Nikola Ilic

Nikola is a professor of leadership, social entrepreneur, and activist dedicated to advancing democracy and leadership worldwide. His journey began at age 15 when he joined Serbia’s anti-dictatorship movement. In 2009, he co-founded Serbia on the Move, which later transformed into Kreni-Promeni—one of the largest social movements in Serbia. Nikola participated in building several social movements, including Volt Europa, and the World Liberty Congress, and is a founding member of the Serbian Diaspora Assembly - a network supporting the current democratic protests in Serbia.

At Georgetown University Nikola teaches Ethics in International Affairs and Democratic Leadership as an Adjunct Professor. His teaching emphasizes learning by doing and action-learning, rooted in his original Democratic Leadership Framework. This unique framework treats democracy as a daily practice for every citizen.

In 2020, Nikola founded ChangeLab, with the mission to democratize access to leadership and social change tools. Its flagship project, LeadUp, is an AI-powered platform designed to give real-time meeting feedback, create and facilitate simulations to teach and scale democratic leadership framework. Alongside this work, he supports leadership programs with UNICEF and the Obama Foundation.

Nikola holds a master’s degree from Harvard. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two daughters.