The Fortune Global Forum Visionaries

Valerie Gauthier

Industry: Education
Title: Associate Dean
Organization: HEC Paris

    When Valerie Gauthier began her tenure as Associate Dean at HEC Paris in 2002, her first goal was to revamp the MBA program's curriculum. She applied the concept of "savoir relier," or making connections, to the program, placing a heavy emphasis in areas like organization behavior, HR management, negotiation and communication.

    Gauthier also led initiatives like the Women in Leadership program, which aims to provide alumni mentoring and sensitize students to the unique challenges women face in the workplace.

    "It's been incredibly powerful in giving these women the will to go out, invite more women to participate and to play a significant role," says Gauthier. "In that sense, we're creating momentum, a willingness and a desire for the students to do the same."

    As a result, HEC Paris now lays claim to the most diverse b-school population in the West: about 35% of students come from Asia, 10% from Latin America, and the number of female students has nearly doubled from 16% to 30%. So not only is HEC Paris more well-rounded, but so are its students and arguably, the business leaders of tomorrow.

Lakshmi Mittal

Industry: Athletics
Title: Founder
Organization: Mittal Champions Trust

    Considered the richest man in Britain with an estimated net worth of over 22 billion pounds ($32 billion), the India-born, Britain-based CEO of steelmaker ArcelorMittal also plays a pivotal role in India's ongoing quest for Olympic gold.

    According to Mittal, the goal of the Mittal Champions Trust is to identify, support and enhance the performance of talented up-and-coming Indian athletes in six sports: track and field, shooting, wrestling, archery, boxing, and squash. The trust started in 2005 when Mittal was both inspired by and disappointed with India's single-medal win at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

    Now, the trust, which started with an initial funding of $9 million, supports over 60 Indian athletes, including rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won the country's first Olympic gold medal in over 25 years at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. The next goal? Bring home at least five medals from the 2012 Olympics in London.

Indrani Medhi

Industry: Technology
Title: Associate Researcher
Organization: Technology for Emerging Markets Group, Microsoft India

    While more than 1.8 billion people currently use a PC, at least 2 billion more remain unable to due to illiteracy. With the development of text-free User Interface (UI) however, Indrani Medhi believes her work provides a viable solution that will enable such members of developing countries access and benefit from the computer.

    "The goal of our research is to make assistance-free and useful interaction possible for any first-time, non-literate user of a PC or mobile phone," she says. To achieve that, Medhi studied over 400 low-income subjects and spent over 450 hours in Indian slums, Filipino fishing villages, and South African farms. To combat the subjects' discomfort around technology, her UIs employ hand-drawn graphics with voiced annotations in the local language as well as looped explanatory videos.

    "There was a sense of pride among subjects at having handled a PC themselves even before their children had," recalls Medhi. "Most people were thrilled to hear the computer speak in their native language and had their fears allayed when they saw graphics instead of text, so much so that they would ask us when these applications would be available for them to use."

Zhao Xiaogang

Industry: Transportation
Title: Chairman and CEO
Organization: China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation (CSR)

    As the man behind China's largest rail maker, Xiaogang leads the construction of the Beijing-Shanghai Express Rail. Scheduled for completion in 2011, the high-speed train will connect China's political center -- Beijing -- to its economic artery -- Shanghai -- in only five hours, halving the current travel time between the country's two most populous cities.

    The line will provide transportation for over 10% of China's passengers. Some 32 million Chinese who live along the new line will have access to the record-setting train, which will average a speed of 350 km/h, making it the fastest passenger rail in the world.

    The Beijing-Shanghai Express will open doors for new business opportunities and improved political, economic, and social exchange. The construction of the railway reportedly costs $31.6 billion. In its first quarter report, CSR announced that net profit surged 84%, to $52 million.