Ellana Lee joins 245 leading executives, public figures and intellectuals - all age 40 or younger - chosen from around the world

Geneva, Switzerland, 11 March 2008 - The World Economic Forum today announced that Ellana Lee (see p2) has been selected as a Young Global Leader 2008. This honour is bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum to recognize and acknowledge the top 200-300 young leaders 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, media and society at large from 65 countries. The new class represents all regions, including East Asia (64), Europe (58), Middle East and North Africa (12), North America (45), South Asia (24), sub-Saharan Africa (21) and Latin America (21).

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

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, including Thomas H. Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Reuters, United Kingdom; Arthur Sulzberger, Chairman and Publisher, The New York Times, USA; Robert Thomson, Publisher, Dow Jones & Company and The Wall Street Journal, USA; and Hisashi Hieda, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fuji Television Network, Japan. The selection committee is chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The current community of Young Global Leaders represents over 60 countries and includes Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Co-Founders of Google, USA; Crown Prince Haakon of Norway; Malvinder M. Singh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories, India; Hiroshi Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama, Japan; Nicky Newton-King, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, JSE, South Africa; Carlos Danel, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Banco Compartamos, Mexico; and Jack Ma Yun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alibaba Group, People's Republic of China.

"It is our belief that this community of committed individuals can actually change the status quo. They are not only a preview of what effective, collaborative leadership in the 21st century might look like, they are actually putting it into practice today," said David Aikman, Senior Director and Head of the Forum of Young Global Leaders. "It is our privilege to work with such inspirational leaders and to bring them together in a global network that builds their insights and skills even further, providing them with a global platform to tackle the key challenges of our generation."

Established in 2004 by Professor Klaus Schwab, The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multistakeholder community of the world's most extraordinary young leaders, who dedicate a part of their time to jointly address global challenges and who are committed to devote some of their knowledge and energy to collectively work towards a better future. As part of their engagement, the Young Global Leaders give their time to task forces to initiate, develop and drive innovative solutions on important, globally-oriented issues, including health, education, the environment, global governance and security, and development and poverty.

ELLANA LEE

Ellana Lee is Managing Editor for CNN International Asia Pacific, based at the network's regional headquarters in Hong Kong. One of the most dynamic and successful young executives working in international television, she manages the award-winning news and feature programming produced in Hong Kong in addition to CNN's correspondents and newsgathering teams across nine bureaus in the Asia Pacific region that stretch from Islamabad to Tokyo.

Lee has recently managed key newsgathering coverage of the US election and how it is set to impact viewers across the region, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and subsequent unrest in Pakistan and a wide range of breaking news stories from across Asia Pacific that reach hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

Landmark programming initiatives she has overseen have included taking ‘World News Asia' and ‘CNN Today' to Beijing for a special week of coverage looking ahead to the Olympics, in addition to in-depth special weeks from Delhi and South Korea. From the world of business she has overseen the ‘Boardroom Master Class' initiative that interviews top global CEOs in front of live audiences in New York, London and Shanghai. She has also managed the network's ‘Talk Asia' program as it has traveled across Asia Pacific to hear from some of the region's biggest names in front of live audiences.

While under her management, CNN in the Asia Pacific received the ‘Cable and Satellite channel of the year award' at the prestigious Asian Television Awards, while ‘CNN Today' won best program and Kristie Lu Stout ‘best news presenter/anchor' amongst a record total of five awards.

Earlier in her eleven-year career at CNN, Lee worked at CNN in New York as a producer to help launch the program ‘In The Money', which simulcast on CNN's domestic networks. She subsequently worked as business producer and a senior planning producer, coordinating major events out of the Asia Pacific for the network.

Lee has extensive international credentials, holding a masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from New York University and an undergraduate degree in History and International Relations from Georgetown University. 

                                  CNN International

CNN is the world's leading global 24-hour news network and one of the world's most respected and trusted sources for news and information. The CNN brand is available to two billion people via 18 CNN branded TV, internet and mobile services produced by CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System Inc and a Time Warner company. CNN International is the international directorate of CNN Worldwide and distributes news via 14 services in seven different languages. CNN International can be seen in more than 220 million television households and hotel rooms in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, including more than 34 million across the Asia Pacific region and online at www.cnn.com/international

For more information and a detailed list of all Young Global Leaders, please visit www.younggloballeaders.org

Incorporated as a foundation, and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit; it is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. The Forum has NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.