Pete Reid Award for Young Alumni 2015

The Pete Reid Award for Young Alumni is given by the Alumni Association to someone whose youthful exuberance is demonstrated daily toward his or her career, community, and Whitman College as exemplified by Pete Reid '49, in his service to the College. This award is limited to graduates of the last fifteen years. Standards for recognition include outstanding recognition in his or her career or field of work or outstanding commitment in service to others, and a demonstrated commitment to Whitman College.

Recipient for 2015 is Ashifi Gogo ’05

Ashifi Gogo '05 personifies the criteria of the Pete Reid Award: he has demonstrated youthful exuberance toward his career and Whitman as exemplified by Pete Reid ’49. The depth of his work in the fight against pharmaceutical fraud is more than most people will accomplish in a lifetime; this year marks a mere 10 years since he graduated.

A dedicated international student from Ghana, Ashifi double-majored in math and physics and minored in economics. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He is Dartmouth's first-ever Ph.D. Innovation Fellow, a now-thriving program to nurture engineers with both technical and entrepreneurial expertise.

He co-founded mPedigree, a nonprofit organization working to protect the prescription drug supply chain in West Africa. Through the Dartmouth Innovation Fellowship, Ashifi received entrepreneurial training and the theoretical and technical expertise he needed to keep his drug authentication initiative moving forward.

Ashifi founded Sproxil in 2009 and serves as the company's Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Sproxil developed its award-winning Mobile Product Authentication technology that has been used by consumers globally to verify product authenticity.

In 2014, Ashifi was awarded the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Schwab Foundation. In 2013, Sproxil was named the world’s most innovative company in health care by Fast Company, and #7 most innovative worldwide. He received a Clinton Foundation Global Initiative Outstanding Commitment Award. Ashifi currently serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation and on the Meta-Council on the Illicit Economy. Ashifi holds a U.S. Patent and is also a named inventor on multiple published U.S. and foreign patent applications, one of which has been recognized by the US Patent and Trademark Office, winning a “Patents for Humanity” award for its significant positive humanitarian impact.

Ashifi believes Whitman prepared him to become a successful business owner. He returned to campus to deliver a lecture on his company’s fight against drug counterfeiting during the 2011 Alumni Summer College, “Seeking a Global Perspective.” He returned to campus to give the keynote address at an entrepreneurship symposium hosted by the Student Engagement Center in 2013. The Alumni Association is pleased to present Ashifi with the 2015 Pete Reid Award for Young Alumni.