By Arun Kumar
Washington, March 4 (IANS) Sanjay Gupta, an Indian American senior executive, has been chosen by the World Economic Forum for its 2010 class of Young Global Leaders.
Gupta, a second-generation Indian American, is the senior vice president and advisor to the executive chairman of Abraxis BioScience, a leading pharmaceutical and health-care innovator based in the US with offices throughout the world.
Commenting on his selection, Gupta stated: "I am deeply honoured to be a member of the 2010 Class of Young Global Leaders (YGL) and I look forward to working with the YGL community around the world to advance a host of innovative and socially-beneficial initiatives."
"We are delighted that Sanjay has been recognised for his past and ongoing contributions to social progress through his innovative thinking, vision, and leadership," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, executive chairman of Abraxis BioScience.
"We look forward to supporting his commitment to improving society and the ideals of the Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum."
The honour, bestowed each year by the forum, recognises and acknowledges between 100 and 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, tennis player Roger Federer, and the co-founder of Twitter, Evan Williams, are among those selected this year.
Recipients in prior years include the co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and television journalist Anderson Cooper.
Prior to joining Abraxis, Gupta served as the director of social enterprise at Intel Corporation. He has also served as the chief financial officer and director of strategy for Dossia, a social-enterprise sponsored by Intel, Wal-Mart, Pitney-Bowes, AT&T, Sanofi-Aventis, Cardinal Health, Vanguard Health, Abraxis BioScience, Applied Materials, and BP America.
Gupta was previously managing director and founder of Realstrategy, a boutique strategy consulting firm based in the US, and was also a partner at Geo Health Partners, an investment partnership which focussed on health care investments domestically and internationally.
Gupta was educated at the University of Oxford, where he earned his MBA and was a member of Merton College. He studied Philosophy at Georgetown University and also studied Bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.