World Economic Forum

Oklahoma City Oil & Gas Entrepreneur Nathaniel Harding Named to World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Program

Excited to share my news covered in the Journal Record. Including the press release below. I will be sharing my experiences with the World Economic Forum on Medium.

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 13, 2019) — Antioch Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City, is honored to announce that Nathaniel Harding, founder and president, has been selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a 2019 Young Global Leader (YGL).

Each year, WEF selects approximately one hundred globally distinguished leaders under the age of 40. Harding is recognized for his extensive professional accomplishments within the energy sector, his passion and commitment to improving society, especially Oklahoma City, and his steadfast belief that collaboration between public and private sectors is the best means to solve the challenges of today.

“It is a distinct honor to be named a Young Global Leader and among the world’s most impressive leaders by the World Economic Forum,” Harding said. “I’m excited to be a part of this extraordinary community and look forward to representing Oklahoma and the entire United States through this network of high-performing global leaders.”

Harding is one of only 24 leaders chosen out of 1,600 nominations to represent the entire United States in the class of 2019. In the forum’s 15 years of existence, only two other Oklahomans have been selected as a YGL — Mike Moradi, Co-Founder and CEO of Sensulin, and Kate Richard, Founder and CEO of Warwick Group.

WEF’s goal is to create experiences for next-generation leaders to enhance their skills, broaden their world view and lead to innovative solutions. The world-class program offers executive education courses at leading universities, summits around the world, group expeditions to experience major global issues and opportunities to collaborate and test ideas with a network of peers.

Previous YGL recipients include Nobel Laureates, Global Ambassadors, top political leaders and business heads of many Fortune 500 companies, including:

• Jack Ma — Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group
• Mark Zuckerberg — Co-Founder of Facebook
• Marissa Mayer — CEO of Yahoo
• Elon Musk — Founder, CEO and Lead Designer of SpaceX; Co-Founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; Co-Founder and CEO of Neuralink; Founder of The Boring Company; Co-Founder of PayPal
• Sergey Brin — Co-Founder of Google; President of Alphabet Inc.
• Anderson Cooper — Primary anchor, journalist and television personality of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
• Zhou Xun — Actress and Goodwill Ambassador, United Nations Development Program
• Leonardo DiCaprio — Actor, film producer and environmentalist

Harding is a licensed professional engineer and a Cum Laude graduate from University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A in Russian. He also earned his MBA from Oklahoma City University. He is a decorated Air Force captain, having served at NATO headquarters in Afghanistan. In 2015, The Journal Record recognized Harding as one of Oklahoma’s most admired CEOs. He is a board advisor for the Foundation for OKC Public Schools and trustee for the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, Oklahoma Contemporary and other business and community organizations.

Harding has collaborated across diverse community networks to solve local challenges. Viewing education and jobs as critical to fighting poverty, Harding is a recognized leader in both. The Governor named him Chairman of the Council for Workforce & Economic Development, and to the White House STEM Summit to develop the five-year federal STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) education strategy.

In 2010, the Mayor of Oklahoma City appointed Harding to the MAPS 3 Citizens Advisory Board to help oversee $777 million in city infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.

Growing up in Oklahoma, Nathaniel is engaged and committed to serving his community. “I knew early on that I wanted to give back to my community and my country. I’m lucky to be able to build my business here, and want to ensure others have opportunities to thrive,” Harding said. He and his wife, Amanda, created the Amanda & Nathaniel Harding Foundation that focuses on local issues relating to education, equity and poverty.

More information about the Forum of Young Global Leaders and a complete list of the 2019 honorees can be found at https://www.weforum.org/communities/young-global-leaders.

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About Antioch Energy

Antioch Energy is a private equity backed exploration and production company headquartered in Oklahoma City. The company is focused on midcontinent upstream development in fast-growing unconventional resource plays. Antioch was founded by Nathaniel Harding and Kevin Dunnington, and is supported by Outfitter Energy Capital.

About the Forum of Young Global Leaders

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique and diverse community of the world’s most outstanding, next-generation leaders. Bold, brave, action-oriented and entrepreneurial, these individuals have dedicated their time and talent to helping make the world a better place. They share a commitment to working with their peers to achieve results of genuine, global significance. The Forum of Young Global Leaders is an independent, not-for-profit foundation recognized by Swiss law. It forms an integral part of the World Economic Forum, and Young Global Leaders play highly visible roles in Forum meetings and projects alongside their activities within their and other Forum communities. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, launched the Forum of Young Global Leaders in 2004 as a way of helping the world meet increasingly more complex, interrelated and independent challenges. His vision was to create a multi-stakeholder community of the world’s next generation leaders that was able to help inform and influence decision-making through the contribution of new ideas, new perspectives and energy that address long-term global issues.

Originally published at https://nathanielharding.net on March 13, 2019.