Athol Williams
Athol Williams is the first person to earn five masters degrees from five of the world’s top universities – Harvard, Oxford, M.I.T., London School of Economics and Political Science and London Business School – this despite growing up on the Cape Flats in Cape Town during apartheid.
He has lived and worked in the USA, UK and South Africa where he has held senior executive positions at a JSE-listed Top 40 company, and two other multinational corporations. He has founded a management consulting firm and two NGOs, and has served as Chairman and Board Member of numerous organisations in the private and social development sectors in South Africa.
In addition to his academic and professional accomplishments, Williams is an award-winning poet and author of fifteen books. He is the only person to have won the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award twice and has had over 100 of his poems published in publications around the world. Among his books is his autobiography, Pushing Boulders, which chronicles his journey of perseverance and triumph despite impossibilities. He is a regular speaker at literary and social development events globally.
Williams believes that through mutual acknowledgement and compassion, we can build a more socially cohesive and ethical society, and that through resilience, we as individuals can thrive and realise our greatness.
He is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Ethics at Stellenbosch University, and chief executive of the Institute of Social & Corporate Ethics.
Graduation Ceremonies:
19 April 2021:
School of Commerce: 17H30
Milpark Business School: 19H00
20 April 2021:
School of Financial Planning & Insurance: 17H30
School of Investment & Banking: 19H00
