TIANJIN, People’s Republic of China—Jordan Kassalow, OD, CEO and Founder of VisionSpring, has been named one of the Schwab Foundation’s Global Social Entrepreneurs of the Year for 2012 and received the honor yesterday at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions.

Twenty-six social entrepreneurs have been recognized by the Schwab Foundation as 2012 Social Entrepreneur awardees. Drawn from a pool of more than 1,000 global applicants, the winners were selected in recognition of their innovative approaches and demonstrated impact. Hilde Schwab, co-founder and chairperson of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, presented the awards. “Given the complex nature of today’s challenges, we must find more effective ways to collaborate across sectors, rather than working at cross purposes,” Schwab said. “The 2012 awardees are successfully mobilizing a range of actors, including governments and corporations, to effectively address urgent social and environmental challenges. It is a testament to their impact—and to the efforts of thousands of other social entrepreneurs—that social innovation is becoming a priority for decision-makers at the most senior levels.”

Kassalow joins a group of over 225 social entrepreneurs from more than 70 countries who have been recognized by the Schwab Foundation. Schwab Foundation social entrepreneurs are fully integrated into the events and initiatives of the World Economic Forum, and benefit from peer-to-peer exchanges with other social entrepreneurs as well as interactions with top leaders in business, government, civil society and the media. “VisionSpring looks forward to engaging with fellow members of the Schwab community to catalyze our impact, scale our reach, and attract new partners,” a spokesperson said.