Williamson College honors outstanding alumni Oct. 28

Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University honors outstanding alumni at the 21st Annual WCBA Alumni Banquet Friday, Oct. 28 in Williamson Hall at the YSU campus.

Recipients of 2016 WCBA Outstanding Alumni Awards include Walter Avdey, CPA, BSBA 1985, Partner, Ernst & Young; Jim Gasior, CPA, BSBA 1982, President and CEO, Cortland Banks; Sonia Salvino, CPA, MBA 1992, Vice President, Finance, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center; Robert Bole, BSBA 2008, Vice President, Global Markets, Deutsche Bank; and Nayef Zarrour, BSBA 2009, COO, High Tide Capital Management.

To make reservations for the banquet by Oct. 21, visit www.ysu.edu/wcba. For more information, contact Christine Shelton, WCBA coordinator of external relations, at 330-941-3068 or cgshelton@ysu.edu.

Honored at the banquet will be:

Walt Advey

Walter Avdey
Outstanding Business Alumnus Award
Avdey, a partner with Ernst & Young, graduated from YSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Public Accountant. He has more than 31 years of experience with EY, 17 as an assurance partner. Avdey has extensive experience serving complex, global, transaction-oriented clients as well as leadership roles in EY’s Northeast Ohio and National Professional Practice. He currently serves as the Global Client Service Partner for a large SEC registrant. In addition, Avdey serves a leadership role in EY’s Professional Practice Group overseeing audit standards and methodology. He has traveled to many foreign client locations and coordinated audit procedures in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Switzerland and Thailand. He is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Great Lakes Theater and serves as the GLT Treasurer. Avdey also serves as Chair of the Finance Committee for the Board of Regents of St. Ignatius High School. He is also on the Flats Forward Board. Avdey, his wife Laura, and their three boys reside in Rocky River, Ohio and are members of St. Christopher Parish and Westwood Country Club.

James Gasior

James M. Gasior
Outstanding Business Alumnus Award
Gasior has been employed at Cortland Bancorp since 1991 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Cortland Bancorp since 2009. He is also a Director of Cortland Bancorp and the subsidiary bank, Cortland Bank. He previously served in various executive positions for the company including Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Corporate Secretary from November 2005 to October 2009. Gasior graduated from YSU with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant. He began his career in 1982 with Ernst and Whinney (Ernst and Young) in Allentown, Pa., and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Ohio Society of CP’s. He has extensive background in all corporate activities including SEC reporting, strategic planning, risk management, budget and forecasting, asset-liability management, compensation review and plan design, corporate governance, compliance and investor relations. He has served on the Lariccia School of Accounting and Finance Advisory Council at YSU and YSU’s University Outreach Advisory Committee. Gasior is a member and director of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Board of Trustees of Eastern Gateway Community College, a Board Trustee for the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges, a member and director of the Ohio Bankers League, a member of the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission and an advisory board member for the OTCQX marketplace, a market for established investor-focused U.S. and global companies. He is also a member of the Financial Managers Society, the Community Bankers Association of Ohio, the Independent Community Bankers Association and the RMA Northeast Ohio chapter. He, his wife Tina Marie, son Kole and daughter Gabriella reside in Canfield, Ohio.

Sonia Salvino

Sonia Salvino
Outstanding MBA Alumna Award
Salvino is the Vice President of Finance at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. She also serves as the Vice President of Finance for University Hospitals Medical Group, the faculty practice plan for University Hospitals. Sonia earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from YSU and is a Certified Public Accountant. Salvino joined University Hospitals in 1998, and has held several leadership roles in Finance and Operations prior to being named the Vice President of Finance at UHCMC in 2008. UHCMC is the largest hospital entity of the UH System with total revenues exceeding $5 billion and is the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio, employing over 10,000 people. Prior to joining University Hospitals, she served as Assistant Controller at Our Lady of Lourdes, Binghamton, New York, a member of the Daughters of Charity National Healthcare System, as well as Director of Operations at St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, a member of the Sisters of Mercy Healthcare System. Salvino also held several positions at Ernst & Whinney. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Newbridge Cleveland, Highland Springs Behavioral Hospital and Seton Catholic School, and serves on Finance Committees at each of these organizations. She also serves on numerous UH related boards and committees, including Treasurer of the University Hospitals Lab Services Foundation. In 2010, Salvino was recognized by the Young Women’s Christian Association as one of their “Women of Professional Excellence.”

Robert Bole

Robert Bole
Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award
Bole is the Vice President of Global Markets at Deutsche Bank. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a double major in both marketing management and advertising/public relations from YSU. In 2008, Bole was accepted into a graduate study program in London, England, through the Mountbatten Institute. While involved with the Mountbatten Program he worked for Deutsche Bank in their Global Markets Division and was focused on Prime Finance Sales and Capital Introductions. He also studied International Business through the University of Cambridge. In 2010, Bole moved to Florida to help launch a new regional location for the firm’s Global Markets Division. There he helped with the set-up and success of new locations for their Prime Finance, Institutional Sales, and Internal Consulting businesses. While in Florida Bole was also directly involved in university recruiting, the creation of an international rotational program for recent graduates, and the running of their summer college internship program for Global Markets. In 2015, Bole relocated to Deutsche Bank’s Wall Street office in New York to help with U.S. Regulatory Strategy & Implementation for the Global Markets Division. He remains actively involved with YSU as a contact for finance students looking to get into the industry and for those students interested in applying to the Mountbatten Program.

Nayef Zarrour

Nayef Zarrour
Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award
Zarrour is the Chief Operating Officer of High Tide Capital Management, LP, a global macroeconomic hedge fund based out of New York. Zarrour graduated from YSU in 2009, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. Zarrour began his career in public accounting as an intern prior to graduation. Immediately after graduating, he earned his CPA designation and co-founded Azork, Ltd., a technology company that built and distributed a social and productivity platform for private communities such as school districts and corporate offices. This experience eventually led Zarrour to join KPMG’s Financial Management practice, which supported Fortune 500 companies in implementing leading finance strategies, targeting operating models, and performing financial transformations. He continues to serve on the Boards of multiple non-profit and philanthropic entities and donates much of his free time towards helping the homeless, improving Arab/Israeli relations, and teaching yoga and partner acrobatics. When possible Zarrour returns to the WCBA to network with students and offer his advice on getting into the finance industry.

Sponsorships from area businesses and organizations for the WCBA banquet, as of Sept. 12, include Cortland Banks; Ernst & Young, LLP; Hill, Barth, & King, LLC; Packer Thomas; PNC Bank; Simon Roofing; Vallourec Star; Anness, Gerlach & Williams, CPAs; Cohen & Company, Ltd.; The Hometown Pharmacy; Huntington Bank; Payroll Pros, LLC; SSB CPAs; Better Business Bureau; Cope Farm Equipment, Inc.; Donald & Barbara Graham; Falcon Transport Company/Comprehensive Logistics, Inc.; Fast Signs; Hunter-Stevens Land Title Agency, LTD; Hy-Tek Material Handling, Inc.; Jocelyne Kollay Linsalata; Nemenz IGA; Sherman Creative Promotions, Inc., and Turning Technologies.