Foundation Team

Mirjam Schöning - Head and Senior Director
Mirjam Schöning heads the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship since 2008. She joined the Foundation at its inception in August 2000. She has been shaping the strategy and activities of the Foundation as a pioneer in the field of social entrepreneurship. The Foundation's mission it is to raise awareness on social entrepreneurship. With its partners across the world, the Foundation identifies and selects the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and provides a platform to highlight and disseminate their sustainable innovations in a wide range of fields. The Foundation works closely with its sister organization, the World Economic Forum, to advance the cooperation between social entrepreneurs and the corporate sector. 

Before joining the Schwab Foundation, Mirjam graduated with a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Her previous work experience includes three years as a consultant at Bain & Company. In addition, she analyzed the social sector lending strategies in Southern Latin America for the World Bank, Washington, D.C., and worked on a regional centralization strategy for Shell in Scandinavia. She holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and an International Business Diploma from ESADE, Spain and the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. Her fields of expertise include social entrepreneurship, microfinance, social investing, and appraisal of development projects.

François Bonnici - Head, Africa
Dr François Bonnici is Head of Africa for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum. Originally trained as a physician in South Africa, he read for a Masters degree in Public Health (London) and a MBA (Oxford) as a Rhodes Scholar. He has worked in clinical paediatrics, managed child public health programmes, worked as a consultant to UNICEF, country governments, for-profit companies and as a researcher in the Clinical Trial Unit at Oxford University. He also sits on the Board of Powerfree Education and Technology, a non-profit enterprise developing medical devices appropriate for resource poor settings. His most recent previous position was as the Associate Director of the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative.

Vivian Gee - Head, Asia
Vivian Gee is Head of Asia at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow.  She is responsible for selecting leading social entrepreneurs in Asia, and identifying opportunities for them to engage with global decision makers. Vivian’s prior work experience includes product management and product marketing in the technology sector, as well as strategy and IT consulting. Vivian has also consulted for non-profits, social enterprises, and small/medium enterprises in South Africa, India, the United States, as well as Indonesia.  During her time in Jakarta, Vivian spearheaded and customized a consulting program for local business owners. Vivian holds an MBA from INSEAD in addition to Bachelors and Masters degrees in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University.

Katherine Milligan - Head, Middle East 
Katherine Milligan is Head of the Middle East for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a Global Leadership Fellow of the World Economic Forum. She received her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1998 and her Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government in 2004, where she was the recipient of the Pforzheimer Scholarship for Excellence in Nonprofit Management.  After working as the director of a grassroots development organization in West Africa from 1999 – 2001, Katherine went on to do strategy consulting for the Center for Global Development, PBS Frontline, the Center for a New American Dream, and the African Public Broadcasting Foundation. She authored a report on the WTO agricultural negotiations as a Sheldon Knox Research Fellow at Harvard University from 2004 – 2005, which was published by the International Institute of Economics in Case Studies in US Trade Negotiations Volume II (2006). Katherine has been with the World Economic Forum since 2005.

Sándor Nagy - Associate Director