MANILA, Philippines - Winston Damarillo, founder and CEO of Global Gateway Innovation Exchange (http://www.g2ix.com) has been named among the Young Global Leaders (YGL) for 2010 by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum. Currently he chairs three companies which include Exist Global, Morphlabs and MaestroDev. All three have been innovative leaders in the respective IT industries they are in.

Since 2005, the Forum recognizes and acknowledges up to 200 outstanding global young leaders from different disciplines for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world through their inspiring leadership qualities.

For 2010, the Forum has selected 197 Young Global Leaders (http://www.weforum.org/docs/YGL/YGL2010_Honourees.pdf) from 72 countries and all stakeholders of society. This year’s Filipino YGLs include Karen Davila, ABS-CBN media personality whose documentaries with poverty and children have been her advocacy, as well as Major Dennis Eclarin, founder of Hometown Corporation, known for providing loans to micro-entrepreneurs in remote province.

Last year, Damarillo was also given a recognition from eServices for his numerous contributions as a key driver for the development of the Philippine IT industry as board member and international marketing director for the Philippine Software Industry Association, a non-profit organization that aims to promote the growth and global competitiveness of the Philippine software industry. He is also a trustee of the Ayala Foundation USA, an organization committed on delivering social development initiatives for the Filipino in the Philippines and around the world.

Commenting on his award, Damarillo said: “This honor is a testament to how Filipinos can help shape the future of the world. It is also a good opportunity for information technology to be in the forefront of global development.” Damarillo further mentioned that “More importantly, this is an opportunity to serve as a global citizen. I am truly humbled and excited to be part of the active community of the World Economic Forum”.

The 2010 Filipino honorees will also join past Filipino YGL invitees to the Forum. This include Senators Mar Roxas and Chiz Escudero as well as social entrepreneur Iliac Diaz and Paolo Benigno ‘Bam’ A. Aquino IV. Damarillo joins an elite company of past YGL honorees from the information technology sector which include Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Twitter and Blogger founder, Ev Williams as well as Mark Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com.

The first meeting will be a YGL event at the World Economic Forum on Latin America at Cartagena, Colombia on April 6 to 8, 2010 and then followed by the YGL Annual Summit at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on May 2-7, 2010.