The World Economic Forum’s 2022 annual meeting in Davos has begun, which means the elite of the international business world are gathering in Switzerland.
At 2,000-odd participants, there are fewer people at Davos this year than in 2020, which saw about 3,000. But there are still plenty of big shots and famous faces. Let’s take a brief look at the attendees, according to the official list, which was last updated May 18.
🌍 Global audience | Attendees include 🇺🇸 583 participants from the US, 🇨🇭 220 from Switzerland, 🇬🇧 211 from the UK, and 🇮🇳 109 from India.
💼 CEOs reign | There are 612 chief executive officers in attendance, and only 22 CFOs. The top bosses include:
- Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India
- Adena Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq
- Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce
🏦 Finance folks | Despite the small contingent of CFOs, the finance world will not be underrepresented. At least 75 participants from global banks will be around. Financial players include:
- Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi
- Catherine Bessant, vice chair for global strategy at Bank of America
- George Soros, chairman and founder of Soros Fund Management
💰 World’s wealthiest | Bill Gates has some competition this year in the net worth department. Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, is in Davos, as is Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. Depending on the day, one of these men is Asia’s wealthiest person.
Climate, tech, and media participants
🍃 Climate cohort | At least 42 attendees have the word ‘sustainability’ in their job title, including the chief sustainability officer from Unilever, Rebecca Marmot. Other climate-change experts on the attendee list include:
- Nigel Topping, UN climate change high-level champion for COP26
- The New York Times’ international correspondent for climate change, Somini Sengupta
💻 Tech turnout | Six representatives from Google, five from Microsoft and IBM, four from Meta, and not a single one from Apple or Amazon. Other techies include:
- Michelle Zatlyn, president and COO of Cloudflare
- Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
- Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
📝 Mix of media | Reporters, editors, and representatives from the world’s major publications will also be in attendance. There are more people from CNN on the roster than participants from Microsoft. Also:
- Sally Buzbee, executive editor The Washington Post
- Martin Wolf from the Financial Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin from the New York Times, and Ina Fried from Axios
- Quartz’s very own Katherine Bell
Politics and culture figures in Davos
Political players | The former prime minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, will make an appearance. Other political operators on the list include:
- Henry Kissinger, chairman of Kissinger Associates and former US secretary of state
- Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the UK, now at Meta
- Former White House director of communications Anthony Scaramucci, who also is the founder of SkyBridge Capital
🥊 Also on the roster | One former world boxing heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, and 🎻 cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Also
- Member of the Black Eyed Peas and CEO of i.am/Angel Foundation, will.i.am
The gender gap at Davos persists
🤵♀️ Not enough women | While no official gender breakdown of participants has been released, it’s unlikely the male-female ratio is anywhere near balanced. During the six prior Davos gatherings, female representation slowly improved. But with it peaking at 24% in 2020, the accomplishment was small.
To check out the full 2022 attendee list, you can find it linked (pdf) on the World Economic Forum website.