Faith Abiodun

Faith Abiodun is an education and social enterprise leader, international affairs analyst, writer, and speaker whose career spans journalism, nonprofit management, and global education leadership. Abiodun serves as executive director of United World Colleges, a global education movement comprising 18 schools and programs across more than 150 countries, dedicated to advancing education for peace and sustainability.

Abiodun began his career in journalism, working as a reporter for The Guardian and as a radio host, where he interviewed figures such as Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka and Leymah Gbowee. He founded The Speech Academy, an elocution and public speaking institution in Nigeria. Abiodun provides socio-political commentary for global news outlets including BBC, Al Jazeera, and South African Broadcasting Corporation, and contributes to Common Action Forum, a transnational network of intellectuals, academics, politicians, journalists, and activists.

Before joining United World Colleges, Abiodun spent nearly a decade at African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he led recruitment, communications, marketing, program recruitment, and partnerships, building the academy’s global brand and developing strategic partnerships with governments, corporations, foundations, NGOs, and schools. He founded the ALA Model African Union, which has engaged more than 1,500 young leaders from 58 countries in a simulation of the African Union. Abiodun also worked with Catalyst 2030 to accelerate progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and founded Future Africa, a public sector leadership network active in more than 30 African countries.

Abiodun chairs the International Baccalaureate Education Systems Advisory Council and serves on the boards of News Decoder and UWC Adriatic, as well as the Global Advisory Council of Teach for All Global Institute. He has co-presented at the United Nations Transforming Education Summit, focusing on findings from a five-year longitudinal study conducted by researchers at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Abiodun holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he was editor-in-chief of the Union of Campus Journalists, and a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse University, where he served as university senator and president of the Coalition of Multicultural Public Affairs Students. His experience encompasses grassroots journalism, nonprofit leadership, and global education, with a focus on international education, youth leadership, and the role of learning in fostering peace.