AKOSUA BARTHWELL EVANS
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Akosua Barthwell Evans is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Barthwell Group. Prior to launching The Barthwell Group, Dr. Evans was an accomplished banker, lawyer, and management consultant. In addition, throughout her career, Dr. Evans has provided leadership to a variety of not-for-profit organizations throughout the United States through her board service.
As a Managing Director at JPMorgan, Dr. Evans developed, launched, and managed two national businesses: Diversified Client Services (which successfully increased the number of diverse high net worth individuals and organizations in the Private Bank) and the Endowments and Foundations Practice (which built an asset management business for not-for-profits with endowments exceeding $400 million). In addition to her professional responsibilities while at JPMorgan, Dr. Evans developed a Financial Management Institute for the CEOs of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (“HBCUs”). Dr. Evans attained five securities licenses while at JP Morgan.
As a securities and corporate attorney, Dr. Evans advised Fortune 500 corporations on initial public offerings, debt financings, project financings and acquisitions in the United States, Asia, Latin America, and Scandinavia.
As a management consultant at Coopers & Lybrand, Dr. Evans assisted clients with business and strategic planning, feasibility studies, and obtaining financing. She became the first woman manager in the consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand’s Detroit office.
Dr. Evans has served on prestigious not-for-profit boards throughout the United States, including, but not limited to, the Yale Law School Fund Board, the Yale Law School Executive Committee, the Trustee Committee on Education, The Museum of Modern Art, the American Folk Art Museum, the Romare Bearden Foundation, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (North Carolina), Bennett College for Women (North Carolina), Babcock School of Management of Wake Forest University, Detroit Science Center, Hutzel Hospital (Detroit), and the Founders Junior Council (Detroit Institute of Arts). Dr. Evans is the Founder and served for many years as the chairperson of The Friends of Education at The Museum of Modern Art, in New York City. The Friends of Education has been frequently cited as a model for increasing diversity. In addition, Dr. Evans has organized three scholarship funds benefiting African-American students at higher education institutions throughout the United States.
Dr. Evans has won numerous awards, including: One of the 25 Most Influential African-American Women in Business (2002), Cross Border Award (2005), Distinguished Black Woman Award (2001), recognition by The Museum of Modern Art (2004), recognition by the Thurgood Marshall College (2004), and the “Entrepreneur Leadership Award” (2011).
Dr. Evans is a graduate of Barnard College and Yale Law School where she was a Co-Marshall of her class and won the Edward R. Robbins Memorial Prize for her writing. She holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. from Columbia University.