Ahead of their time: Rebels, leaders and innovators

Rebels, Icons and Leaders

Lucky for us, there are young leaders eager to change the world and go against the status quo. In this volatile world challenged by booming populations, climate change, political unrest and sweeping technological transformation, these visionaries offer a dose of inspiration. Here are the next generation of trailblazers who CNBC (and our trusty advisory board) believe will be instrumental in reshaping all facets of society—including business, finance, science and technology—over the next 25 years.

This NEXT LIST—which follows the CNBC First 25—includes just some of the entrepreneurs, financiers, inventors and executives who are working on innovative solutions to global challenges. Already many have sparked transformative changes in their respective industries and disciplines. (Read about our criteria here.)

The list is not intended to be, nor can be, comprehensive or definitive—which is where you come in. You may know other pioneers who deserve honorable mention, so we invite you to peer into the future and weigh in on our picks. Submit your suggestions in the form below our list.

Bill Ackman Bill Ackman Founder and CEO, Pershing Square
Capital Management
Angela Ahrendts Senior vice president of retail, Apple
Jessica Alba Actor and co-founder, The Honest Co.
Sophia Amoruso CNBC Next 25 Sophia Amoruso Founder and CEO, Nasty Gal
Marc Andreessen CNBC Next 25 Marc Andreessen General partner, Andreessen Horowitz
Garyn Angel CNBC Next 25 Garyn Angel Founder and CEO, MagicalButter
Ajay Banga Ajay Banga President and CEO, MasterCard
Sachin & Binny Bansal CNBC Next 25 Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal Co-founders, Flipkart
Mary Barra CEO, General Motors
Ayah Bdeir Interactive artist; founder and CEO, littleBits
Alex Behring CNBC Next 25 Alex Behring Co-founder and managing partner, 3G Capital
Aneel Bhusri CNBC Next 25 Aneel Bhusri Co-founder and CEO, Workday
Hakan Binbasgil Hakan Binbasgil CEO, Akbank
Ana Botin Chair, Santander Group
42-35270156 Tory Burch Fashion designer; CEO, Tory Burch
Pete Cashmore CNBC Next 25 Pete Cashmore CEO and founder, Mashable
Mike Cavanagh CNBC Next 25 Mike Cavanagh Co-president and co-COO, The Carlyle Group
Yancey Strickler and Perry Chen CNBC Next 25 Perry Chen and Yancey Strickler Co-founders, Kickstarter
Brian Chesky & Joe Gebbia CNBC Next 25 Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia Co-founders, Airbnb
Kat Cole CNBC Next 25 Kat Cole President, Cinnabon
Tim Cook CEO, Apple
Tracy Britt Cool, Todd Combs
and Ted Weschler
Berkshire Hathaway NexGen
Dick Costolo CNBC Next 25 Dick Costolo CEO, Twitter
Debra Crew President and CCO, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Jack Dorsey Chairman and co-creator, Twitter; CEO, Square
David Drummond Chief legal officer, Google
Regina Dugan CNBC Next 25 Regina Dugan Vice president of special projects, Google
Daniel Ek CNBC Next 25 Daniel Ek Founder and CEO, Spotify
Amy Ellis-Simon Head of corporate access, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Steve Ells Founder and co-CEO, Chipotle Mexican Grill
Mary Erdoes CEO, JPM Asset Management
Tom Farley CNBC Next 25 Tom Farley President, NYSE Group, Intercontinental Exchange
Mark Fields President and CEO, Ford Motor Company
Jane Fraser CEO, consumer banking, Citigroup
Ed Garden Founding partner and chief investment officer, Trian Partners
Jonathan Gray CNBC Next 25 Jonathan Gray Global head of real estate, Blackstone Group
Helen Greiner CEO, CyPhyWorks
Rachel Haot Chief digital officer, New York State
Reed Hastings CEO, Netflix
Mellody Hobson CNBC Next 25 Mellody Hobson President, Ariel Investments
