Alvin Rohrs is a Class of ’82 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law and a leading expert on entrepreneurship, social impact, free enterprise and acceleration leadership. He spearheaded the national and global growth of the Springfield-based educational nonprofit, Enactus, where more than 800,000 student leaders at more than 1700 universities in 36 countries made a sustainable entrepreneurial change that helped more than 18 million people improve their livelihoods.

Enactus is the largest experiential learning platform in the world, aimed at engaging students to take entrepreneurial action for the betterment of the world. Participating students conduct needs assessments in their communities and create community impact projects to provide solutions. As the president and CEO for over 30 years, Rohrs oversaw the expansion of this organization from 18 universities in the USA to its global peak. 

“People hold the power to make positive change,” says Rohrs. “My primary goal is to help them learn how to leverage it to accelerate progress for themselves, for others and their organizations. These are practical principles that apply to life at home and at the office.”

He has collaborated with CEOs from more than 500 of the world’s leading companies, including American Greetings, Campbell’s, The Coca-Cola Company, Hallmark, The Hershey Company, KPMG, Newell, PepsiCo, Rich Products, Unilever, Walgreen’s and Walmart.

In June of 2019, Rohrs released his book, Become and Accelerator Leader. “A storyteller at heart, he guides others on how to achieve clarity of goals, shape a vision and chart a path to achieve the greatest positive impact. He shares captivating stories of personal triumph and loss, some shared for the first time, featuring many of our country’s most renowned leaders. These real-life moments of truth breathe life into the breakthrough accelerator leadership philosophy Rohrs teaches.”

“Alvin reminds me of my grandfather, Nelson Mandela, on so many of the qualities that made my grandfather the leader he was. Alvin has not only been a friend but a mentor. I am excited that many more will have an opportunity to share in his mentorship through this book. I truly admire his ability to lead with such humility,“ Swati Dlamini Mandela once said of Rohrs. 

He has appeared in Business Week, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc., Time, and The Wall Street Journal. An honoree in The Congressional Record three times for leadership, Rohrs was named National “Entrepreneur of the Year, Supporter of Entrepreneurship” in 1995 by Inc. magazine. He carried the Olympic Torch through Columbia for the XIX Winter Olympic Games. Rohrs and his wife, The Honorable Elizabeth Vincent Rohrs class of ’83, an Associate Circuit Judge in Polk County, have two adult children.