Anousheh Ansari

Anousheh Ansari is CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari, along with her family, sponsored the organization’s first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE — a $10 million competition that ignited a new era for commercial spaceflight. She captured headlines around the world when she embarked on an 11-day space expedition, becoming the first female private space explorer, the first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first Muslim woman in space, and the fourth private explorer to visit space.

Ansari serves on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council and has received numerous honors, including the WEF Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and STEM Leadership Hall of Fame, among others. She is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and serves on the boards of Jabil and Peace First, as well as other not-for-profit organizations focused on STEM education and youth empowerment.