Patrick Awuah

Founder and President of Ashesi University

Patrick Awuah is the Founder and President of Ashesi University. In 2012, Ashesi University was ranked as one of the top ten Most Respected Companies in Ghana and was the first educational institution to win the award. In the same survey, Patrick Awuah was named the 4th Most Respected CEO in Ghana.

Before founding Ashesi University, Patrick worked as a Program Manager for Microsoft. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Engineering and Economics from Swarthmore College, an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College, Babson College, and the University of Waterloo.

He has won many prestigious international awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship; the McNulty Prize; Membership of the Order of the Volta -- one of Ghana’s highest awards, given to individuals who exemplify the ideal of service to the country, and the World Innovation Summit for Education Prize. In 2015, Patrick was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune. He received the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, given to UC Berkeley alumni with distinguished records of service to their countries.