Yemi Gbajobi Accepts Gavel as ACUI’s 99th President
In her address accepting the gavel as 2026–27 president of ACUI during the ACUI Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Yemi Gbajobi, chief executive of Arts Students’ Union, immediately connected her new role for the Association with her own name: “Allow me to introduce myself. My government name is Opeyemi Oluwaseyi Esther Gbajobi. I say that proudly, because my Nigerian names mean ‘I should be grateful’ and ‘God has blessed me.’”
She noted that as the Association’s 99th president, she was also the first European and second non-U.S. president in ACUI’s long history. “You have no idea how truly blessed and grateful I am for this honor,” she said.
Gbajobi credited Mike Day, a National Union of Students director in the United Kingdom, with introducing her to ACUI in 2016. Over the next five years, Gbajobi would volunteer as a Conference Planning Team member, a co-leader of a community of practice, and as a Region VIII Leadership Team member. But it was attending ACUI’s 2019 Annual Conference in Indianapolis, traveling from the London with her three-month-old daughter Abigail, that provided proof of ACUI’s strength of community.
“One of the greatest acts of kindness was when Mary Connelly and Lina Balcom roamed the halls of the hotel with Abigail so that I could be up on this stage. You will forever have a place in my heart for what might have been to you a small act of kindness, but for me, it cemented that, almost 4,000 miles away from my family, I could still feel at home,” she said. “That is the power of this community. Yes, we come together at conferences, but the support we give each other stretches far wider than we sometimes realize and is really a lifeline to so many of us in this room.”
“So here is my invitation,” she said. “As you return to your campuses, to different countries, different laws, different budgets, different challenges, do not leave this connection behind. Reach out to someone you met here. Invite someone new into your professional circle. Ask a colleague to volunteer and then support them through it. Share why this work matters. Because this community does not maintain itself. We do.”
She continued, “When we gather in Baltimore next year, I hope we can say: We did not simply survive the year. We did not simply manage decline. We chose a direction. We strengthened our experience. We clarified our story. And we stayed connected.”
During her speech, Gbajobi considered the year ahead.
“This is not about a title. It is about stewardship. It is about ensuring that when the next generation of professionals walks into this room, they feel in this moment: I am not alone. This work is real. And I belong here.”
Gbajobi said that ACUI is not just the conference or other programs. It is a home.
“But homes require maintenance. They require renovation. They require honest conversation. And they require living rooms where everyone feels like more than just a guest,” she said. “So, as I step into this year of service, I am not promising perfection. I am not promising sweeping reform or change. I am not pretending that one presidential year can solve every structural or political challenge that we could think of. What I am promising is clarity, focus, and accountability.”
Gbajobi most recently served as an at-large member of the Board of Trustees, where she served as chair of the board’s Strategic Committee. In addition to volunteering in a variety of Region VIII roles, Gbajobi has also been a mentor in ACUI’s Closing the Gap program. She attended Brunel University in Uxbridge, England, where she earned a Bachelor of Law and a Master of Law, and she holds a Master of Science from the University of Law in London.
She has also held several roles in the National Union of Students, a sister association to ACUI, where her work focused on supporting student leadership, DEI efforts, and ensuring transparency.
