Sam Abu-Ajwah is the 2015 Hy Berkowitz Professional Excellence Award Winner. We are proud to honor Sam with this award, as he exemplifies University values and has made outstanding contributions in his career to become a very successful DU grad. Sam received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree in 1999 and soon after he left his home country of Amman Jordan to immigrate to the United States.

For many years, Sam worked for several system integrators as a Project, Systems and Controls Engineer, where he gained experience working on a host of automated assembly and test equipment projects. Between the years of 2007 and 2012, Sam worked in the solar industry where he gained experience in managing large-scale construction projects in addition to leading sizeable project teams. Through hard work and an appetite for learning, Sam quickly gained additional leadership skills and autonomy. In 2004, Sam received his citizenship and officially established himself as an engineering professional.

It was at the tenth year of his professional journey when things started clicking and the full picture started forming. At that point, he was heavily involved in engineering and engineering management, and just starting to get into the financial management of projects and the organization’s P&L.  That is when he officially made the transition into project and financial management, but at the same time realized that he was still missing something – the educational background to do to so. Sam enrolled in the DU Executive MBA program and graduated in 2011.

“I could have gained a lot of what I learned in the Executive MBA program at Davenport from practicing in the field; however, joining the program equipped me with the necessary educational tools and gave me the opportunity to interact with great professors and professionals from different walks of life and learn from their personal and professional experiences in management and leadership. That in my opinion is where the real value of the program lies” stated Sam.

Sam used his real-life, hands-on experience that he gained as an Executive MBA graduate to build his thriving business. Today, Sam is the owner and founder of Beacon Engineering where he manages engineering design and management, operations management, project strategic planning of and financial management, bid negotiations and business management. Sam is a courageous, inspirational and passionate entrepreneur and we are proud to spotlight him as the 2015 Hy Berkowitz Professional Excellence Award winner.