2024 Devex World Luminaries
Priya Basu
She will share lessons from three decades of work in development finance, including leading the World Bank’s engagement in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
Priya Basu
Executive head, Pandemic Fund
Abhijit Banerjee
Nobel Prize in Economics winner. A pioneer in reducing global poverty. Benerjee will discuss the future of evidence-informed policymaking.
Abhijit Banerjee
Co-founder, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Howard G. Buffett
The farmer, conservationist, and businessman will share his views on ways philanthropy can end world hunger.
Howard G. Buffett
Chairman and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation
Ani Dasgupta
The president and CEO of the World Resources Institute is working on a just global climate translation. Dasgupta will speak about mobilizing finance for climate action, and what he hopes to see from global climate negotiations at the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Ani Dasgupta
President and CEO, World Resources Institute
Jonathan Fantini-Porter
Under his tenure as CEO, the Partnership for Central America has raised $4.2 billion to address the economic roots of migration in frontier and emerging markets. Fantini-Porter will highlight the power of public-private partnerships to address transnational challenges like conflict, migration, and climate change.
Jonathan Fantini-Porter
Executive director and CEO, Partnership for Central America
Elisa Gambino
Gambino is an Emmy-award-winning producer and director whose work examines issues like health equity, climate change, and racial justice. She will explore ways that organizations can bring humility to their storytelling work and integrate their values into every stage of production.
Elisa Gambino
Principal, One Production Place
Shamil Idriss
Idriss leads Search for Common Ground’s efforts to end violent conflict. He will speak about the idea that conflict is inevitable, but violence is not, and discuss ways to build sustainable peace through dialogue, media, and community.
Shamil Idriss
Chief executive officer, Search for Common Ground
Ashley Judd
Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated actress, UNFPA goodwill ambassador, and Time magazine's Person of the Year, Judd fervently advocates for sexual and reproductive rights. She will talk about the urgent mental health crisis impacting women and girls worldwide.
Ashley Judd
Actor, social justice humanitarian, and author
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro
The former president and CEO of Global Fund for Women will discuss how investing in women and girls can accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro
Board chair, United World Colleges
Wendy Kopp
Kopp will discuss her work with People First Community to prioritize diverse, collective, locally rooted leadership development in sustainable development efforts.
Wendy Kopp
CEO of Teach For All and founder of Teach For America
Scott Nathan
A leader in catalyzing private sector investment in places often deemed too risky by traditional investors, Nathan will discuss DFC’s strategy and the evolving role of development finance as a critical tool in sustainable growth.
Scott Nathan
Chief executive officer, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
John Nkengasong
First director of the Africa CDC and first U.S. global AIDS coordinator of African descent, Nkengasong will speak to global health security and diplomacy in turbulent times.
John Nkengasong
U.S. global AIDS coordinator and senior bureau official for global health security and diplomacy, U.S. Department of State
Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
An expert on food ecosystems, entrepreneurship, social innovation, and youth development, Nwuneli will speak about ONE's efforts to connect African countries with the financing they need to create economic opportunities and healthy lives.
Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
President and CEO, ONE Campaign
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
A pediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV, she formerly served as the chief scientist at the World Health Organization. Dr. Swaminathan will speak about her work on air pollution with Our Common Air, which is working to ensure the right to clean air for all.
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
Chairperson, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Past Devex World Luminaries
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus serves as the first African director-general of the World Health Organization. Over the past three decades, he has transformed Ethiopia’s health system to expand quality care and access for tens of millions of Ethiopians and helped key global organizations like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria operate with greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Director-general of the World Health Organization
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho
Agnes Binagwaho, M.D., M(Ped), Ph.D., is a Rwandan pediatrician and vice chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity. For 20 years, she contributed to reshaping the health sector in Rwanda through innovation and served in high-level government positions, including as health minister for five years.
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho
Vice chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity and former Rwandan health minister
Deborah L. Birx, MD
Deborah L. Birx, M.D., has spent her first career serving the United States, as an Army Colonel and later, running some of the most high-profile and influential programs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of State. She is dedicated to program improvement and change management to increase the health impact of every dollar spent; she has spent a lifetime mentoring young women in the Federal Government and translating science into effective implementation.
