Dr. Akhtar Badshah is Chief Catalyst at Catalytic Innovators Group where he advises organizations and individuals to catalyze their strategy focused on social and philanthropic investments. He also conducts Purpose Mindset leadership workshops with organizations to help individuals articulate their strengths and values, and craft their purpose statement.

Dr. Badshah is the Distinguished Practitioner at University of Washington at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, the Business School, at the Bothell campus and a faculty advisor at the START Center in the Department of Global Health. He is the founder and curator of  Accelerating Social Transformation, a mid-career professional development certificate course on social impact.

Dr. Badshah is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in international development, managing a corporate philanthropic program and co-founding a global nonprofit for social enterprise. Dr. Badshah led Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts for ten years, where he administered the company's community investment and employee contributions.  He was instrumental in launching both Unlimited Potential and Youth Spark – the company’s focus to bring digital technology to the underserved communities and youth all over the world. His most recent book Purpose Mindset: How Microsoft Inspires Employees and Alumni to Change the World, was recently published by HarperCollins Leadership.  In May 2020 Dr. Badshah and his colleagues launched Restart Partners funded by the Department of Commerce, Washington State and supported by Facebook to increase confidence in mask adoption and vaccines and help restart the economy.

Dr. Badshah serves on the boards of Altruist Nonprofit Accelerator, CROP, Global Washington, Microsoft Alumni Network, National Museum and Center for Service,  Restart Partners and The Indus Entrepreneurs, Seattle Chapter. He is an accomplished artist and a doctoral graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Badshah and family are active philanthropists in the Seattle area.