National Leadership Award Recipient
John Watkins (Miami ’79)
Brother Watkins is an experienced executive leader with a 30+ year track record of building, nurturing and leading teams that improve revenue, profit, market share and shareholder value for numerous corporations. He served as the former CEO of The VOID in Asia, ASC Fine Wines, and AVIAGE Systems as well as Vice President of Cummins and Northwest Airlines.
Among his many career accomplishments, with John’s support, Cummins grew from a 500 million to a 2.5-billion-dollar business and was the only US company in China nominated by the US Embassy for the Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence, and he led a groundbreaking joint venture between GE Aviation and AVIC – Aviation Industry Corporation of China. Currently Brother Watkins is Principal of COhatch Regional Development Ventures, where he leads the expansion and growth of a coworking, meeting, and lifestyle company with a mission to Strengthen Communities and Improve Lives. He is also an active volunteer and leader with multiple nonprofits both domestically and internationally.