Tessy Ojo

Tessy Ojo CBE is a creative civil justice advocate, campaigner and experienced third-sector leader. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Diana Award - the charity legacy of the late Princess Diana of Wales.  In her position as CEO, she is responsible for developing the services, direction and programmes of the Diana Awards, the charity has seen remarkable growth under her stewardship. Tessy is also very first British National to be awarded The Martin Luther King Award. Outside of her work with the Diana Awards, she is a huge advocate for women in leadership, diversity, and social issues affecting young people.

Prior to her work within the charity sector, Tessy spent several years at IBM as an analyst, at Borders Books and Music in the private sector. Her work with the Diana Awards began in 2006 as head of finance and operations before becoming CEO in 2012. She is responsible for the long-term sustainability of the organisation and the help it delivers to young people nationally and internationally. Alongside her role as CEO of the Diana Awards, Tessy is the Chair of the #iwill Leadership Board – a fund of over £70M from the Department for Culture Media Sport and National Lottery to enable youth social action programmes. She has also worked as a Board Member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety and the Royal Taskforce on Cyberbullying.

Tessy Ojo has tremendous experience representing and speaking on behalf of charities and in support of racial equality, gender equality and on behalf of young people in challenging positions. As a speaker, she is passionate and articulate and frequently is invited to speak at various award ceremonies and deliver to corporate audiences. Tessy also regularly appears on television on programmes like ITV's Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid as a commentator on issues affecting young people as well as diversity and inclusion topics.

Over the years, Tessy has won various awards recognizing her contribution to the charity sector such as The Precious Award, Inspiring Leader 2015, Women in Business Rising Star 2015, and Excellence Award from Eva Longoria’s Global Gift Foundation. She regularly interfaces with various Royal Households including their Royal Highnesses, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex and has worked with them for over 20 years.

Her superb reputation has led her to hold various board roles in major UK charitable organisations. In addition, she is also a trustee on the board of Comic Relief - a major UK charity that has partnered with the BBC since 1998. Tessy also sits on the board of BBC's Appeals Advisory Committee where she supports in selecting and analysing charities and provides additional checks and balances.

The pandemic has started to shift the focus towards the social aspects of ESG, and the cost-of-living crisis will only intensify this gaze. More than ever before there is more scrutiny on investment and corporate organisations to demonstrate their contribution to the communities they serve through their social change strategy.

Social change is core to charities' mission and what they excel at. Tessy is a sought-after charity leader with decades of experience across various mainstream charities through her executive and non-executive roles and has been at the heart of leading social change for over 25 years and is an expert in helping organisations improve their social outcomes across the country.

We recently conducted an exclusive interview with Tessy Ojo OBE, head over to our YouTube channel to find out more.