Ali Awni is Professor of Practice at the Business School, and Director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy, Civic Engagement and Responsible Business, The American University in Cairo (AUC). He teaches operations management courses at the undergraduate and MBA level. His areas of research are in applications of operations management in Egypt, and for SMEs in particular, operations and supply chain innovations for base of the pyramid, upgrading of operations for Egyptian exporters, and suppliers’ selection and evaluation. As a director of the Gerhart Center, he led the transition of the center to the School of Business, including the addition of responsible business theme.

Awni serves on many boards. Awni serves on the Board of the Egyptian Company for Medical investments (An Egyptian Unified Procurement Authority's company). He serves on the board of advisors of the Center of African Philanthropy and Social Investments (CAPSI) at Wits School of Business, South Africa. Awni is a representative of Africa and the Middle East on the Civil Society Advisory Body, UNEP FI Principles of Responsible Banking.

Prior to joining the AUC Awni was the Head of the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) Unit, at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Government of Egypt. Awni was the Partner-in-charge of supply chain consulting services at KPMG Hazem Hassan in Egypt, where he guided and directed the successful completion of various projects in supply chain diagnostics, process design and performance improvement in operations and business logistics for clients in food, consumer products, industrial, apparel and pharmaceutical industries. Awni has extensive management consulting, software systems development, and operations research experience in the USA focusing on supply chain management and business logistics improvements.

Ali Awni holds BS in Computer Science & Statistics from Kuwait University, MS in Systems Science from the University of Ottawa, and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from North Carolina State University.