Angel Gurria and Donald Kaberuka Join the World Economic Forum’s Foundation Board

  • world economic forumAngel Gurría and Donald Kaberuka join the World Economic Forum’s Foundation Board
  • Foundation Board acts as custodian of the World Economic Forum’s mission and values
  • For more information about the World Economic Forum, please visit www.weforum.org

Geneva, Switzerland, 22 August 2013 – The Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum has elected Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank (AfDB) to serve as Board members.

Mr Gurría and Mr Kaberuka reinforce the multistakeholder concept of the Forum to integrate leaders from politics, business and civil society into the process to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

The Foundation Board is the formal custodian of the World Economic Forum’s mission and values.

Professor Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the Board, stressed the importance of having the heads of international and regional organizations on the Foundation Board by saying “The Forum’s evolution over the past four decades has put it at the centre of multistakeholder dialogue and cooperation. Its contribution to the global public interest and its relationship with the intergovernmental community continues to grow. Therefore it is essential to have on the Board leaders drawn from all walks of life.”

“The World Economic Forum has proven to be an invaluable partner for African countries aspiring to better education, infrastructure and governance. I’m therefore very proud to be part of this platform for fruitful dialogue and global exchange that will surely help African politicians, entrepreneurs and civil society as a whole to move forward on its path of development,” saidDonald Kaberuka.

“The OECD and the World Economic Forum have a long-standing partnership and regularly share experiences on evidence-based policy options to address challenges that shape our global reality and impact national strategies. The Forum successfully brings together a large array of stakeholders from the private and public sector and civil society, to promote greater cooperation. Through these exchanges we can better understand what people need and aspire to, and improve their economic and social well-being by designing better policies for better lives.  I am pleased to join the World Economic Forum’s Foundation Board, and I look forward to sharing the OECD’s analytical and consensus-building expertise,” said Angel Gurría.

The Foundation Board also thanked Kofi Annan, Maurice Lévy, Peter Sutherland and Ben Verwaayen for their service, as their terms end.

As of today, the Foundation Board consists of the following members:

Klaus SCHWAB* Chairman of the Foundation Board

Josef ACKERMANN* Chairman of the Board, Zurich Insurance Group, Switzerland; Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Board, World Economic Forum

Patrick AEBISCHER President, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Switzerland

H.M. Queen Rania AL ABDULLAH of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Mukesh D. AMBANI Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, India

Peter BRABECK-LETMATHE* Chairman of the Board, Nestlé, Switzerland

Mark CARNEY Chairman, Financial Stability Board

Victor L.L. CHU* Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, First Eastern Investment Group, Hong Kong SAR

Orit GADIESH** Chairman, Bain & Company, USA

Carlos GHOSN** Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Renault-Nissan Alliance (France and Japan), France

Herman GREF Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Sberbank, Russian Federation

Angel GURRIA Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris

Donald KABERUKA President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Tunis Belvédère

Christine LAGARDE Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC

Luis A. MORENO President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC

Indra NOOYI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, USA

Peter SANDS** Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered, United Kingdom

Joseph SCHOENDORF* Venture Partner, Accel Partners, USA

Heizo TAKENAKA** Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keio University, Japan; Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy of Japan (2002‑2006)

George YEO YONG-BOON Visiting Scholar, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore (2004-2011)

Min ZHU Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC

Ernesto Zedillo PONCE DE LEON Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University, USA; President of Mexico (1994-2000)

*Member of the Executive Committee
**Member of the Audit Committee