Desmond Meade is a nationally recognized civil rights leader, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, and the community organizer who led the effort to change Florida’s Constitution to restore voting rights to more than 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions.

He was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2019, received the MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship in 2021, and in 2023, under Meade’s leadership, his organization was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. His personal journey of overcoming hardship, homelessness, and incarceration has shaped his message of redemption and opportunity. He joins the 2026 featured panel.