Carnegie Mellon Appoints Gbemi Disu as Executive Director

Rwanda-based Carnegie Mellon University Africa has appointed Nigerian international Gbemi Disu as Executive Director. The university provides world-class ICT courses for Africa’s youth, taught by professors from around the world.

In her new position, which becomes effective from February 1, 2021, Disu is expected to work in partnership with the director of CMU-Africa in Kigali to provide administrative, strategic, and operational leadership. 

As a member of the leadership team, she will develop and implement strategies to grow the institution’s global reputation and impact as well as engage closely with the Government of Rwanda, the Mastercard Foundation, and other CMU-Africa partners in implementing its vision of educating the next generation of African technology leaders and supporting the acceleration of the inclusive digital transformation of Africa.

Disu will also be responsible for managing government, corporate, and foundation initiatives that are regional, national, and international in scope as the executive director, the university said in a press release.

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“We are excited to have Gbemi’s leadership at CMU-Africa at this time as we continue to advance our mission,” said Vijayakumar Bhagavatula, director of CMU-Africa.

In addition to the above, Disu is also expected to provide high-level oversight of business operations, partnership relations, and student affairs and services as well as advance relationship building within the CMU-Africa community, which fosters collaboration, innovation, and networking. 

Externally, the new executive is expected to develop strategies for attracting resources to support the program’s critical work, including transformational gifts that enable advances in engineering-related teaching, learning, and discovery, CMU said.

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Disu brings with her 15 years of experience in higher education, financial services, and energy sectors in several countries across four continents.

Before joining CMU-Africa, she served as a chief business officer at George Mason University Korea, where she oversaw campus administrative, external relations, financial, and operations management and played a key role in achieving strategic growth and financial sustainability for the campus. 

She also held other leadership positions including special assistant to the president and executive director for Global Strategy at George Mason.

Disu holds a bachelor of science in economics and international business from Arizona State University after which she received an MBA in global management from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

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