The Executive Team is the core leadership of the University.
Patrick Awuah
Founder & President
Before founding Ashesi University, Patrick worked as a Program Manager for Microsoft where, among other things, he spearheaded the development of dial-up internet working technologies and gained a reputation for bringing difficult projects to completion.
He holds bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from Swarthmore College; an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business; and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College and Babson College.
He has won many prestigious international awards including the MacArthur Fellowship; the McNulty Prize; and 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. In 2015, Patrick was named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune, and received the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, given to UC Berkeley alumni with distinguished records of service to their countries.
Patrick served on the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA) of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2010 to 2016. He is a Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative of the Aspen Global Leadership Network; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a member of the Tau Beta Pi honor society for excellence in engineering. Click here to read a full bio.
Araba Botchway
Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
Prior to her new role at Ashesi, Araba worked as the Program Officer for the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) in West Africa for a period of 12 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in French with Spanish from the University of Ghana, a post graduate diploma in Marketing of Services from the Maastricht School of Management (Netherlands), an Executive MBA from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, a certificate in Management of Higher Education Institutions from the Galilee College (Israel), and a certificate in Project Management from Syncom Business Intelligence (South Africa).
Suzanne Buchele
Provost
Suzanne re-joins the Executive Team after a former tenure on the Committee from 2007-2008, while she was Acting Dean of Academic Affairs at Ashesi. As Provost, she supervises all academic matters, and she takes the lead on the development of new programs and curricula. She is also an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Ashesi. Suzanne has several years of industry experience and over 15 years of experience in Academia, primarily at Southwestern University (USA), and two years at Ashesi from 2006-2008 as a Fulbright Scholar. She holds a B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Mathematical Sciences (with Honors) from Connecticut College (USA), an M.A. in Mathematics from The University of Texas at Austin (USA), and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Sciences also from UT Austin. Suzanne rejoined the Ashesi Team in 2014.
Abdul Madhi
Dean of Students & Community Affairs
Prior to Ashesi, Abdul was the Director of Full-time and Professional MBA Program at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MBA from Governor State University in Illinois. Abdul has 15+ years’ experience in designing, forecasting, marketing and implementing programs to yield results in corporate and non-for profit sectors and 13 years of experience in higher education working with a diverse population of faculty, staff and students.