NEW YORK, NY and TEL AVIV, ISRAEL--(Marketwire - Jan 23, 2012) - BillGuard, the consumer finance protection company, today announced that its Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder, Raphael Ouzan, has been chosen to advise world leaders on cyber and financial security and help shape the future at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 in Davos-Klosters on January 25-29, 2012. Ouzan was selected as one of 70 exceptional individuals under the age of 30 to participate in this world-renowned event due to his leadership capabilities, his proven successes on an international scale, and his ongoing commitment to making a positive contribution to the world.
Ouzan will be participating in an interactive session that addresses the topic, "Global Risks 2012: The Dark Side of Connectivity" on January 25, 10:45am-12:00pm. The session will explore how connectivity as an element of security is forcing a rethinking of related global risks.
A member of the Tel Aviv division of the Global Shapers community, Ouzan has been involved in many of the organization's initiatives both locally and internationally. One of his personal goals is illustrating to today's youth that any idea is powerful, and encouraging them to take their passion, no matter what it is, and do something with it for the overall good of society.
Ouzan has followed his passion for technology and harnessing the power of Internet "big data" by launching the award-winning BillGuard, a company built to protect consumers from unfair and unauthorized merchant billing practices. Recently inducted into the Online Banking Report's Hall of Fame as one of the top banking innovations of all time, BillGuard harnesses the collective knowledge of millions of consumers reporting billing complaints online, and to their banks, to identify hidden charges, misleading subscriptions, errors, scams and fraud on credit card and debit card bills. The free consumer service is available at www.billguard.com.
"In everything I do, I want to encourage young people to find new ways to innovate and create a better world. At the Forum, I am extremely excited to meet fellow Global Shapers who share my passion to ignite great minds from around the world to collectively solve problems that truly matter," said Ouzan. "Innovation leads to building legacies beyond our years. My goal at the Forum and every day is to help others pinpoint challenges and work together to solve them -- for the greater good."
The Global Shapers is a World Economic Forum community of young people from all walks of life who have demonstrated great potential for future leadership and are united by their drive to improve the world. At the Annual Meeting, they will consider pressing issues, including the global youth unemployment crisis, all under the theme of this year's meeting: The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models.
"With the world as interconnected today as it is, we need fresh approaches to solving the world's most pressing problems," says Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. "The Global Shapers are 'digital natives' who grew up with the Internet. They have vision, think laterally, act quickly and make connections across networks in order to successfully solve problems. This community is of vital importance, and we see tremendous opportunities for both the Global Shapers and today's leaders to learn from one another."
At the Forum, Ouzan will connect with his peers from more than 125 hubs around the world. Shapers will share ideas publicly on the Forum Blog (http://wef.ch/blog) and on Twitter (using the #4mygen hashtag).
"Young people today are already empowered through their passion, ideas and access to information and technology," said David Aikman, head of the Global Shapers Community at the World Economic Forum. "We want to connect the Global Shapers to the Forum's network of leaders so that they have more say in the decisions being made that will affect their generation."
About BillGuard:
BillGuard is a consumer finance protection company facilitating a people-powered movement to protect card holders from deceptive, erroneous and unauthorized merchant charges on their credit card and debit card bills. The company's self-learning, big-data mining algorithms harness the collective knowledge of millions of consumers reporting billing complaints online and to their banks. Free to consumers, the web-based BillGuard.com scans user's credit and debit card activity daily and alerts them to hidden charges, billing errors, misleading subscriptions, scams and fraud. Founded in April of 2010 by Yaron Samid and big-data security expert Raphael Ouzan, BillGuard is privately held with offices in New York and Israel. For more information, please visit www.billguard.com or follow the company at @BillGuard.
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Contact Information:
For more information, contact:
Tracey Sheehy
Breakaway Communications for BillGuard
+1 212 616 6003