03/08/2023

Columbus Metropolitan Club Announces Sophia Fifner as President and CEO

Fifner joins CMC from NiSource

Columbus Metropolitan Club (CMC) today named Sophia Fifner as the next president and CEO, effective May 1. Fifner will succeed Jane Scott, who retires on May 31, having served in this position since September 2003.

“It’s always a challenge to fill the shoes of an executive that has been in place and successful as long as Jane has,” said CMC Search Committee Chair Steve Marks, “but Sophia brings a significant portfolio of experiences, as well as positive energy and enthusiasm to this role. We’re confident she will be an exceptional leader for us and will be able to build on CMC’s strengths to continue its important mission in Columbus.”

Fifner joins CMC from NiSource, where she served as director of corporate social responsibility and executive director of the NiSource Charitable Foundation. Prior to that, Fifner served as a community relations chief for the City of Columbus.

“The importance of inclusive civic engagement cannot be overstated—in today’s increasingly polarized world,” Fifner said. “I’m overjoyed to take the helm of this deeply respected organization, which serves as a bedrock for community conversation and a welcoming space for the mosaic voices that make central Ohio a remarkable place to live and work.”

Fifner began her career in Washington as a staff assistant to Senator George Voinovich. From there, Fifner became more deeply involved in fundraising and public affairs as the political action committee and campaign finance manager at Nationwide Insurance and, later, as the director of corporate philanthropy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the director of public relations and communications for I Know I Can.

Fifner is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and has experience with the full spectrum of philanthropic giving and fundraising. She is very active in the community and serves as the chair of both the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio and the Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center board of directors. Columbus CEO magazine named her in its Future 50 Class of 2021. Additionally, she was a 2019 graduate of the Jo Ann Davidson Leadership Institute and in the Leadership Network Class of 2015 of the American Enterprise Institute.

Fifner holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Miami University and a master’s in marketing and communication from Franklin University. A native of Pickerington, Ohio, Fifner is a first-generation American whose parents moved to the United States from Jamaica in the 1970s. She and her husband, Curtis, live in Columbus with their two children.