A native of Nigeria, John Olajide BS’04 began his career in health care as a student, working to help pay for his degree in telecommunications engineering. A visit with his aunt, who was employed by a home health care agency, solidified the focus of what would become his professional career.

Olajide founded Axxess, a Dallas-based technology company that streamlines operations for health care agencies, in 2007. Since then, the company has served more than 2 million patients in the North America and is used by more than 7,000 organizations across the country.

The entrepreneur’s success led him to become a judge in the 2016 Big Idea Competition, hosted by the UT Dallas Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Olajide received the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016 for his impact on UT Dallas, which includes creating an Opportunity Fund to benefit the National Society of Black Engineers, of which he was a member as a student.

In October 2019, Axxess announced the creation of a new endowed scholarship for students in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. The company’s $500,000 gift established the Axxess Scholars Program, the University’s largest scholarship program for computer science students.

In honor of Axxess’ contributions, the atrium of the Engineering and Computer Science West building has been named for the company.