[ 2021-02-16 ]

Peter Akwaboah

Meet Peter Akwaboah, Morgan Stanley’s new operating chief
Peter Akwaboah first made his mark in sports.
While in high school in Ghana, he was a multisport
athlete. When he reunited with his family in the
UK, sports was still an integral part of his
personal development.

However, he knew coming from a country with
limited resources, his chances of succeeding among
his peers who had everything was daunting.

“My peers were better, faster, and stronger,
given they had access to better facilities,” he
says, according to this blog. Nonetheless, it did
not deter him from seeking excellence. And true to
his character, he managed to be part of his
school’s athletic team.

Akwaboah was an unused substitute in his
school’s athletic team. In one competition, he
was asked to replace a colleague who didn’t show
up. He grabbed the opportunity and set a new
record in the high jump category and subsequently
represented the UK in global competitions.

“‘This is my big chance,’ I thought—a
chance to show everyone I am good enough. I dug
deep, remembered everything I had learned in
training, and went for it. I broke the school
record that day,” Akwaboah recalls.

Born in the UK, Akwaboah was brought to Ghana at a
young age. He reunited with his family as a
teenager to pursue higher education. He went to
the University of Birmingham in the UK, where he
obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil
engineering and a Master’s degree in
Engineering.

He joined Morgan Stanley in 2015 as Chief
Operating Officer (COO) for Operations. Before
joining Morgan Stanley, he worked as a software
developer for many financial institutions in
Europe.

After working at Morgan Stanley for a year, he
became the Global Head of Shared Services
Operations which includes managing the firm’s
settlement and payments infrastructure. What’s
more, he had an additional role as the chair of
Morgan Stanley’s payment risk steering committee
and member of the Federal Reserve Bank’s (FRB)
Payments Risk Committee.

Akwaboah is now the new chief operating officer
for Morgan Stanley’s technology and operations
division. In his new position, Akwaboah will
oversee the operations and technology strategy for
the firm, including a team of 300 people.

“He brings significant experience, knowledge,
and leadership skills to this strategically
important role having led teams and worked across
technology and operations functions during the
course of his career,” Rob Rooney, the head of
technology, operations, and firm resilience, said
in a memo, according to the Business Insider.

Akwaboah has previously worked at Deutsche Bank in
a number of Technology roles, including KPMG and
IBM. He also worked at Royal Bank of Scotland for
10 years with his most recent role in the Asia
Pacific as Chief Operating Officer responsible for
Operations, Technology, and Corporate Services
across the region.

Finding business opportunities are one of
Akwaboah’s hallmark. Thanks to his involvement,
Morgan Stanley became one of the banks to co-lead
a $3 billion bond sale for Ghana. Before that, the
firm had never executed a deal with the government
of Ghana.

Being separated by geographical boundaries does
not limit Akwabaoha’s ability to undertake
philanthropic activities in his country of origin.
He is one of the major supporters of a hospital
called the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex
Spine in Ghana. The hospital specializes in
providing complex spine and joint replacement
surgeries to adult and pediatric patients age 9 to
25.

In 2019, Akwaboah was honored with the 2019
Corporate Leadership Award at the FACE List Awards
gala during the Pan-African Weekend.

Source - face2faceafrica.com

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