Pearce Godwin

Described as the national voice for bridging divides, Pearce Godwin is founder of Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition of 400+ organizations bringing Americans together across differences. He catalyzes the movement to heal America by bridging divides, transforming division and contempt into connection and understanding. Pearce manages large-scale, collective campaigns and strategies such as the annual America Talks event and National Week of Conversation to engage as many Americans as possible in this hopeful mission and fuel the heroic work of Coalition partners. Pearce’s work has been recognized by all the major television and print news outlets, including interviews on both Fox News and MSNBC, as he writes regularly for USA TODAY. The #ListenFirst hashtag has reached more than 50 million people.

Pearce graduated from Duke University and received an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill. He spent five years working in Washington, DC—in the U.S. Senate and as a national political consultant for presidential and statewide campaigns. Before moving home to North Carolina in 2013, he spent six months in Uganda, Africa where he wrote It’s Time to Listen. That message—printed in dozens of papers across the United States—launched Listen First Project and led thousands to sign the Listen First Pledge—“I will listen first to understand.”

In 2017, as division turned to violence, Pearce left his marketing job, fully committing to heal America, and launched the #ListenFirst Coalition of aligned organizations. In 2018, he co-created the first annual National Week of Conversation and hosted the kickoff event, Listen First in Charlottesville. In 2020, he led the crisis response campaign #WeavingCommunity. In 2021, he served as Associate Producer of The Reunited States—a film about bridging divides—and created its #HealAmericaPledge then led America Talks as the kickoff event for the annual National Week of Conversation. In 2022, Pearce has shared the hope of the bridging movement in the Wall Street Journal and in a PBS special on preserving democracy in America.