Chairman of the board, The African Network

Dr. Kojo Appiah is a Co-founder and Chairman of The African Network, Inc. (TAN), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area that is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship among all people of African descent (www.theafricannetwork.org). Among other programs, TAN holds annual conferences in Silicon Valley and Africa (www.tanconf.org) that bring various participants in the entrepreneurial ecosystem together to support the organization’s mission. As Chairman of TAN, Dr. Appiah is responsible for leading the TAN Board in setting the strategic direction of the organization and in working with the executive team to realize TAN’s strategic goals. Previously, Dr. Appiah served TAN in the dual roles of Director of Finance and as the Director of Membership. He has served on TAN’s Board since its founding in 2004.

Outside of TAN, Kojo is an Engineering Advisor at Analog Devices in San Jose, CA. Previously, he held technical leadership positions in new product development at Spansion, Inc, and prior to Spansion, he was with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., both in Sunnyvale, CA. Kojo has also been involved in a number of entrepreneurial and investment ventures in several areas. Currently, his entrepreneurial activities and interests are in renewable energy development and energy management.

Dr. Appiah holds a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering with a sub-specialty in Management of Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.