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Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is a Nigerian-American citizen and 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. Currently, he is the 9th President of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. From April 2018 to April 2020 he served as Assistant Vice Chancellor of International Programs-Africa, Director of the Africa Initiative, and Associate Director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Akande served as 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. He was also a 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.

Dr. 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. He and his wife, Bola, a pharmacist and entrepreneur, have three adult daughters.