, Africa, Middle East and India, SUEZ, France. She has founded the leading online platform Action Emploi Refugies from where refugees in France can find jobs.
• Julie Bonamy, Vice-President, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Saint-Gobain, France. She was appointed adviser for the budget and digital sector in July 2015.
• Geoffrey Bouquot, Group Director, Strategy and External Relations, Valeo, France. He develops partnerships with technologists and innovators enabling his company to reduce carbon emissions and develop intuitive driving in the automotive industry.
• Anne-Sophie Grouchka, Chief Customer Office and Executive Board Member, Allianz France, Allianz SE, France. Through her focus on the welfare of people she has put customer services at heart of Allianz' daily work.
• Jean-Jacques Barbéris, Member of the Executive Committee; Co-Head, Institutional Clients Coverage, Amundi, France. He is the chairman of En Temps Reel, a think tank focusing on the future development of the European Union.
• Ketevan Bochorishvili, Chief Executive Officer, JSC “Anaklia City”, Georgia. She is pioneering women’s presence in Georgian businesses and enabling ease of business through leading reforms.
• Mamuka Bakhtadze, Prime Minister of Georgia. He is working towards NATO membership for his country as well as liberal reforms, and in previous role as finance minister, improved the country's tax system.
• Thomas Saueressig, Chief Information Officer, SAP, Germany. He is a self-proclaimed millennial providing a seamless customer experience by automating processes with artificial intelligence.
• Jessica Burgner-Kahrs, Chair of Continuum Robotics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany. She developed the world's first robotic system for bone cutting, and works with continuum robots – tiny, tentacle-like robotic arms that are used in surgical medicine for their minimally invasive nature.
• Eva Scherer, Vice-President, Head of Business Administrations, Siemens Mobility Division, Siemens, Germany. She played an instrumental role in the signing of the Siemens-Alstom rail merger.
• Nora Khaldi, Founder and Chief Security Officer, Nuritas, Ireland. Her company is the first in the world to have introduced artificial intelligence to the food sector with the aim of creating the future of health.
• Cristina Pozzi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Impactscool, Italy. Her company aims to prepare for the combined effects of technology and the human experience so that no one is left behind.
• Sarah Nicholls, Director and Head, Global Sustainability, Jones Lang LaSalle, Netherlands. She was the first one to set sustainability targets in her company of more than 77,000 employees.
• Daniel de Boer, Chief Executive Officer, ProQR Therapeutics N.V., Netherlands. His company develops drugs for severe and rare diseases for which no treatments are available, such as cystic fibrosis.
• Pablo Alberto Barrera Lopez, Executive Vice-President; Head, Global Supply Chain, Yara International ASA, Norway. He works for one of the world's largest crop nutrition companies.
• Paweł Surówka, Chief Executive Officer, PZU, Poland. He leads his country's biggest insurance company, which places heavy emphasis on social responsibility.
• Tigran Khudaverdyan, Chief Executive Officer, Yandex Taxi, Russia. He assumed leadership of Yandex Taxi in 2014 and negotiated its independent structure through a deal with Uber in 2015.
• Anton Alikhanov, Governor of Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad Regional Administration, Russia. He was the youngest governor of an oblast (an administrative division) when he was first appointed in 2013.
• Carlos Reines, President and Co-Founder, RubiconMD, Spain. He is disrupting healthcare systems with innovative electronic medical consultation solutions that cut costs for primary care providers.
• Pablo Casado Blanco, Party Leader, Partido Popular, Spain. He is the youngest Spanish politician to have held this position and the voice of a new generation.
• Guillaume Lefevre, Managing Director, New Ventures and Business Development, Zurich Insurance Company, Switzerland. He is shaping one of the world's largest insurance company through customer-centric and digitally integrated ideas.
• Bilge Demirkoz, Professor, Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University, Turkey. She is a role model for the next generation of scientists in her country and as an astro-particle physicist is working to change the government’s approach to science.
• Daria Kaleniuk, Director, Anti-Corruption Action Centre, Ukraine. Experienced in stolen assets recovery, the powerful national organization she has created is shaping her country's anti-corruption legislation.
• Richard Walker, Managing Director, Iceland Foods, United Kingdom. His leading supermarket chain removed palm oil from the ingredients of all its products since 2018 and is committed to eliminating plastic packaging for all own-brand products within five years.
• Yalda Hakim, Anchor, BBC News, United Kingdom. She went from being a refugee to a journalist covering Isis, Mexican drug cartels and South Sudan’s civil war.
• Nerissa Naidu, Global Head of Strategy, AIG American General, United Kingdom. She has been a proponent of equality and strived to break the mould of stereotypes in gender, race and professional norms.
