Today, sitting in his office at CFA Institute, his charter hanging handsomely on the wall in a custom frame, Charles Appeadu speaks with the ease of your favorite college professor.

“If you invest in an education, you will reap the rewards for years to come,” he says. And he is someone who speaks with the conviction of knowing firsthand how education and the CFA charter can dramatically change one’s life. 

It’s been a long journey from his childhood in West Africa to Central Virginia, but the lessons Appeadu learned along the way helped shape his strong beliefs about the importance of getting an education.

Born in Ghana to a single mother of 10 children, Appeadu recalls growing up in extreme poverty, often selling bread in the capital city of Accra to help his family make ends meet.

“My mother was a peasant farmer, and as an only child in a patriarchal society, she didn’t have a brother to rely upon, so she was the husband, wife, and uncle to us, and it was a very difficult life,” Appeadu says.

As a young boy, he remembers watching the men of his village do heavy labor clearing the forest and thought to himself: “I can’t do this kind of hard labor all of my life. I am lucky that I can reason and think. I need to get an education and use my mind and abilities to earn other opportunities for my future.”

Appeadu felt at home from the very first day he set foot in a schoolroom. He loved school and learning and especially loved the fact that he could use his education to help his family rise from the depths of poverty.

He worked hard to educate himself but many times was forced to stay home from school because he didn’t have the proper clothes or even a pair of shoes to wear. His older brother, Freduah, served as his father and role model and sacrificed many opportunities for himself so that Charles could pursue an education.

With Freduah’s encouragement and support, Charles finished his bachelor’s degree in engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, and in 1987, he earned a full scholarship to study for his master’s degree in engineering at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Leaving Africa for the first time in his life was a dramatic and eye-opening educational experience in itself.

“Honestly, it was like dropping down from Mars to Earth. It was a huge culture shock for me, but I was determined to succeed since I knew an education would be my ticket out of Africa,” he says.

His main motivation the entire time he was pursuing an education, he says, was to ultimately help his family back in Ghana by sending them money.

Appeadu spent two years in Canada studying for his master’s and was then accepted in the doctoral program at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he completed his PhD in finance.

Before arriving at his current post at CFA Institute, Appeadu was a finance professor at the University of Wisconsin and Georgia State University. With his easygoing manner, melodic voice, and warm smile, you can see why the teaching profession found Appeadu early in his career.

“With my academic and practitioner background, I feel right at home at CFA Institute,” he says. The environment at CFA Institute is like an academic environment, so he doesn’t miss his teaching life as much as he thought he would.

“Everywhere I go to speak about CFA Institute, I stress the importance of education and not just in the traditional sense of getting your degree or charter but to commit to lifelong learning and all the benefits that come with constantly upgrading your knowledge,” Appeadu says.

He enjoys promoting the high ethical standards and practicality of the CFA designation precisely because it can open so many doors. “The CFA charter is the gold standard on a global scale,” he says.

In fact, Appeadu believes that the CFA designation is helping to level the playing field in emerging markets, like his native Africa.

“These countries now understand that the CFA Program is very good for their burgeoning economies as they emerge from poverty to prosperity. Global standards are truly a key component in this transition,” he says.

In June, Appeadu traveled to Africa to introduce an expanded scholarship program. He held talks in Nairobi with Kenya’s leading universities, investment service employers, regulators, and market officials. With more than 325 Kenyans sitting for the CFA exams in Nairobi this year, the expanded scholarship program promises to be a fruitful partnership for the region and CFA Institute.

Seeing so many people from around the world working just as hard as he did to earn the CFA charter is a rewarding experience for Appeadu. He knows how challenging the work is, but likewise, he knows how great the rewards are.

“My lifelong dream of helping my family came true when I was able to return to Ghana and build them a 16-room house,” he says, smiling broadly.