Beta Alpha Psi and the Accounting Association will host motivational speaker Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski Thursday at 5:15 p.m. in the Business Administration Building Room 117.

“Last year he was our ‘Presenter of the Year,’” Donald McFall, Accounting Association faculty adviser, said of Lewandowski. “We brought him in again because we wanted his knowledge about leadership and success for our students.”

A Kent State alumnus from the class of 1959, Lewandowski received Kent State’s first ever baseball scholarship and served as the captain of the baseball team his senior year.

Lewandowski graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. Immediately following graduation, he played professional baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lewandowski went on to become a Certified Public Accountant. He worked for one of Ohio’s largest accounting firms until he was fired for an “inability to communicate” because he stutters.

“I went home and read the books ‘Think and Grow Rich’ and ‘The Power of Positive Thinking,’” Lewandowski said. “I wrote out 66 goals I was going to accomplish in my life and one of the 66 was to be a national motivational speaker.”

Lewandowski will present on the topic “Leadership, Integrity and Success.” He said his main message will be: “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.”

Contact Lyndsey Sager at [email protected].