20 Faces of Davos

Photo: Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images The 42nd annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters (Jan. 25-29) will be something of a people- watching event along with a meeting of the minds. Yes, there will be the usual phalanx of politicians, heads of state and business leaders. But among the elite will mingle lesser-known figures pushing innovation in their respective fields. One man created the microcredit model. One company is altering the way we ship and receive digital data. And then there’s the actress, author and violinist thrown into the erudite mix.Click ahead to see a selection of the established power brokers — and up-and-comers —who will be mingling at Davos 2012. Plus, which noteworthy group is attending without an official invitation? Hint: They’re packing igloos and armed with a powerful, global hashtag.By Heesun WeePosted 20 January 2012

Photo: Getty Images Sandberg is chief operating officer of Facebook, the giant social networking site that’s preparing for a much-anticipated IPO, likely in May, according to All Things D. While Facebook has grown enormously, the site has battled criticism over its privacy policy, and faces fresh competitors including Google+.

Photo: SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images Falih is president and chief executive of Saudi Aramco, the state-run oil company that’s the world’s largest crude oil exporter. In January, the company announced a $200 billion investment plan to build refineries in China and Indonesia to double capacity and to explore for oil and natural gas during the next decade.

Photo: Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images The chairman and chief executive sat down with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 12 and said the U.S. is experiencing a “mild recovery.” And in discussing fourth-quarter earnings a day later, Dimon saidregulatory policies are undermining the economic objectives of governments around the globe by hampering bank activity.

Photo: Joshua Roberts | Bloomberg | Getty Images Billionaire investor Soros made headlines for his comments on the European Union, saying a euro collapse and EU break-up would have catastrophic consequences for the global financial system. In September, Soros also said he believed the U.S. was experiencing the pain of a double-dip recession, and that Republican opposition to President Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus plans was to blame for sluggish growth.

Photo: Ramin Talaie | Blommberg | Getty Images Yunus, an economist, founded Grameen Bank, which provides small loans to poor people with no collateral. The “microcredit” loans help people establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006, Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Photo: Laurent Fievet | AFP | Getty Images When HSBC‘s Stuart Gulliver was promoted to CEO in August, so began a massive shakeup at the bank. Thousands — or nearly one in 10 of the bank’s global workforce — were laid off, according to the Financial Times. The bank reshaped its strategy to focus on regions including Asia and Brazil.

Photo: Getty Images Nxasana is chief executive of FirstRand, one of South Africa’s big four banks, and the second-largest financial-services company in the country. In September, FirstRand reported a higher annual profit and declared a special dividend.

Photo: Eric Feferberg | AFP | Getty Images The German chancellor. who opens the forum, has played a key role in navigating Europe’s debt crisis. No doubt she’ll continue to be watched closley at Davos. European leaders on Jan. 14 promised to expedite plans to strengthen spending rules and get a permanent bailout fund established, after Standard & Poor’s cut the ratings of several euro zone countries' creditworthiness.

Photo: Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Liu is chairman of Beijing Capital, which engages in urban infrastructure, real estate and financial services operations in China. The company also develops residential and commercial properties.As a leading Chinese entrepreneur, Liu also is a member of China’s Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology, which works to reduce sandstorms that plague the north by combating desertification in Inner Mongolia.

Photo: Gianluigi Guercia | AFP | Getty Images Cameron is a pre-eminent climate-change expert, who helped negotiate the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. When it comes to transitioning to a lower-carbon economy, Cameron is among the best in his field.He's also founder and vice chairman of Climate Change Capital, an investment firm focused on energy-efficient, clean-tech companies and projects.

Photo: Leon Neal | AFP | Getty Images Rusbridger is editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper, which has been out front on the Murdoch phone-hacking story. He has emerged as a powerful voice supporting freedom of the press, and the need to restore public trust amid rapid digital changes.In 2011, The Guardian launched a U.S. homepage.

