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:
🏦 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:
💰 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 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:
💻 Tech turnout | Six representatives from Google $GOOGL, five from Microsoft $MSFT and IBM $IBM, four from Meta $META, and not a single one from Apple $AAPL or Amazon $AMZN. Other techies include:
📝 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:
Political players | The former prime minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, will make an appearance. Other political operators on the list include:
🥊 Also on the roster | One former world boxing heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, and 🎻 cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Also
🤵♀️ 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.
