Elise Awwad is President and CEO of DeVry University. When she took the role in 2023 she became the first woman to lead the university in its history. She joined DeVry in 2004 as an admissions advisor and spent the next two decades moving through leadership roles in admissions, enrollment management, student support and career services, serving as Chief Operating Officer before becoming CEO. Under her leadership DeVry has frozen tuition for multiple years, expanded scholarships and grants, and committed to building AI literacy and skills into every course it offers.

A longtime advocate for women in leadership, Elise founded EDGE, DeVry's first women's business resource group, and launched the Women+Tech Scholars program. She is a founding member of Chief, a board director of the International Women's Forum Chicago, and a two-time Titan 100 Chicago honoree. She holds a bachelor's degree in small business management from Southern Illinois University, an MBA from DeVry's Keller Graduate School of Management, an Executive MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and a graduate certificate in public policy from the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.