David Evangelista

David Evangelista is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Special Olympics, overseeing the global operations of the movement with over 5,000,000 competing athletes in 190 nations. As part of this role, David also directs an international team of more than 300 central and regional staff.

With extensive experience in international development, government relations, and global partnership-building, Evangelista serves as a member of the UNESCO Global Safe Sport Task Force, the Advisory Council of the Centre for Sports and Human Rights, and the UNICEF Taskforce for Assistive Technologies for Children with Disabilities. He is also a former member of the High-Level Group on Sports Diplomacy for the European Commission and the Multilateral Diplomacy Advisory Group of UNITAR.

Additionally, Evangelista has been appointed on the Board of Directors of The Access Challenge and is a Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow of the Lions Clubs International Foundation. David also serves as an Associate Professor International Relations at the Universidad Intercontinental de la Empresa in Vigo, Spain and has served as a guest lecturer at a range of American and European Universities.