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About Us > Our Team > Founding Team
The Founding Team
Fred Swaniker
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
For several generations, Fred’s family has been involved in the founding of schools in Africa.
The many examples of educational entrepreneurs in his family demonstrated to Fred the enormous
impact of education in transforming society, and taught Fred how to develop schools of excellence
in Africa. Fred first had the idea for African Leadership Academy while living in Nigeria in 2003
and realizing the urgent need to increase the supply of effective and ethical leaders for Africa.
He brings deep experience launching and managing private educational institutions of excellence in
Africa. Fred helped launch and has been a director of Mount Pleasant English Medium School, one of
the top-performing private elementary schools in Botswana. More recently, Fred founded and led the
launch of Global Leadership Adventures, a leadership development program for youth throughout the
world. In the three years since launch, Global Leadership Adventures has more than doubled its
enrolment and expanded to five campuses around the world (Ghana, South Africa, India, Brazil, and
Costa Rica.) Fred also gained entrepreneurial experience when he was founding Chief Operating
Officer of Synexa Life Sciences, a biotechnology company in Cape Town that today employs 30 South
African scientists
Fred brings a unique pan-African perspective to African Leadership Academy. He grew up across
the African continent, living in Ghana, the Gambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and he has lived as an
adult in South Africa and Nigeria. During his time as a consultant for McKinsey and Company, Fred
provided strategic advice to the management teams of large companies in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,
and South Africa.
Fred holds an MBA degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he
was named an Arjay Miller Scholar, a distinction awarded to the top ten percent of each graduating
class. Fred also holds a B.A. degree magna cum laude in economics from Macalester College in St.
Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Chris Bradford
Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Chris brings a unique hybrid background in education and business to his role as Chief Operating
Officer of African Leadership Academy. An experienced teacher, Chris spent two years as a Peter
Ling Teaching Fellow at Oundle School, one of the largest coeducational boarding schools in the
United Kingdom. At Oundle, Chris taught GCSE science and A-level economics courses and counselled
students interested in attending universities in the USA. His former students went on to study at
universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Dartmouth, and the London School of Economics.
In addition, Chris has worked with The Broad Foundation, one of the leading educational foundations
in the United States.
Chris also brings corporate and entrepreneurial experience to African Leadership Academy. He
worked in brand management with the Procter and Gamble Company and as a management consultant with
the Boston Consulting Group in Chicago. In Africa, Chris helped launch the Summer Academy at Cape
Town in 2004 by leading concept testing, curriculum development, and marketing plan development. He
later taught in and directed the program.
Chris has a BA degree summa cum laude from Yale University, an MA in Education Administration
from Stanford University, and an MBA from Stanford University. At Stanford’s Graduate School of
Business, Chris was named one of five Siebel Scholars in recognition of his academic excellence and
extracurricular leadership.
Peter Mombaur
Founder (Not an executive of ALA)
Peter is a German citizen who has spent most of his professional life in Africa. Peter has been
based in Nigeria for the past five years, where he initially worked as an independent consultant
but consequently set up his own management consulting firm, Mombaur McCabe. His client base
includes Africa Holdings, the Africa Private Equity arm of the Oppenheimer family; United Bank of
Africa, the largest bank in West Africa, and clients in the telecommunication and insurance
industries. Peter also served as the West African CEO of Emperion, a data telecommunications
company providing Corporate VSAT and FWA solutions. Prior to this work, Peter was an Engagement
Manager for McKinsey & Company, where he did project work in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania,
Ghana and Nigeria.
Peter attended university in Germany, where he received a Master’s degree with honors in
Mechanical Engineering from the University of Aachen, an honors degree in Law from the University
of Hagen, and a degree in Economics from the University of Bayreuth.
Acha Leke
Founder (Not an executive of ALA)
Acha, a native of Cameroon, is a Partner of McKinsey & Company based in the Johannesburg
office. At McKinsey, Acha has served a broad range of clients across Africa in fields including
telecom, health care, oil & gas, and banking, and he was the first black Partner elected by
McKinsey’s Johannesburg office. His client projects have included strategic investment decisions,
business building, growth strategy, and turnarounds. He started his career with McKinsey in the USA
and transferred to the Johannesburg office in 2002 to drive the firm’s expansion across Sub-Saharan
Africa. This work has taken Acha to countries across the continent, including South Africa,
Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Botswana. Prior to joining McKinsey, Acha
worked for three years as a part-time consultant to electronics and telecommunications companies in
Silicon Valley, California, USA.
Acha has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and
Engineering Management from Stanford University. He also holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering
summa cum laude from the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, Acha graduated as the
first black Valedictorian in the university’s history. He is fluent in English and French.
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