Gbemi Disu was named executive director of Carnegie Mellon University in Africa in Kigali, Rwanda. She will provide administrative, strategic, and operational leadership and develop and implement strategies to grow CMU-Africa’s global reputation and impact.
Disu will engage closely with the government of Rwanda, the Mastercard Foundation, and other CMU-Africa partners in implementing the university’s vision of educating the next generation of African technology leaders and supporting the acceleration of the inclusive digital transformation of Africa. As the executive director, she is responsible for managing government, corporate, and foundation initiatives that are regional, national and international in scope.
Disu comes to Carnegie Mellon with 15 years of experience in higher education, financial services, and energy sectors in several countries across four continents. Prior to joining CMU-Africa, she served as chief business officer at George Mason University Korea, where she was responsible for campus administrative, external relations, financial and operations management and played a key role in achieving strategic growth and financial sustainability for the campus. At George Mason University, she held other leadership positions including special assistant to the president and executive director for Global Strategy.
Disu received a bachelor’s degree in economics and international business from Arizona State University. She received her MBA in global management from Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State.