• Sue Anne Tay, Director of China and RMB Internationalisation, HSBC Holdings, United Kingdom. She is championing next-generation thought leadership in China.
China
• Chao (Amy) Gao, Founder, Shanghai May Foundation, China. She initiated her company’s social work by promoting volunteerism among students and sponsoring projects in universities in her country.
• Dinglong Huang, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Malong Technologies, China. He has developed groundbreaking solutions for artificial intelligence by improving speed, cost and accuracy in deep learning.
• Gary Liu, Chief Executive Officer, South China Morning Post Publishers, Hong Kong SAR, China. He is shaping the Asian news scene through flagship news products and looks after the Hong Kong editions of Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Elle Men, Esquire and Cosmopolitan.
• Gong Rujing, Co-Founder and Chairwoman, Happy Life Tech, People's Republic of China. She leads her country’s largest medical data company and is a game changer in the health technology industry.
• Jiakai Yuan, China Chief Representative, United Way Worldwide, People’s Republic of China. He heads a leading provider in the non-profit sector, which is also one of the few foreign NGOs able to operate in China.
• Longmei Zhang, Deputy Resident Representative for China, International Monetary Fund, People’s Republic of China. She is an expert in economics with extensive experience with IMF programme negotiations and reviews.
• Pei-Chun Tsai, Chief Executive Officer, Pou Chen Group, People’s Republic of China. His company makes 300 million shoes per year for big brands.
• Qian Liu, Managing Director, The Economist Group, People’s Republic of China. She has introduced her audience to cutting edge economic research on gender, and is bridging China and the West.
• Yin Qi, Chief Executive Officer, Beijing Mevgii Technology, China. He is a leading entrepreneur in artificial intelligence and deep learning, particularly in the area of facial recognition technologies.
Latin America
• Gregorio Werthein, Managing Director, Grupo Werthein, Argentina. He is a businessman and former Olympic athlete.
• Angela Daniella Garcia Moreno, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Elemental School, Bolivia. She has given more than 1,500 children, aged 7 to 18, the chance to train in digital and soft skills through online and in-person programmes.
• Joice Toyota, Executive Director and Founder, Vetor Brasil, Brazil. Her organization develops and places hundreds of graduates from top universities in young public management leadership roles throughout Brazil’s 27 states.
• Fernando Grostein Andrade, Director, Spray Filmes, Brazil. He is a thought-provoking film-maker, director, producer, screenwriter and director of photography, and has filmed more than 100 campaigns for clients like Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi Motors, Pfizer and Nestlé.
• José Manuel Moller, Chief Executive Officer, Algramo Group, Chile. Through an innovative and disruptive business model his 1,700 stores deliver essential food and cleaning products to low-income communities.
• Jonathan Malagon, Minister of Housing, Cities and Territory of Colombia. His former experience includes positions as vice-president of the Colombian Banking Association, executive director of the Colombian National Program of Telecommunications, and chief of staff, chief economist and assistant to chief executive officer at Telefonica Colombia.
• Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica. Inaugurated at the age of 38, he is his country’s youngest serving president since 1914.
• Richard Martinez, Minister of Economy and Finance of Ecuador. He previously served as chairman of the Ecuadorian Business Committee
• Victoria Alonsoperez, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chipsafer, Uruguay. Her platform tracks cattle remotely and autonomously to identify unusual behaviour.
• Juan Guaidó, President, Venezuelan National Assembly, Venezuela. He is an engineer and politician recognized by more than 50 governments as the interim president of his country.
Middle East and North Africa
• Esra’a Al Shafei, Founder and Executive Director, Mideast Youth, Bahrain. Her organization is one of the region’s leading civic technology companies, and she creatively publicizes under-represented voices ranging from migrant workers to the LGBTQ community.
• Ameer Sherif, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Wuzzuf, Egypt. He is raising the largest venture capital funding round for his country’s internet start-ups.
• Noura Selim, Executive Director, Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, Egypt. She leads one of the Arab world’s leading grant-giving foundations.
• Lucy Aharish, Anchor, Reshet 13, Israel. She is the first Arab Muslim news presenter on Hebrew-language Israeli television.
• Taymour Jumblatt, MP and Leader of the Socialist Progressive Party, Parliament of Lebanon. He is an exciting addition to his country’s political landscape.
• Lisa Ivers, Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group, Morocco. She opened the first Boston Consulting Group office in Africa and is addressing some of the major development challenges in Africa and the Middle East.
• Nadia Maqbool, Founding Partner, 23 Degrees North, Oman. She is an internationally recognized Omani architect leading an award-winning architectural start-up.
• Ahmed Ali Hammadi, Group Head, Active Investments, Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar. He oversees investments for one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.
