Adeel Sobani

Adeel Sobani believes in taking obstacles and turning them into opportunities—not only for himself, but for others.

An episode of double vision during his freshman year at FIU led to a diagnosis of chordoma, a rare brain tumor with one in a million chances of occurring. In the course of his recovery from brain surgery and proton radiation treatment, he lived for two months in the Ronald McDonald House in Jacksonville, where he saw young children facing down devastating illnesses. He became determined to be a force for positive change and encouragement.

In spite of warnings that chordoma would impair his ability to retain information and learn, Adeel took five classes every semester during his time at FIU. He also remained on the Dean’s List every single semester. Adeel accepted a job offer from Citibank’s Palm Beach office. That meant commuting between his Broward County home, his Palm Beach County job, and FIU. At the same time, he was elected to the presidency of Beta Alpha Psi, the honor society for accounting, finance and MIS. During his presidency, Adeel led Beta Alpha Psi to reach international recognition. Adeel is the only student serving on the Build Financial Base and Operational Efficiencies committee as part of the implementation phase of FIUBeyondPossible2020. After graduation, Adeel will complete his third internship (audit) with PwC in its Fort Lauderdale/ Miami market, and start his Master of Accounting at FIU in August 2016.