Professor Benjamin Ola. Akande is Assistant Vice Chancellor for International Affairs-Africa, Director of the Africa Initiative, and Associate Director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is charged with strengthening and expanding the University’s efforts in Africa. Professor Akande also chairs Washington University’s International Travel Oversight Committee (ITOC). He joined Washington University in April 2018.
Professor Akande is a respected economist, scholar and global consultant to Fortune 500 companies and institutions in the higher education space in the areas of strategy, leadership development, corporate responsibility and market positioning. He served as a director of Ralcorp Holdings, Inc., a $5 billion publicly traded manufacturer of high quality private food labels, including Post, and has consulted for corporations such as Anheuser-Busch, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Voith, SeaWorld, and many others.
An engaging and compelling communicator, Professor Akande is regularly sought out as a commentator by national media. He has appeared on Anderson Cooper 360, CBS Evening News and St. Louis affiliates of FOX, ABC and NBC. His commentaries have appeared in USA TODAY, Financial Times and on Public Radio’s Marketplace.
Professor Akande served as the 21st President of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, from 2015-2017, its first person of color in the storied history of the 168-year-old institution. As President, he made substantial gains in developing the infrastructure necessary for the college’s long-term sustainability. This included transformational changes in academic offerings, outreach, budget, financial modeling, marketing (re-branding), communication and institutional advancement.
As tenured full Professor of Economics and Dean of the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology at Webster University in St. Louis from 2000-2015, Professor Akande is credited with building the school’s reputation, and positioning it as a globally relevant business school. He developed numerous corporate/donor partnerships which played a leading effort in securing the largest donation in the University’s history.
Professor Akande holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma and completed post-doctoral studies at JFK School of Government, Harvard University and Saïd Business School at Oxford University.
Professor Akande currently serves on the Board of Argent Capital, a $4 billion asset management company. He is a member of the Board of Enterprise Bank & Trust ($5 billion assets), serving on the Regulatory and Compliance Committee. He serves on the non-profit boards of the Saint Louis Art Museum, The MUNY, Missouri Charter Public School Association, and Forest Park Forever – one of the nation’s largest public parks where he chairs the Development Committee. In addition, Professor Akande is a member of the Danforth Plant Science Center Leadership Council. He is on the Advisory Board of FDC Fundação Dom Cabral, the top-ranked business school in Brazil.
With the experience to recognize when to take calculated risks and the confidence to make tough business decisions, Professor Akande believes that the future belongs to those who can see it. He and his wife, Bola, are blessed with three adult daughters.