Anna Novosad
Co-founder of savED and former Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine (2019–2020), leading efforts to restore resilient, accessible education for children in war-affected Ukrainian communities; a 2026 McNulty Prize winner.
Purpose-Driven Leadership Begins Before Strategy Is Clear
At the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, 2026 McNulty Prize winners Anna Novosad, Rudy Espinoza and Tom McDougall argued that purpose-driven leadership begins before certainty, funding or a finished strategy is in place. Novosad described building savED from an initial effort to assess damaged schools in Ukraine; Espinoza framed advocacy as a decision to take a side alongside people excluded from capital; and McDougall called for confronting the environmental and human costs omitted from market prices. Their shared case was that sustaining such commitments requires care for one’s own capacity and collaboration with others—not faith that a rescuer will arrive.
Sustaining School Communities Is Ukraine’s Defense Against a Lost Generation
Anna Novosad, co-founder of savED, argues that Russia’s war on Ukraine targets not just school buildings but the social and educational conditions that sustain a generation’s connection to the country. With reconstruction unsafe across much of the frontline, savED has built more than 160 underground learning centers where children can study with teachers, reconnect with peers, and retain a place in their communities. Novosad’s case is that keeping education operational during war is necessary both to resist isolation and disinformation now and to preserve Ukraine’s capacity to rebuild later.