Photo: Brandon Hook / Sojourners

As former CEO of Sojourners, Rob Wilson-Black managed the organization, working closely with the board of directors and president Adam Taylor. Sojourners resources the 5 million people who visit sojo.net annually and the tens of millions of people who Sojourners reaches through our media and events, including the Summit for Change gathering in Washington, D.C. Rob is a liaison to the World Economic Forum, Aspen Institute, and Chautauqua Institution, as well as 25 top national foundations and philanthropists who support Sojourners’ messaging, media, mobilizing, advocacy, and convening.

A graduate of the University of Chicago (Ph.D., A.M.) under Martin E. Marty and the University of Richmond (B.A., M.H.), Rob served as a college and seminary vice president for 10 years before joining Sojourners in 2009. He is the author of the newly released The End of College: Religion and the Transformation of Higher Education in the 20th Century (Fortress Press, 2021), numerous articles, blogs, and podcasts. In 2017, Rob was awarded an honorary doctorate from Franklin College in Indiana for his work as a “scholar, leader and advocate for religion.” He was an editor of the multi-volume Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers and writes for Sojourners. He has given talks on campuses throughout the world, including Dartmouth (Orr Lecture), Duke, UC-Berkeley, Northwestern, Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Princeton, Baylor, the University of Cape Town, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and at the World Economic Forum. He served as the founding board chair of the National Museum of American Religion; chairof the alumni council at the University of Chicago Divinity School; treasurer of the Wild Goose Festival; and is the out-going appointed clerk of the Sidwell Friends School parents association. He served as an advisor to the New America Foundation’s Smart Strategy Initiative, and serves as a member of the president’s advisory board of the University of Lynchburg in Virginia.

As a young evangelical, Rob checked off many of the suggested boxes: have Jerry Falwell sign your Bible, attend Amy Grant concerts and Billy Graham Crusades, and meet with Chuck Colson, Carl F. H. Henry, and Richard Viguerie. Later came experiences of meeting with people of faith in Gaza, Guatemala, South Korea, and South Africa; marching on Washington for numerous justice issues; integrating his block on Chicago’s South Side; spending time with Rev. John R.W. Stott; and bringing Martin Luther King III and Julian Bond to university events for racial reconciliation initiatives. He lives in Reston, Va., with his wife of 29 years, Rev. Juli Wilson-Black, a Presbyterian minister in Alexandria, Va., and their children: Hannah (21), Claire (18), and Owen (14). They travel with him to many of the 65 countries he has visited for research, speaking, and education.