Hugh Evans

Few people alive have built a movement of the scale Hugh Evans has. As Co-Founder and CEO of Global Citizen, the world’s largest advocacy organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty, Evans has mobilized tens of millions of people across more than 100 countries — helping drive over $49 billion in policy commitments that have directly impacted 1.3 billion lives. What began as a conversation between three high school friends in Australia has become a global force that convenes heads of state, Fortune 500 CEOs, and the world’s biggest artists to produce real, measurable change.

The spark was lit at fourteen. During a World Vision mission to the Philippines, Evans spent a night in a slum built on a garbage dump outside Manila — an experience that permanently reframed his sense of responsibility. That encounter set him on a path that would shape everything: co-founding the Oaktree Foundation at twenty-three, Australia’s first youth-run aid organization; earning a Bachelor of Law and Science from Monash University; and later completing a Master of Philosophy in International Relations at the University of Cambridge. As a human rights speaker, Hugh Evans speaks with the rare authority of someone who has not just advocated for change but engineered it at scale — from grassroots organizing to diplomatic summits attended by heads of state.

Global Citizen’s model is unlike any other. Attendees earn free tickets to its flagship annual festival — held on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York, with headliners ranging from Beyoncé and Coldplay to Post Malone and Doja Cat — not by paying, but by taking verified actions: signing petitions, contacting elected officials, and pressuring corporations and governments. The result is a feedback loop of activism and accountability that has produced landmark policy wins, including pledges from Norway, the UK, Denmark, and Spain toward the World Bank’s International Development Association, hundreds of millions in global vaccination commitments, and a historic $10.1 billion raised for Ukraine refugees through the Stand Up For Ukraine campaign.

2025 Sunhak Peace Prize and FIFA World Cup Partnership

In April 2025, Hugh Evans became the first Australian to receive the Sunhak Peace Prize — one of the world’s most prestigious humanitarian honors — in recognition of his leadership in the fight against extreme poverty. That same year, Global Citizen and FIFA launched the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, with a target of raising $100 million by the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final to expand access to education in underserved communities across 150+ countries. Global Citizen also produced FIFA’s first-ever Club World Cup Final halftime show, cementing its position as a movement that operates at the intersection of culture, policy, and global diplomacy.

As a speaker, Hugh Evans is electric. He does not lecture about poverty — he makes audiences feel the urgency, the possibility, and the strategic roadmap for ending it. Evans has delivered a landmark TED Talk on what it means to be a global citizen, and he regularly addresses corporate boards, leadership summits, and major conferences on the mechanics of building movements, driving systemic change, mobilizing Gen Z, and turning individual action into collective policy wins. For organizations navigating purpose, ESG, social impact, or leadership in uncertain times, Hugh Evans offers something genuinely rare: proof that the world’s hardest problems are solvable.