Class: 2026
Anta Babacar Ngom
Anta Babacar Ngom Diack is a Senegalese political leader, entrepreneur, and public servant whose career bridges business leadership, democratic reform, and women’s empowerment across West Africa. Born and raised in the suburbs of Dakar, she spent over a decade building and scaling one of West Africa’s largest agro-industrial enterprises, driving regional food sovereignty and creating thousands of jobs for young people from low-income communities. As Franchisee and CEO of KFC Senegal, she pioneered inclusive employment models—launching the first franchise location operated entirely by women and another designed to empower persons with disabilities, proving that business can be a powerful engine for social change. In 2024, she made history as the first Senegalese…
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Roger Mina
Roger Mina is the CEO of Emcali, Cali’s Public Utility Company. In his career he has served as New Energies Manager at Cenit Transporte y Logística de Hidrocarburos, a subsidiary of Ecopetrol, Head of Electrical Planning and Advisor to the CEO of Ecopetrol, Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Energy of Colombia, Consultant at the Energy Division of the Inter-American Development Bank and Manager of Energy and Optimization at Cenit. He is a member of the board of directors of Celsia, Transoccidente and Corporación Manos Visibles. Roger is a Mechanical Engineer from the Universidad del Valle and holds a master’s degree in Energy Management and Policy and a PhD in Energy and Mineral Engineering from Penn State….
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Roy Yu-Ta Lin
Roy Yu-Ta Lin is an urban innovation leader working at the intersection of urban design, data science, and city governance. Roy currently serves as Head of Urban Informatics at the City Science Lab @ Taipei Tech, a joint lab between MIT and NTUT, where he develops advanced urban science and AI tools to help governments and city stakeholders address urban developments, mobility, and social-economical challenges across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Previously, Roy served as Director of Data Analytics & Applications at the Taipei Urban Intelligence Center (TUIC), the city’s first data-driven policy think tank. He is also an entrepreneur: founder of IVC InVisibleCities, a civic-tech community using open data for urban…
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Fidelis Leite Magalhães
Fidelis Leite Magalhães is a Timorese scholar and senior public policy leader whose work spans governance reform, economic strategy, and international diplomacy. He brings together public service and sustained academic engagement, linking institutional practice with broader debates on democracy, development, and international political economy. Before entering national politics, he served as an advisor in multilateral and bilateral engagements, contributing to policy dialogue, institutional design, and international cooperation. He later assumed senior ministerial responsibilities in the Government of Timor-Leste, overseeing strategic coordination and advancing economic policy and institutional reform. He founded the Timor-Leste-based think tank, the Institute of Politics and International Affairs (IPIA), and MOTIVA, a civic movement dedicated to policy innovation, leadership…
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Thashlin Govender
Thashlin Govender is Head of Portfolio, Africa at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, where for over 15 years he has led multi-country programs and delivered measurable outcomes for families and communities through partnerships with government, business, and civil society. In higher education, Thashlin reframed persistently low graduation rates among high-potential students from low-income backgrounds not as a funding gap but as a systems failure. He redesigned university support by integrating case management, incentives, guidance counseling, academic tutoring, and wellness services alongside financial aid. This model was scaled across multiple universities, achieving disproportionately improved graduation and employment outcomes for first-generation students. Working with the South African Presidency, Thashlin designed outcomes-based financing mechanisms that aligned employers, demand-led…
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Sara Cohen
A career diplomat, Sara Cohen is the Deputy Ambassador (Foreign Policy and National Security) at the Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington, D.C. As part of the Embassy’s senior executive leadership team, Sara oversees programs dealing with foreign and defense policy, energy and environment, public safety, border security, immigration, intelligence liaison and law enforcement. Prior to assuming this position, she held various executive positions in Ottawa at the headquarters of Global Affairs Canada. This includes Director General, South America and Inter-American Affairs Bureau (2020-2022) and concurrently the Prime Minister’s National Coordinator for the 2022 Summit of the Americas. Previously, she was Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs…
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Ruma Bhargava
Ruma Bhargava is a global health strategist and social entrepreneur who has shaped international health policy at the World Economic Forum, directed humanitarian operations for the International Red Cross across 38 countries, and built grassroots health systems across five continents at the convergence of digital innovation, health equity, and women's health. At the World Economic Forum, she led the Health Initiative, establishing Asia's first digital health vertical in India, leveraging AI across diagnostics, treatment, and health data integration. She built the WEF's global mental health agenda, pioneering public-private integration by collaborating with over 75 organizations across the private sector, governments, civil society, and UN agencies. At the International Federation of the…
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