Klaus Schwab

Klaus Martin Schwab was born 30 March 1938 in Germany and trained as a mechanical engineer and economist. In 1971 he founded the World Economic Forum, an organization that would grow from a European management seminar into the convening power behind Davos - the Swiss summit where the world's political and financial elite meet to shape agendas. He chaired the WEF for more than five decades, presiding over its transformation into both a node of international coordination and a lightning rod for populist anger. In 2025 he resigned the chairmanship, stepping back from the platform he had spent a lifetime building.