Nido Qubein is an American Lebanese-Jordanian businessman and motivational speaker. He currently serves as president of High Point University, a position he has held since 2005. He received his Associate's degree in business from Mount Olive College, his bachelor's degree in human relations from High Point University in 1970, and his Master of Science in business education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Bryan School of Business & Economics in 1973; in 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters in humanities degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Qubein is the founder and chairman emeritus of the National Speakers Association Foundation. He has served as Chairman of the Great Harvest Bread Company since 2001 and on the board of directors of BB&T since 1990 and La-Z-Boy Corporation since 2006. Since 2005 when Qubein became the seventh president of High Point University, the university has nearly tripled the number of faculty, tripled traditional undergraduate enrollment, and added four academic schools. Qubein is notable for being the third or fourth highest paid college president in the United States, earning $2.9 million a year in 2013. In 2016, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that Qubein was the third-highest donor university president in the country from 2006 to 2016. He committed $10 million to High Point University. In 2017 Qubein became a board member for nThrive, a healthcare technology company focused on financial and operational performance.
Beginning in January 2012, UNCTV began airing High Point University Presents A Conversation with... series. The hour long segments feature Nido Qubein interviewing prominent leaders and innovators like General Colin Powell, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, NY Times best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell and more. In 2015 the Biography Channel aired Nido Qubein: A Life of Success and Significance.
Publications
Qubein has written 11 books, including titles like How To Communicate Like A Pro and Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement. The September 2012 issue of Success magazine featured Nido Qubein discussing his role as president of High Point University. The story chronicles Qubein's leadership of the school since taking the helm in 2005.
Personal
Qubein was born the youngest of 5 children in 1948 and is of Lebanese and Jordanian descent. He came to the United States in 1966.
