On March 16 for the second consecutive year, Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. worked with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to assess the global nominees for the WEF's Young Global Leaders for 2009.

The young global leaders this year come from North America and include; Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Digg founder Kevin Rose, Boris Nikolic of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and golfer Tiger Woods.

Heidrick & Struggles CEO L. Kevin Kelly said, We are honored to be entrusted with the task of helping evaluate the world's exceptional young leaders who have a unique platform as Young Global Leaders, to help steer us toward better outcomes for business, society, and the planet as a whole.

Each year approximately 200-300 exceptional individuals are identified for this honor, drawn from every region in the world and from a wide range of disciplines and sectors.

Executive search provider Heidrick & Struggles has used its expertise to assist the World Economic Forum evaluate individuals against the specific criteria that it has set out to shape this international community of young leaders.

For evaluation purposes of the nominees, Heidrick appointed team leaders from within its organization to be responsible for the specific regions of East Asia, South Asia, North America, Latin America, MENA, sub-Saharan Africa, and Europe.

Young global leaders from 71 countries were nominated by the Forum, including leaders from business, government, academia, non-profit organizations, and media.

Tiger Woods Mark zuckerberg Facebook