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Worthy 100 2025

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By Oliver Rist & Worth Staff

The Worthy100 celebrates 100 individuals using their talent, resources, and platforms to create meaningful change. In 2025, they come from every corner of public life—art, business, finance, science, policy, media, and social impact.

THESE ARE THE LEADERS
PUSHING POSITIVE CHANGE

christy burns
Christy Turlington Burns’ place in the Worthy 100 centers on Every Mother Counts, the nonprofit she founded in 2010 to make pregnancy and childbirth safer worldwide. After experiencing her own birth complications and learning that more than 500,000 women die each year from largely preventable causes, she earned a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University and began working with global aid groups. Through Every Mother Counts, she has directed 48 million dollars toward community-led maternal health programs and awareness efforts across 17 countries. She also advocates globally for maternal health and mentors emerging leaders to strengthen support for mothers well into the future.
david ortiz
David “Big Papi” Ortiz, a ten-time All-Star and Hall of Famer, has redirected his legacy toward saving young lives. In 2007, he launched the David Ortiz Children’s Fund to provide essential cardiac care and training for children in the Dominican Republic and New England who cannot afford critical heart surgeries, partnering with hospitals like CEDIMAT in Santo Domingo and Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. He has also fueled support through initiatives like his Vintage Papi wine label, which raised more than U.S. 150,000 for the Fund in 2008. Ortiz earns his place on the Worthy 100 for turning athletic fame into sustained, life-changing philanthropy.
romero britto
Romero Britto is considered the most licensed artist in the world and is deeply committed to philanthropy, supporting more than 250 charities across causes like animal welfare, cancer research, and children's hospitals. His mission to spread “happy art” guides work such as his July visit to a summer camp at Florida International University’s Center for Children and Families, where he helped children with ADHD use art to build confidence, and his design of this year’s Worthy 100 Magazine cover. In October 2025, his art was also auctioned at the “La Cuvée One Drop Miami 2025” event to benefit the One Drop Foundation and BLUE Missions. You can learn more about him in his 2025 documentary, The Britto Doc.
maura polly
Maura Pally is the Executive Director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, where she oversees all Blackstone Charitable Foundation activity, leading strategy and execution of programs in support of Blackstone Charitable Foundation's goal of fostering economic opportunity and career mobility. Prior to joining Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Ms. Pally worked at the Clinton Foundation, where she was Executive Vice President overseeing programs, including the Clinton Global Initiative. Prior to that, she worked at Bloomberg Philanthropies and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State. She also served as Deputy General Counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, as manager of Politics and Public Policy at Oxygen Media, and as Special Assistant in the office of the White House Counsel.
AND PROVING LEGACY TAKES HOLD WHEN INFLUENCE IS TREATED AS RESPONSIBILITY
There is real work ahead. But by recognizing those driving meaningful progress, we aim to document where change is happening—and who’s leading it.

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