Deborah L. Birx, MD
Senior Fellow, The Bush Institute
Christiana Figueres
Christiana Figueres is an internationally recognized leader on climate change. She was executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010 to 2016. During her tenure at UNFCCC, Figueres brought together national and subnational governments, corporations and activists, financial institutions and NGOs to jointly deliver the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.
Christiana Figueres
Founding partner of Global Optimism and former executive secretary of UNFCCC
Ray Dalio
A global macro investor for more than 50 years, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates and ran it for most of its 47 years, building it into the largest hedge fund in the world. His investment innovations changed the way global institutions approach investing and he has received several lifetime achievement awards. Today, Ray remains an investor and mentor at Bridgewater and serves on its board. He is also a #1 New York Times bestselling author and an active philanthropist.
Ray Dalio
Founder, co-chief investment officer, and member of the Bridgewater Board
Bill Gates
Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, and transitioned full-time in 2008 to build the Gates Foundation’s work expanding opportunity to the world’s most disadvantaged. As cochair, he shapes the Foundation’s strategic direction. For 20 years, he has worked on many development issues including pandemic prevention. At Gates Ventures, he pursues his work on Alzheimer’s research and other healthcare issues. At Breakthrough Energy, he is addressing climate change by supporting the next generation of innovators.
Bill Gates
Cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Breakthrough Energy
Rula Ghani
Rula Ghani, the first lady of Afghanistan from 2014 to 2021, has taken up the torch of amplifying the voices of Afghan women by using her position to elevate the voices of women in her adopted country. She also brings her insights on the challenges that face conflict-ridden countries struggling to support worthy lives amid long-term displacement, having worked directly with many of Afghanistan's uprooted citizens.
Rula Ghani
Former first lady of Afghanistan
Kristalina Georgieva
Kristalina Georgieva is Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Previously she served as CEO of the World Bank and Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the largest humanitarian aid budgets. She serves on the Global Commission on Adaptation and the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing. In 2020, she received the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award for exceptional and distinctive contributions during her public service career.
Kristalina Georgieva
Managing director of the International Monetary Fund
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996 and is the host of the podcast “Revisionist History.” He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers — “The Tipping Point,” “Blink,” and “Outliers” — as well as a collection of his New Yorker articles titled “What the Dog Saw” and, most recently, “David and Goliath.” Previously, he worked at The Washington Post.
Malcolm Gladwell
Journalist and author
Anshu Gupta
Popularly known as the Clothing Man and the recipient of 2015 Ramon Magsaysay award, Anshu Gupta founded Goonj with a mission to highlight some basic but ignored needs of people on the development agenda, using clothing as a metaphor. His core philosophy is to value dignity and change the language and lenses of looking at people and issues with a subaltern approach while recognizing their traditional local knowledge, wisdom, and skills.
Anshu Gupta
Founder, Goonj & Gram Swabhimaan
Hosna Jalil
Hosna Jalil is the former Deputy Minister of Policy and Plan at the Ministry of Women's Affairs of I.R. Afghanistan. Her portfolio was focused on ensuring women’s equal access to services & resources across the country, empowering & integrating women across all sectors and providing them a safe and healthy environment, and strengthening women’s role in peace & security. Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in Strategic Security Studies, focusing on counterterrorism and irregular warfare at the US National Defense University.
Hosna Jalil
Afghanistan’s former deputy minister of interior affairs
Cina Lawson
Cina Lawson is the Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation of Togo. With over 17 years of experience and expertise in telecommunications policy and regulation, she leads Togo through a profound transition to an inclusive digital economy. Her transformative initiatives, namely strengthening data protection and cybersecurity, implementing biometric ID, digitizing public services and government-to-people payments, and accelerating the deployment of high-speed internet across the country, have laid a solid foundation for Togo's economic modernisation.
Cina Lawson
Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, Togo
Mark Malloch-Brown
Mark Malloch‐Brown is president of the Open Society Foundations. He has served as deputy secretary general of the United Nations under Kofi Annan; as head of the United Nations Development Programme; director of external affairs at the World Bank; and as a British government minister. He co-founded Crisis Group and chaired Best for Britain. He has led the boards of the Royal Africa Society, the UN Foundation, and the Business Commission for Sustainable Development.