Elizabeth Holmes CNBC Next 25 Elizabeth Holmes Founder and CEO, Theranos
Drew Houston CNBC Next 25 Drew Houston Founder and CEO, Dropbox
Darren Huston President and CEO, The Priceline Group
Brett Icahn Portfolio manager, Icahn Capital
Lebron James CNBC Next 25 LeBron James Professional basketball player
Renee James President, Intel
Lei Jun CNBC Next 25 Lei Jun Founder, chairman and CEO, Xiaomi Tech
Travis Kalanick CNBC Next 25 Travis Kalanick Founder and CEO, Über
Alex Karp Co-founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies
Ben Kaufman CNBC Next 25 Ben Kaufman Founder & CEO, Quirky
Sal Khan CNBC Next 25 Sal Khan Executive director, Khan Academy
Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng Co-founders, Coursera
Jan Koum Co-founder and CEO, WhatsApp
Max Levchin Co-founder and CEO, Affirm
Aaron Levie Co-founder and CEO, Box
Uri Levine & Ehud Shabtai CNBC Next 25 Uri Levine and Ehud Shabtai Co-founders, Waze
Robin Li CNBC Next 25 Robin Li Co-founder, chairman and CEO, Baidu
Daniel Loeb Founder and CEO, Third Point LLC
Jack Ma CNBC Next 25 100 140923 Jack Ma Founder and executive chairman, Alibaba
Pony Ma CNBC Next 25 Pony Ma Founder, chairman and CEO, Tencent
Shannon May and Jay Kimmelman Co-founders, Bridge International Academies
Marissa Mayer President and CEO, Yahoo!
Doug McMillon CNBC Next 25 Doug McMillon President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores
Jordi Munoz & Chris Anderson CNBC Next 25 Jordi Munoz and Chris Anderson Co-founders, 3D Robotics
James, Lachlan, Elisabeth Murdoch Murdoch NexGen
Evan Spiegel & Bobby Murphy CNBC Next 25 Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel Co-founders, Snapchat
Monica Musonda Founder and CEO, Java Foods
Elon Musk CNBC Next 25 Elon Musk CEO and CTO, SpaceX; CEO, Tesla Motors
Blake Mycoskie CNBC Next 25 Blake Mycoskie Founder and chief Shoe Giver, Toms Shoes
Satya Nadella CEO, Microsoft
Alexis Ohanian Next cnbc 25 Alexis Ohanian Co-founder, Reddit
Jennifer Pahlka CNBC Next 25 Jennifer Pahlka Founder and executive director, Code for America
Jonah Peretti CNBC Next 25 Jonah Peretti Founder and CEO, Buzzfeed
People Tyler Perry Tyler Perry Actor, producer, director and writer
Karl-Johan Persson CEO and president, H&M
Bre Pettis CNBC 25 100 Bre Pettis Co-founder and former CEO, MakerBot
Sundar Pichai Senior vice president Android, Chrome, apps
Kevin Plank CNBC Next 25 Kevin Plank Chairman and CEO, Under Armour
Rapelang Rabana Founder and CEO, Rekindle Learning
Shonda Rhimes TV and movie screenwriter, director and producer
Lyndon Rive Co-founder and CEO, SolarCity
Larry Robbins CNBC Next 25 Larry Robbins Founder and CEO, Glenview Capital Management
Gisel Ruiz Executive vice president and COO, Wal-Mart
Sheryl Sandberg CNBC Next 25 Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook
Reshma Saujani CNBC Next 25 Reshma Saujani Founder and CEO, Girls Who Code
Charlie Scharf CEO of Visa
Ryan Seacrest CNBC Next 25 Ryan Seacrest Hollywood radio and TV producer
Evan Sharp & Ben Silbermann CNBC Next 25 Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann Co-founders, Pinterest
Clara Shih CNBC Next 25 Clara Shih Co-founder and CEO, Hearsay Social
Gwynne Shotwell President and COO, SpaceX
Shane Smith CNBC next 25 Shane Smith Co-founder and CEO, VICE
Kevin Systrom Co-founder and CEO, Instagram
Peter Thiel CNBC Next 25 Peter Thiel Managing partner, Founders Fund
Alexa von Tobel Founder and CEO, LearnVest
Jun Wang CNBC Next 25 Jun Wang Director, BGI (Beijing Genomics Institute)
Jeff Weiner CNBC Next 25 Jeff Weiner CEO, LinkedIn
Emily White COO, Snapchat
Anne Wojcicki CNBC Next 25 Anne Wojcicki Co-founder and CEO, 23andMe
Susan Wojicicki CNBC Next 25 Susan Wojcicki CEO, YouTube
Nick Woodman CNBC Next 25 Nick Woodman CEO, GoPro