Andreas Widmer

Andreas Widmer is an entrepreneur, professor, consultant, business coach, popular speaker, and author, with 30 years’ business experience in international business strategy, economic development, and entrepreneurship. He has worked extensivly in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America and has launched more than 100 technology products. Andreas has taught entrepreneurship at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business & Entrepreneurship since 2012. He founded and is the Director of the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, which promotes a new kind of entrepreneur: one who can integrate personal virtue, the latest entrepreneurial tools, and long- term perspective for enterprises that harness human creativity in the service of individuals and communities.

His previous book is The Pope & the CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, which explores leadership lessons Andreas learned when, at age 19, he served as a Pontifical Swiss Guard protecting Pope John Paul II—lessons he later applied during his own business career. The book has sold more than 40,000 copies; was translated into 5 languages (Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Ukrainian); and received extensive media coverage and favorable reviews.

Andreas has an advanced business degree and a BS in business administration in sales management from two Swiss colleges (Bénédict-Handelsschule and Kaufmaennische Schule Luzern, respectively), and a B.S. degree in international business from Merrimack College (in North Andover, MA). He has an MS from St. John’s Seminary (in Boston) and was awarded an honorary doctorate by St. Charles Borromeo Seminary (in Philadelphia) in 2018. He speaks 5 languages: English, German, French, Italian, and some Spanish.