Mark Malloch-Brown
President, Open Society Foundations
David Malpass
David Malpass was selected as the 13th president of the World Bank Group by its board of executive directors in 2019. He previously served as undersecretary for international affairs with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He represented the U.S. in international settings, including at deputy finance ministerials for the G-7 and G-20 groups of nations.
David Malpass
President of the World Bank Group
DeRay McKesson
DeRay McKesson is a civil rights activist focused primarily on issues of innovation, equity, and justice. He has advocated for issues related to children, youths, and families since he was a teen. As a leading voice in the Black Lives Matter movement and a co-founder of Campaign Zero, DeRay has worked to connect individuals with knowledge and tools and to provide citizens and policymakers with commonsense policies that ensure equity.
DeRay McKesson
American civil rights activist and co-founder of Campaign Zero
Ambassador Dr. John N. Nkengasong
Dr. Nkengasong leads, manages, and oversees the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in his role as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator and special representative for health diplomacy. Born in Cameroon, Nkengasong is the first person of African origin to hold this position. In 2017, he was appointed as the first director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Through his leadership, a framework for moving Africa CDC into a full autonomous health agency of the Africa Union was established.
Ambassador Dr. John N. Nkengasong
U.S. global AIDS coordinator and special representative for global health diplomacy, U.S. Department of State
Kennedy Odede
Kennedy Odede is one of Africa’s best-known community organizers and social entrepreneurs. In 2004, he earned $1 for ten hours of work, and saved 20 cents to buy a soccer ball to start Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO). Today, SHOFCO impacts over 2.4 million urban slum dwellers in Kenya and is on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. He is the author of Find Me Unafraid: Love, Hope, and Loss in an African Slum.
Kennedy Odede
Founder and CEO, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO)
Makhtar Diop
Makhtar Diop is the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a position he has held since March 2021. Previously, he was the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure. Prior to that, Mr. Diop served for six years as the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa. An economist by training, he began his career in the banking sector before joining the IMF and then the World Bank. He was also Minister of Economy and Finance of Senegal.
Makhtar Diop
Managing director, IFC
Gayle Smith
Gayle Smith is CEO of the ONE Campaign. She has served as a top adviser on international issues for three U.S. presidents and is one of the world’s leading experts on global development and global health security. In 2021, Smith took on a temporary role at the request of the secretary of state and served as the U.S. State Department’s coordinator for global COVID-19 response and health security.
Gayle Smith
CEO of the ONE Campaign and former administrator of USAID
Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart is a senior fellow at the Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, focusing on contemporary politics in crisis and on international development and intervention. Stewart was a British diplomat, development professional, and politician, ultimately serving as U.K. minister of state in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and secretary of state for international development. He is the author of four books and has presented three documentaries focused on foreign policy.
Rory Stewart
Former U.K. secretary of state for international development
Nadya Tolokonnikova
Nadya Tolokonnikova is a conceptual artist and political activist from Russia. She is a founding member of the art collective Pussy Riot, focusing attention on feminism, LGBTQ rights, and human rights violations at home and abroad. In August 2012, she was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance by Pussy Riot in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This protest attracted international media attention and support from the likes of Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Björk, and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Nadya Tolokonnikova
Russian conceptual artist and political activist
Robert Young
Robert Young is the founder and creative director of The Cloth, he initiated the process of creating a fashion label designed & made in the Caribbean over the last 36 years. The Cloth is a vehicle for Caribbean representation within the global design narrative. Due to the diasporic nature of the Caribbean it is made up of many displaced communities, and The Cloth creates a visual language and vocabulary that speaks to the conditions and terroir of this region
Robert Young
Founder & creative director, The Cloth
Ladipoe
Nigerian rapper and musician.
Ladipoe
Nigerian rapper and musician
Noor and Aziz
Noor is a 6-year-old Rohingya girl who loves to learn and play. She lives in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp with her twin brother, Aziz, and their family. Aziz, Noor’s brother, is a playful 6-year-old Rohingya boy who loves to use his imagination to create and act out stories about kings, queens, and animals.
