John Prendergast

John Prendergast is a human rights activist and best-selling author who has worked for peace in Africa for nearly 30 years. An inspiring motivational speaker, he is co-founder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity affiliated with the Center for American Progress. Prendergast has worked for the Clinton White House, State Department, two members of Congress, the National Intelligence Council, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Co-author of ten books, Prendergast's latest, Unlikely Brothers, is a dual memoir co-authored with his first little brother in the Big Brother program, which he has been a part of for over 25 years. His previous two books were co-authored with Don Cheadle: Not On Our Watch, a New York Times bestseller and NAACP non-fiction book of the year, and The Enough Moment: Fighting to End Africa's Worst Human Rights Crimes.

In 2014, Prendergast will appear in the film The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon. He is a primary subject of the forthcoming book by Jane Bussman, A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable Evil. Also in 2014, he will launch his newest project on the Congo with Ryan Gossling.

Prendergast has appeared in four episodes of 60 Minutes, for which the team won an Emmy Award, and helped create African characters and stories for two episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, one focusing on the recruitment of child soldiers and the other on rape as a war strategy. He has traveled to Africa with NBC's Dateline, ABC's Nightline, The PBS NewsHour, CNN's Inside Africa, Newsweek/The Daily Beast, and The New York Times Magazine.

An in-demand campus speaker, Prendergast speaks about Africa, human rights, and the importance of giving back.