Alan C. Ashton (born May 7, 1942) is the co-founder of WordPerfect Corporation and a former professor at Brigham Young University (BYU).
Ashton worked for a time with Novell after the company bought WordPerfect, and subsequently founded Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.
His specifications outlined various innovations at the time, including continuous documents, function key shortcuts, modeless editing, and primitive WYSIWYG formatting.
Along with his student, Bruce Bastian, Ashton incorporated Satellite Software International, which would later become the WordPerfect Corporation, in September 1979.
In 1987, Ashton left BYU to serve full-time as president and chief executive officer of WordPerfect Corporation.
Today, Thanksgiving Point provides the community with a place where adults and children can learn about farming, gardening and cooking.