GENEVA (AN) — The founder of the vaunted Swiss nonprofit organization that hosts the annual gathering in Davos will step down next year after more than 50 years in the top job.
After much speculation over its continuity plans, the World Economic Forum said its founder, Klaus Schwab, will leave his job of running the Geneva-based organization and become a non-executive chairman.
The 86-year-old Schwab, a German-born economist and engineer, founded the Davos forum in 1971. Since then, the five-day gathering has become a huge corporate spectacle – speed-dating for political and corporate elites – that draws heads of state, royalty, top executives and celebrities.
"By January 2025, Klaus Schwab will transition from Executive Chairman to Chairman of the Board of Trustees," WEF announced in an "institutional update" on Tuesday.
With more than 830 employees in Switzerland, the United States, China, Japan, and India, WEF said it has been transforming from a "convening platform" into the leading global institution for public-private cooperation.
It says it employs 600 staff in Geneva; 120 in New York; 80 in San Francisco; 30 in Beijing; and undisclosed numbers in Tokyo and Mumbai.
Evolving into a new platform
The organization had 409 million Swiss francs (US$447 million) in revenue and expenses as of June 2023, and 200 million Swiss francs (US$218 million) in cash, according to its annual report.
Two-thirds of the revenue, or 264 million Swiss francs ($288 million) comes from its partnership and membership revenue – the amount companies and organizations pay to send people and sponsor events at its gatherings.
That represents a 5% year-on-year increase, reflecting a high retention level and new growth among its 845 partners, WEF reported.
As part of its "governance evolution," WEF said, it will evolve from a "founder-managed organization" into one led by a president and managing board with four strategic committees to "reinforce the impact of our work."
"These shifts underscore our institutional continuity in providing an independent and impartial platform to address the complex challenges of an interconnected world," it said.
WEF did not name a successor to Schwab. Børge Brende, a former foreign minister of Norway, is president of WEF's board of trustees.
Among the board's high-profile members are Singapore's president, Canada's deputy prime minister, Jordan's queen, the European Central Bank president, CEOs, and the heads of other international organizations.
