--- description: Find out how Zack Polanski is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. title: Zack Polanski Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt868190fe99db9029/6998ca0bc8dcb4343fb5080c/t100-next-2025-zack-polanski.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 30, 2025 # Zack Polanski by [Callum Sutherland](/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Reporter  Ben Montgomery—Getty Images Zack Polanski, a self-described eco-populist, took the helm of the Green Party of England and Wales in early September and is hoping to win the support of left-leaning Brits with a focus on climate, the cost-of-­living crisis, and calling out anti­migrant rhetoric. His landslide victory in the Green leadership election, with 20,411 votes compared with 3,705 for second place, signaled a leftward swing for the already progressive party. It also made him just the fifth Jewish person to lead a major British political party in the past 100 years, and the first out gay man to do so in both England and Wales. While his previous work as a hypnotherapist has drawn much attention, he is keen to put that past behind him. “Rather than caring about where you’ve been, most people care about what you’re actually doing right now,” he says. For Polanski, that means “reclaiming progressive patriotism,” changing the conversation around migrants, and doubling down on the policy proposals—such as social housing construction and other investments in local communities—and the bold messaging strategy that have seen Green Party membership increase by 10% since his election as its leader. **Correction, Sept. 30** _The original version of this story misstated the name of party Polanski now leads. It is the Green Party of England and Wales, not the U.K.'s Green Party._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318841/zack-polanski/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318841/zack-polanski/"},"headline":"Zack Polanski","datePublished":"2025-09-30T10:57:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:55:11.886Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318841/zack-polanski/","keywords":["TIME100 Next","sponsorshipblock","t100nextleaders25"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt868190fe99db9029/6998ca0bc8dcb4343fb5080c/t100-next-2025-zack-polanski.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"creator":"Callum Sutherland","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt868190fe99db9029/6998ca0bc8dcb4343fb5080c/t100-next-2025-zack-polanski.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-next/","name":"TIME100 Next"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318841/zack-polanski/","name":"Zack Polanski"}}]}] ```