Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University alumnus Zuheir Sofia will visit the Gordon Ford College of Business on April 20 for the Hays Watkins Visiting CEO Professorship Lecture Series.

Sofia, who received his bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from WKU in 1969, will discuss “Challenges and Changes in the Financial Industry” at 9:35 a.m. at the Grise Hall Auditorium.

The namesake for the Zuheir Sofia-Dero Downing International Center on WKU’s campus, Sofia is chairman of Sofia & Company, Inc., a private investment firm in Columbus, Ohio. He is managing director of Cleary Gull, Inc. and MBO Cleary Advisors, Inc. 

Sofia, a 1998 inductee into WKU’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, also served as President, COO and Director of Huntington Bancshares. He is founder and currently chairman of the Honorary Trustees of the Columbus Council on World Affairs. Other affiliations include serving as Director of Lancaster Colony Corporation, Dominion Homes, Inc., Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and the Ohio Banking Commission.

Sofia also is quite active in community affairs including serving as chairman of The Ohio State University Board of Trustees, The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, the Richard J. Solove Research Institute, as well as numerous other community organizations.  He received his master’s degree in economics from Washington University and is a graduate of Rutgers University’s Stonier Graduate School of Banking. 

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Paula Newby at (270) 745-6311.

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