• Ahd Kamel, Director and Actor, Odd Camel, Saudi Arabia. She is an internationally recognized award-winning actor and film-maker, who began her career when cinema was still banned in her country.
• Ibrahim AlMojel, Chief Executive Officer, Wisayah, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia. He set up the Muslim Scholar and Entrepreneur Award rewarding Muslims in sciences, the arts and business at Stanford University
• Sarah bint Yousif Al-Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates. She is also the Emirates Mars Mission Deputy Project Manager at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.
• Rima Assi, Partner, McKinsey & Company, UAE. She advises leading corporations on risk management and financial restructuring.
North America
• Andrew Serazin, President, Templeton World Charity Foundation, Bahamas. He is creating artificial intelligence that improves moral decision-making and innovations that promote humility, gratitude and forgiveness.
• Jean-François Gagné, Chief Executive Officer, Element AI, Canada. He is actively involved in guiding the impact of artificial intelligence’s impact on business, people and society, and advises Canadian and European governments on the ethical development of artificial intelligence.
• Karina Gould, Minister of Democratic Institutions, Government of Canada. She is an advocate for women’s issues and social inclusion as the youngest woman appointed to cabinet.
• Maya Roy, Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Canada. She runs the largest women’s service organization in Canada and shapes critical policies around gender rights and equality as a survivor of assault.
• Andrew Scheer, Leader, Conservative Party of Canada. He was one of the youngest MPs to be elected and is now leading the Conservative Party of Canada.
• Michele Romanow, Co-Founder and President, Clear Finance Technology - Clearbanc, Canada. She is an engineer, serial entrepreneur, role model, champion for women, and one of Canada's leading technology titans.
• Samuel Phillips Lee, Global Head of Sales Strategy and Operations, WeWork, USA. He has accelerated the evolution of the future of work in his day job, and additionally helps reimagine youth education through The Future Project.
• Bryony Winn, Senior Vice-President and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, USA. She builds partnerships and improves customer experiences to make quality health and social care increasingly accessible and affordable.
• Ruba Borno, Vice-President and General Manager, Cicso Systems, USA. She is the youngest member of Cisco's Executive Leadership Team, coordinates an effort to retrain millions affected by automation, and advocates for gender rights as a former Palestinian refugee.
• Anjali Sud, Chief Executive Officer, Vimeo, USA. She advances the economic impact of creative industries by leading the world’s largest ad-free online video platform.
• Cal Henderson, Chief Technology Officer, Slack, USA. He has built and disseminated some of the most widely-used technology applications and is a world-renowned expert, speaker and author.
• Katherine Maher, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation, USA. She pursues equity and opportunity in new technologies and is an outspoken human rights advocate.
• Eric Dayton, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Askov Finlayson, USA. His outdoor clothing company measures its own carbon footprint and gives away 110% of that amount annually to support climate change solutions.
• Cyrus Habib, Lieutenant-Governor, Washington State, USA. He is a lawyer, professor and one of the top-ranking Democrats in the Washington State Legislature.
• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Co-Founder, Arctic Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA. She is shaping business and social innovation to help preserve the Arctic.
• Farhan Latif, President, El-Hibri Foundation, USA. He is an interfaith leader challenging global extremism and working towards minority inclusion.
• Priyanka Bakaya, Chief Executive Officer, Renew Oceans, USA. She has commercialized breakthrough technology to affordably convert landfill-bound plastics into high-value fuels and chemicals.
• Nick Ayers, Managing Partners, Ayers Family Holdings, USA. He formerly served as Chief of Staff to the Vice-President of the United States.
• Peter Buttigieg, Mayor, City of South Bend, USA. He is America’s youngest mayor and is competing to become the democratic party’s first openly gay presidential candidate.
• Rohit Chopra, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission, USA. He is an advocate for improving loans for students, a trillion-dollar market in his country.
• Daniel Crenshaw, Congressman from Texas, House of Representatives, USA. He won a tight political race to enter public service after serving as an honoured US Navy SEAL in Afghanistan.
• Christine Ho, Chief Executive Officer, Imprint Energy, USA. She has invented safe, ultra-thin, rechargeable and flexible batteries to revolutionize sustainable electronics.
• Carol Reiley, Founder, Investor, Board Member, Drive.ai, USA. She is a top female engineer, a DIY hacker, a luxury brand ambassador, and a children’s book author.
• Agnes Budzyn, Managing Director of Strategic Growth, Consensys, USA. She innovates approaches to implement and adopt blockchain technology around the world at a market-leading blockchain company.
• David Chubak, Head of Global Retail Bank and Consumer Lending, Citi North America, USA. He runs a global business spanning 19 markets and serving 24 million customers across 2,600 branches and with 65,000 employees.
