13 Mar 2008

Associate Professor Laura Alfaro Named "Young Global Leader" By World Economic Forum

Honor recognizes top global academics, executives, and public figures under the age of 40
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Associate Professor
Laura Alfaro

BOSTON — Harvard Business School Associate Professor Laura Alfaro, an expert on international economics, has been selected as a Young Global Leader 2008 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

This honor is bestowed each year to recognize the top 200-300 young leaders under the age of 40 from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society, and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. The Young Global Leaders for 2008 include 121 business leaders as well as leaders from government, academia, the media, and society at large. They represent 65 different countries.

"The World Economic Forum is a true multi-stakeholder community of global decision makers," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF. "We need the Young Global Leaders to be a voice for the future of the global thought process and as a catalyst for initiatives in the global public interest."

Drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2008 were chosen by a selection committee of 31 eminent international media leaders chaired by Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The current community of Young Global Leaders includes Larry Page and Sergey Brin, cofounders of Google (USA); Malvinder M. Singh, chief executive officer and managing director of Ranbaxy Laboratories (India); Hiroshi Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama, Japan; Nicky Newton-King, deputy chief executive officer of JSE (South Africa); Carlos Danel, co-chief executive officer of Banco Compartamos (Mexico); and Jack Ma Yun, chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group (People's Republic of China).

Harvard Business School Professor Tarun Khanna, an expert on the emerging super economies of India and China, was named a Young Global Leader in 2007.

A native of Costa Rica, Professor Alfaro earned her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1999. She received a BA in economics with honors from the Universidad de Costa Rica in 1992 and a "Licenciatura" from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica of Chile in 1994, where she graduated with highest honors. Her current research focuses on international capital flows, foreign direct investment, and sovereign debt. She is a member of the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School.

She is also a Faculty Research Fellow in the National Bureau of Economic Research's International Macroeconomics and Finance Program and a Faculty Associate at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

About Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 250 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and PhD degrees, as well as more than 175 Executive Education programs, and Harvard Business School Online, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching, to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The School and its curriculum attract the boldest thinkers and the most collaborative learners who will go on to shape the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.