Elizabeth Filippouli

Founder & CEO, Global Thinkers, Global Thinkers Forum & Athena40

Elizabeth Filippouli is a journalist, writer and social entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of storytelling, global dialogue and social change. For more than two decades, she has championed international collaboration and amplified the voices of women from diverse cultures, bringing to light powerful and often untold stories that shape public conversation.

In 2011, she founded Global Thinkers Forum, an international non-profit platform incubated at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, dedicated to advancing women’s empowerment and youth development through mentoring, leadership initiatives and cross-cultural exchange. Through its programmes and global network, the organisation connects emerging leaders with influential thinkers and changemakers around the world.

Alongside her work in social entrepreneurship, Filippouli writes across genres, exploring political, historical and social themes through journalism, literature and theatre. Her creative work seeks to provoke reflection and dialogue on the ideas and forces that shape societies. Her play Alexander the Great: Between Dreams and Imagination was produced at the British Library in London in February 2023. She is the author of From Women to the World: Letters for a New Century (2021), a collection of reflections and voices that speak to the challenges and possibilities of our time.

Her studies include MA in Journalism (London City University), EMBA in Strategy & Innovation (Said Business School University of Oxford), ALM in Creative Writing (Harvard Extension School), Executive Diploma Shaping Change in the Information Age (Harvard Kennedy School of Government). Filippouli is London-based and has lived in Greece, Qatar, the US.