Charlie Kawwas

For his inspirational determination and transformative leadership in global technology

Charlie Kawwas is a self-made success story in global technology. He arrived in Montreal as an ambitious newcomer —without a high school diploma and with limited English knowledge—and found his footing at Concordia University. There, he completed his BEng ’93 in Computer Engineering with great distinction and received the Computer Engineering and Chait Medals, awarded to the highest graduating engineering student. He also earned a MASc ’99 and a PhD ’07 in Electrical & Computer Engineering.  

Kawwas serves as President of Broadcom Inc., a California-based, nearly trillion-dollar leader in semiconductors, enterprise software, and security solutions. His stewardship and scientific expertise has grown Broadcom’s hardware revenue from $4 billion to over $30 billion. He oversees all 15 Semiconductor Divisions, the Brocade Storage Networking Division, Intellectual Property business and Global Operations. 

Before stepping into the presidency, Kawwas was Broadcom’s COO, driving Global Operations, Sales, and Corporate Marketing. He joined Broadcom via its acquisition of LSI Corporation where he led worldwide Marketing & Sales. Prior to LSI, he held senior roles in engineering and management at Nortel in Montreal. 

A champion of mentorship and corporate citizenship, Dr. Kawwas has chaired Broadcom’s Corporate Responsibility program since 2020. As part of Broadcom’s innovative skills development initiative to cultivate next-generation mainframe talent, he connected Gina Cody School of Engineering students into the industry.

In 2020, Dr. Kawwas was honored as Concordia’s Alumnus of the Year.