Klaus Martin Schwab, born in 1938 in Ravensburg, Germany, is a Swiss economist and businessman.
He holds a Doctorate in Economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Fribourg, a Doctorate in Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and a Master of Public Administration from the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
In the 1960s, he worked at the German Machine Building Association in Frankfurt, and in 1966-1971 was a leading manager at the Escher Wyss engineering corporation in Switzerland.
In 1971 he founded the European Management Forum, which changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987, and has been its president to this day.
Professor of Business Policy at the University of Geneva from 1972 to 2002. He is the author of several books.
Schwab is on the management boards of several companies and was an adviser to the UN Secretary General and several international organisations.
His addresses to WEF meetings are politically neutral. He is highly respected and has broad ties in the international community, which helps him to recruit the cooperation of prominent politicians, leaders of international organisations, leading businessmen and experts.
Speaks German, English and French.
Married, with a son and a daughter.
Hobby: mountain skiing.