Salvatore Sodano

'77, B.B.A. '83 MBA
Sr. Executive Adviser to the President for Corporate Relations – Hofstra University

Salvatore F. Sodano, the former head of the American Stock Exchange (Amex) and vice chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) who is credited with helping the exchange recover from the tragic events of September 11, 2001, is dean of Hofstra’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business.

Sodano, an active Hofstra alumnus, is a former executive-in-residence at the Zarb School and a former chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, was selected by President Rabinowitz following a competitive national search by a committee that included trustees, faculty and administrators.

“We are delighted to have someone of Salvatore Sodano’s stature as dean of our Zarb School of Business,” said President Rabinowitz said at the time. “His leadership in running the American Stock Exchange, his role at the NASD, his organizational and administrative abilities that helped him guide the exchange out of the chaos that followed the 9/11 attacks, his integrity and his familiarity with the school make him an ideal choice.”

Mr. Sodano served as an executive officer and vice chairman of NASD while Frank G. Zarb was chairman and CEO of the organization.

Mr. Sodano received a B.B.A. in accounting with a minor in economics and an M.B.A. in banking and finance from Hofstra University.

He began his career as a staff accountant at Price Waterhouse & Co. and held increasingly responsible positions with Morgan Guaranty, Banker’s Trust and Westpac Banking Corp. before being named to various executive level roles including vice chairman of NASD. In 1999, while serving a chief operating officer and chief financial officer of NASD, Mr. Sodano was asked to also assume the position of acting president of the Amex, directing the integration of certain elements of the exchange into the NASD and the NASD’s Nasdaq Stock Market and, most importantly, filling the serious leadership void then existing at the Amex.

He directed the complete overhaul of the Amex infrastructure, developing new products, rebranding the 100-plus year old institution and establishing new relationships with key constituencies, including, amongst others, Amex employees and seat holders, trading floor firms, Wall Street brokerage and investment banking firms and CEO’s/CFO’s of listed companies.

Six months later he was elected Amex chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Sodano successfully led the exchange through times of change and uncertainty.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 damaged the Amex headquarters and trading operations and took the lives of several exchange members. Within six days, Mr. Sodano had directed the relocation of all Amex businesses and employees to alternative locations and reopened the exchange for business. He personally oversaw the full return to operations of the Amex’s damaged facility, and on October 1 the exchange return to its home in the restricted Ground Zero area.

For his contributions to the Amex, Mr. Sodano was named by the Amex 5&20 Club, an Amex membership group, as its 2001 Man of the Year, marking the first time in Amex history that a non-member received that honor. He also received the 100 Black Men Investors Club 2002 Performance Award for his “leadership, courage, kindness and unselfish character to enhance diversity in the face of adversity.”

Hofstra acknowledged Mr. Sodano’s achievements with its 2000 Alumni Achievement Award and Beta Alpha Psi, a national academic fraternity, selected him for its 2002 Outstanding Alumnus Award. In 2004 he received the Msgr. Thomas J. Hartman Award (the “Tommy”) for business leadership from Telecare, the television network of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. He was a member of an oversight committee to evaluate Catholic Health Services of Long Island and serves as advisor to the Finance Committee of Good Samaritan Hospital.

Mr. Sodano joined the Hofstra Board of Trustees in 2001 and served the maximum three year term as its chair through October 2005. He is a member of the advisory board of Hofstra’s Merrill Lynch Center for the study of International Financial Services and Markets.

As dean, Mr. Sodano oversees all aspects of the Zarb School of Business, which has approximately 80 full-time faculty members, and will report to Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Herman Berliner. Students at the school constitute more than one-quarter of all students at the University.