World Business Forum

The World Business Forum which was founded in 1988 is an annual global business summit held in New York City. A 2008 Burson-Marsteller survey ranked the forum among the world's top five most influential venues for the C-Suite executives.

The yearly summit brings together an average of over 5,000 attendees, mostly senior executives from over 60 countries. The Forum consists of discussions of top political leaders, business leaders, and intellectuals about the current issues and challenges of the world business environment and global economy.

History
The World Business Forum in New York City was launched in 2004. Past speakers in the World Business Forum included political figures such as Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Blair and Colin Powell. Other speakers have been CEOs Jack Welch, Richard Branson, Herb Kelleher and John Chambers, financial experts Alan Greenspan and Jeremy Siegel, and management experts Tom Peters, Peter Drucker and Michael Porter among others.

2014 participants
Speakers included:


 * Ben Bernanke: THE FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
 * Robert Redford: A CONVERSATION ON CREATIVITY, TALENT AND THE SEARCH FOR MEANING
 * Malcolm Gladwell: THE ART OF BATTLING GIANTS
 * Daniel Gilbert (psychologist): MAKING DECISIONS THAT ARE RIGHT FOR YOU
 * Sir Ken Robinson: CULTIVATING CREATIVITY
 * Peter Diamandis: CREATING AN AGE OF ABUNDANCE
 * Blake Mycoskie: START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS
 * Ian Bremmer: WINNERS AND LOSERS IN A G-ZERO WORLD
 * Simon Sinek: WHY LEADERS EAT LAST
 * Claudio Fernández-Aráoz: IT’S NOT THE HOW OR THE WHAT BUT THE WHO
 * Linda Hill: LEVERAGING YOUR ORGANIZATION’S COLLECTIVE GENIUS
 * Rita McGrath: THE END OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
 * Phillipe Starck: CREATIVITY & OPENING THE DOORS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

2012 participants

 * Marcus Buckingham
 * Jack Welch
 * Fareed Zakaria
 * Michael Porter
 * Lynda Gratton
 * Robert Gates
 * Sherry Turkle
 * Richard Branson
 * Barbara Corcoran
 * Mark King
 * Don Tapscott
 * Jim Collins

75% of attendees to the World Business Forum are at director level or above, and 30% are C-Suite executives.

Organizer
The event is organized by WOBI, an executive education and management content firm which has been holding business conferences globally for over 20 years under the names World Business Forum and ExpoManagement. In addition to the World Business Forum in New York, WOBI organizes business forums around the world as well as other forums including the WOBI On Innovation.

2019
This year's World Business Forum will take place from November 20 to November 21 at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Green Initiative
In 2023, WOBI’s started a new Green Impact initiative it has put out a call for companies implementing effective environmental initiatives to share their stories with others on the main stage of each of this year’s World Business Forum events around the world.