Laith Khalaf selected to receive the Pace Setters Executive Award
Achievement, excellence and demonstrated leadership by Fisher students and faculty were recently recognized at the college’s 2019 Pace Setters Awards event.
The annual awards, which were first bestowed at the college in 1961, recognize the top 1 percent of undergraduate students at Fisher, based on academic performance, leadership and service. Faculty with teaching appointments throughout the college are recognized for their contributions to Fisher’s faculty mission of teaching, research and service.
“The students and faculty we honor join an elite group of high-achieving students, demonstrated and principled leaders and humble servants,” said Anil K. Makhija, dean and John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business. “The Pace Setters Awards are the college’s top honor. For more than half a century, we have recognized our Pace Setters recipients — wherever they go and whatever careers they choose — as being among the very best ambassadors for our college, and for all that we do.”
Laith Khalaf (BSBA ’98) was selected to receive the Pace Setters Executive Award. Khalaf is managing director of the Medsker Khalaf Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. He was born in Kuwait to a Jordanian father and an American mother. His family evacuated during the first Gulf War when he was 13 years old and relocated to Ashland, Ohio, to live with family. Living in the United States, he and his brother strengthened their English skills by watching just 30 minutes of television news — the only TV their mother allowed — each day. Stock market updates sparked Khalaf's interest in finance, while technology news led to his brother’s passion for engineering — and an eventual career at Google.
Khalaf earned an undergraduate business degree from Fisher in three years and remains an enthusiastic supporter of a number of programs and initiatives at the college and at The Ohio State University. He volunteers with the Office of Student Life’s Career Closet, a twice-a-year pop-up boutique that provides students with free professional clothing. He is also a mentor to members of Fisher’s Honors Cohort.