• Joseph Konzelmann, Managing Director and Senior Sovereign Strategist, Goldman Sachs, USA. Prior to his career in finance, he served in the US Government and advised Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, on economic development programmes for weak and fragile states.
• Erika Najarian,Head of North American Banks Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, USA. She introduced regulatory balance to ensure her firm’s management is always compliant, and is a passionate advocate for the professional development of women and people of colour.
• Nathaniel Harding, President, Antioch Energy, USA. He is pushing the boundaries of the US's energy industry through pioneering technology, as well as advising on the country's STEM education strategy.
• Emily Kirsch, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Powerhouse, USA. She is advancing renewable energy affordability by connecting clean energy entrepreneurs, corporations and venture capitalists as well as supporting 50 clean energy start-ups.
South Asia
• Wasfia Nazreen, Founder, Osel Foundation, Bangladesh. She is the youngest Bangladeshi, and one-woman team, to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
• Ivy Huq Russell, Founder, Maya, Bangladesh. She is empowering women through the first phone app in Bangladesh to provide advice on vital issues such as menstruation, contraception and reproductive health.
• Asif Zahir, Deputy Managing Director, Ananta Apparels, Bangladesh. He is transforming his family business into one of the largest, fastest-growing apparel manufacturing companies in Bangladesh.
• Matthew Guilford, Chief Growth Officer, Telenor Group, Bangladesh. He founded Telenor Health and tripled the number of people in Bangladesh with health insurance in less than 24 months.
• Faisal Khan, Co-Founder and Lead, Peshawar 2.0, Pakistan. He is supporting the start-up scene in Peshawar and as an academic, leading a research group on synthetic biology and precision medicine.
• Deshal De Mel, Economic Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Sri Lanka. He is a member of the National Negotiating Committee, leading trade negotiations between his country and China, India and Singapore.
Sub-Saharan Africa
• Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry of Botswana. At 31, she is one of her country's youngest cabinet members.
• Umra Omar, Founder, Safari Doctors, Kenya. She is saving thousands of lives a year by providing free basic health services including malaria treatment in rural Kenya.
• Wanuri Kahiu, Film Director, AFROBUBBLEGUM, Kenya. Her collective supports African art and as an award-winning director, producer and author she is part of the new generation of African storytellers.
• Kamissa Camara, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration and International Communication of Mali. She is the country’s youngest and first female minister of foreign affairs, working for peace, security and development across the Sahel.
• Adebola Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Red Media Africa, Nigeria. His civic participation group engages millions of African youth and his work has helped elect three African presidents.
• Anta Ngom Bathily, Managing Director, Groupe SEDIMA, Senegal. She has significantly developed Francophone Africa’s largest agriculture business.
• Aminata Kane Ndiaye, Chief Executive Officer, Orange, Sierra Leone. She is a leading executive driving the operations of the telecommunications giant with more than 1.8 million local subscribers.
• David Moinina Sengeh, Chief Innovation Officer; Head, Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) a, Government of Sierra Leone. As his country's first chief innovation officer, he is transforming critical thinking for youth across Africa.
• Tolu Oni, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa. As a leading female African scholar, she explores the intersections of health and urbanism.
• Kirsty Coventry is Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation of Zimbabwe. She has won more Olympic medals than any other female swimmer in history and is the most decorated African Olympian.
Image credit - Deccan Chronicle / Poonam Mahajan's Facebook / Manu Kumar Jain's Twitter
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndianObserverPost/
(Onkareshwar Pandey is Editor in Chief & CEO, Indian Observer Post and former Senior Group Editor- Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi & Urdu) and also former Editor - News, ANI. http://bit.ly/2mh7hih).
(DIDHITI GHOSH is the Director of a cultural-exchange radio programme at Radio Satelitevisión y Americavisión, Chile. She is a professor & a certified conference interpreter of the Spanish language and is the Bureau Chief of INDIAN OBSERVER POST based in Kolkata. Contact: didhiti.24@gmail.com).
ALSO READ
IAF Bombs JeM Camps in PoK, 350 Terrorists Killed, Firing on LoC - By Onkareshwar Pandey - https://bit.ly/2GQ9P1o
India’s Participation at OIC a Diplomatic Triumph for India: Najma Heptulla - By Brown Nongmaithem - https://bit.ly/2XwZ6OB
Pakistan Releases Abhinandan, Now, India waits for Masood Azhar - By Onkareshwar Pandey - https://bit.ly/2En6VxC
To Choose War or Terrorism - By Mallika Chugh - https://bit.ly/2TEQVk4
IOP Team
Meet IOP Team members, Bureaus and Galaxy of our esteemed writers and contributors here - https://bit.ly/2LxOU2I