5 people in finance under 40 who are changing the world

The World Economic Forum recently announced its 2016 class of Young Global Leaders — people under the age of 40 who are changing the world. While only five of the 24 American honorees are working in the finance industry, they're already making an incredible impact on the world at large.

As a part of the WEF's Young Global Leaders class, the honorees participate in the program for five years, attending meetings, taking part in initiatives and research, and working together across all industries to incite change.

Here are the five people in finance who are changing the world.

SEE ALSO: These 24 Americans are changing the world — and they're all under 40

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Avid Larizadeh-Duggan, Google Ventures

Avid Larizadeh-Duggan is one of the two remaining partners left at Google Ventures in Europe, a group created by the company to invest $100 million in startups.

Larizadeh-Duggan is the cofounder of online jewelry company Boticca— recently acquired by Wolf & Badger— and she also leads educational programming nonprofit Code.org in the UK and is an advisor for Founders4School and the Breteau Foundation.

Dhivya Suryadevara, General Motors

Dhivya Suryadevara manages more than $80 billion in assets as the CEO of GM Asset Management at General Motors, a post she’s held since 2014.

Last summer, she was also promoted to General Motors’ vice president of finance and treasurer — taking responsibility for the company’s capital planning and worldwide banking, among other tasks.

James Song, Faircap Partners

James Song is the cofounder and managing principal at Faircap Partners, an investment firm focused on the burgeoning economy of Myanmar — the developing Southeast Asian nation of about 55 million people. The company calls the country, whose economy is growing at more than 8% annually, the "last great frontier for capitalism."

Prior to founding Faircap, Song served as a medical researcher in Uganda on a Fulbright scholarship. While in Uganda, the Harvard alum, who also holds a masters in nerouscience from University College London, "pioneered the use of empirically based, non-pharmacological HIV interventions at Makerere University Hospital." He also started the nation's first polyethylene recycling facility.