Photo: ALexander Zemlianichenko Jr. | Bloomberg | Getty Images As chief executive of the world's largest food group, Bulcke has had to navigate a volatile market for commodity prices, and ever-changing dynamics in the developed and emerging nations. So far, he's beating the headwinds. As consumer demand weakened among developed countries, for example, Nestle has capitalized on strong demand from emerging nations. Neslte raised its sales growth outlook for 2011.

Photo: Matthew Staver | Bloomberg | Getty Images Houston is founder the chief executive of Dropbox, a popular, free service that allows users to share photos, documents and video without having to email giant files. The company was founded in 2007 by Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, two MIT students, who got tired of emailing files to themselves to work from more than one computer. Dropbox allows multiple users to access data stored on a single location and without having to email those files back and forth.Today more than 45 million people use Dropbox.

Photo: Stephan Schraps | Getty Images Yeoh is one of Asia's most well-known international film stars. She's appeared in more than 30 films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the James Bond film, “Tomorrow Never Dies.” In June, she was refused entry to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Yeoh portrays Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the upcoming film ”The Lady.”

Photo: GIl Gilbert | Facebook Midori Goto made her professional debut at age 11 in a last-minute programming change of young performers by the New York Philharmonic. In addition to being an international performer, she is an advocate of community-based music education and programming in urban and small communities.When she learned of severe cutbacks to arts education in New York public schools in 1992, she started Midori & Friends. More than 190,000 children have participated in Midori & Friends programs in every New York borough. She founded three additional community programs in the U.S. and Japan: Partners in Performance, Orchestra Residencies Program and Music Sharing.

Photo: Getty Images Coelho is the best-selling, international author of such novels as “The Alchemist,” which has been translated into more than 70 languages. In a digital age, the writing maestro has also mastered new platforms. He tweets. He does online videos. He blogs regularly, and boasts more than 7 million fans on Facebook.

Photo: Kevin Parry | WireImage | Getty Images Hammond is a social entrepreneur, who has helped put safe playgrounds on the national agenda. He's founder and CEO of KaBOOM!, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting safe playtime and playgrounds at schools and in communities He was inspired after  reading a story about two Washington children who suffocated while playing in an abandoned car in 1995. The nonprofit’s first community playground was built that year; its 2,000th was built in 2011 with first lady Michelle Obama in attendance at the opening.

Photo: Tim Boyle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Grant is chairman and chief executive of Monsanto, which reported a higher-than-forecast quarterly profit on Jan. 5. Expanding business in Brazil and Argentina and strong U.S. seed orders for spring planting drove the earnings growth.On CNBC’s “Fast Money.” investor Dennis Gartman said signs look positive for the agricultural and fertilizer sectors in 2012, and that U.S. companies would likely benefit the most.

Photo: Mercycorps.com Keny-Guyer is what you'd call a humanitarian entrepreneur. As chief executive of Portland-Ore.-based Mercy Corps, he leads the nonprofit organization known for its rapid relief-to-recovery humanitarian responses. Keny-Guyer oversees a budget of more than $300 million and programs in more than 40 countries, including Afghanistan and North Korea.

Photo: Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images While the rich and powerful sleep in hotels, Swiss activists are camped out in a car park near the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Swiss protesters hope to draw attention to the lack of representation at the annual meeting, and more broadly, rising inequality that emerged in the 2011 annual meetingas among the most serious issues challenging the world."At the WEF press conference it was said that the WEF seeks solutions for 100% of humankind. But you cannot just invite the 1% and claim to find solutions for all — this has never worked, and this is becoming more obvious than ever before," according to an open letter to WEF members from Occupy Zurich that was obtained by CNBC.com.While the annuawhil meeting is invitation-only, the World Economic Forum does host a parallel series of "Open Forum" sessions for the public. The sessions and speakers are available here.The protesters are inviting activists from around the world to join them at “Camp Igloo.” The camp will include two heated teepees, a field kitchen and ice houses to sleep about 50 people in sub-zero temperatures, activists told Reuters.The camp is being set up with permission in a car park outside the tight security that surrounds the Davos meeting.

© 2012 CNBC.com