Spotlight on Dele Olojede

We are honored to welcome Dele Olojede to this year’s Common Ground Summit. As the first African-born winner of the Pulitzer Prize in International Journalism for his powerful reporting on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, Dele has spent his life at the intersection of truth, leadership, and systemic change.

Over the past four decades, Dele has helped shape journalism not just as a tool for holding power to account, but as a force for building more just and transparent societies. From his time as bureau chief in Beijing, Johannesburg, and at the United Nations for Newsday, to his founding of NEXT –  an investigative newspaper in Nigeria grounded in integrity and anti-corruption – he has consistently led by example, pushing an entire field to do better.

His belief in the transformative potential of storytelling is matched by his commitment to nurturing future generations of changemakers. Through his leadership in the Aspen Global Leadership Network and as founder of the Africa in the World Festival of Hearts and Minds, Dele creates spaces where people from across disciplines and geographies can come together to imagine – and work toward – a more collaborative, equitable future.

At the Common Ground Summit, we are thrilled to be in conversation with someone who so deeply embodies the values of courageous leadership, ethical integrity, and collective responsibility. Dele joins us not only to reflect on a remarkable career, but to help us ask what it means to lead with purpose, connect across divides, and shape a future we can all be proud of.