It was Christiana’s unique brand of collaborative diplomacy that brought 195 nations together last December to sign the first legally binding agreement halting the rise of global temperatures. The road to the historic Paris Climate Conference was a six-year race to deliver a workable agreement and rally international support, a marathon achievement even for this distance runner.

How do you help millions of farmers in a nation prone to food crises? If you’re Eleni, you empower them with real-time market data, electronic receipts and next-day payment clearing. Her creation, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), is now hailed as an innovative and successful international model. By linking to the global economy, Ethiopian farmers get a fair price for their crops and incentives to increase productivity. Now this Stanford trained economist is looking to replicate her success, bringing commodity exchanges throughout the developing world.

A political cartoon once portrayed Kristalina as a superhero for her energetic efforts in Haiti, the Central African Republic and Pakistan. And when you consider her sunny embrace of some of the world’s toughest jobs - from top World Bank official to head of the European Union's humanitarian agency - it’s easy to see why she has indeed achieved “super-woman” status. Now in charge of the EU budget, she’s been lauded for steering relief funds - and providing much needed leadership - amid an escalating refugee crisis and global fragility.

In Karachi, Pakistan, fifteen percent of severely injured children used to die en route to medical facilities. all that changed with the introduction of aman ambulance, just one of the many health innovations created by aman foundation, a private philanthropic trust founded by Fayeeza and her husband. its mission: “To champion dignity and choice for the underserved” through programs that improve hygiene, education, nutrition and target preventable disease.

“There is a will to fight,” Ngozi has said about Africans' impatience with government, corruption and waste. And this economist is nothing if not a fighter. She rolled up her sleeves in Nigeria’s notoriously rough-and-tumble politics, aggressively tackling cronyism, increasing transparency and fostering investment as Nigeria’s Finance Minister. Before overseeing Africa’s largest economy, she managed an $81B operational portfolio for the World Bank. Now Ngozi looks to a new fight: providing life-saving vaccines for the over 19 million children still in need each year, as Chair-elect of the Board of Gavi, the vaccine alliance.