Foundation Staff

Mirjam Schöning - Director

Mirjam Schöning was the first to join the Schwab Foundation in August 2000 as Senior Project Manager. She holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, an International Business Diploma from ESADE, Spain and the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden. She graduated as a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in 2000, concentrating on development economics and finance. While working as a consultant for Bain & Company (1996-1998), she developed investment and growth strategies for leading international firms. In addition, she analyzed the social sector lending strategies in Southern Latin America for the World Bank, Washington, D.C..


Francois Bonnici - Head, Africa and Middle East

Dr François Bonnici is Head of Africa and the Middle East 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.


Parag Gupta - Head, South Asia and Eastern Europe

Parag Gupta is Head of South Asia and Eastern Europe for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow. Parag worked as a strategy consultant in the private, non-profit, and international development sectors. Previously, Parag was at the Bridgespan Group where he consulted to nonprofits and foundations. He has also independently advised social entrepreneurs in the United States, Central America, and South Asia on issues ranging from country industry growth to organizational expansion strategies to metric evaluation. Mr. Gupta also founded a social enterprise dedicated to engaging Diaspora communities in building government-civil society partnerships and was recognized as one of the top 23 budding social entrepreneurs in 2006 by the Echoing Green Foundation.

Parag holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chicago with Honors. He also holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.


Sándor Nagy - Senior Project Manager

Sándor Nagy joined the Schwab Foundation in October 2004 as a Project Manager. His experiences include three and a half years at the World Economic Forum; a temporary position at JTI (Japan Tobacco Int’l); several years teaching music, composing and arranging (documentaries, jingles, jazz orchestra); different experiences in the Hotel Business. He holds a degree in Composition form the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Sándor speaks Italian (mother tongue), English, French, German (and Swiss German).