Sophie Zhang Bedoya, MBA, CPA, is the formidable and respected head of valuations, private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, and real estate with the global investment firm H.I.G. Capital, LLC—her latest position in the achievement of her American Dream. Born and raised in China, where she studied English in college, Ms. Bedoya recalls her parents wanting her to get married and become an English teacher, yet she envisioned a different life for herself. Instead, she immigrated to the United States on her own through a school exchange program with Marshall University in West Virginia. Studying diligently and working hard to support herself while pursuing higher education, Ms. Bedoya earned a bachelor’s degree, continued her studies at Marshall University, and graduated with a Master of Business Administration in 2006. Her academic efforts concluded in 2007 upon graduating from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business with a master’s degree in accounting.
Confounding expectations again, Ms. Bedoya challenged herself to secure a position with Ernst & Young. She eventually was selected from among all the other candidates to land the role of transaction advisory service manager at the esteemed accounting firm. After firmly launching her career, Ms. Bedoya went on to become director of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited in Houston, Texas, from 2014 to 2019. With more than 15 years of professional experience, she has held her current role at H.I.G. Capital, LLC, since 2021. In this capacity, Ms. Bedoya employs her expertise in accounting and business to design and implement valuation processes and procedures that enable scalability. Among her many responsibilities, she develops and establishes policies, enhances risk management, contributes to regulatory compliance, drives innovation, identifies market opportunities, and adopts technological solutions for data analytics. Prior to thriving in this role, Ms. Bedoya served as a member of the board of advisors for Dataraction from 2020 to 2021 and was the senior vice president of Houlihan Lokey from 2019 to 2021.
Throughout her career, Ms. Bedoya has remained devoted to continual professional development and lifelong learning. She is a certified chartered financial analyst, level 3, and completed the Series 63 Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam and Series 79 Investment Banking Representative Exam through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2020. Today she is a member of the CFA Institute, a global, nonprofit, professional organization for chartered financial analysts. In 2021, Ms. Bedoya studied at the Harvard Business School, completing the executive program in data analytics and technology strategy.
Perennially contributing to and learning about developments in her industry, Ms. Bedoya has maintained affiliation with numerous professional organizations focused on her specific areas of expertise and interest. Since 2019, she has been a member of the Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy, and in 2018, she joined Women in Energy. Moreover, Ms. Bedoya is a fellow of the Center for Asian Pacific American Women and has been active in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants since 2008. She gives back to others in her industry as the chair of Mentoring Circle since 2019 and as the vice president of sponsorship for the Asian business professional organization Ascend NAAMBA. Currently, she serves as the external affairs chair of Ascend.
Committing herself to ongoing improvement in all her endeavors, Ms. Bedoya looks forward to further developing technology solutions with H.I.G. Capital, LLC. Her goal is to incorporate artificial intelligence, grow the implementation of the technology tremendously, and develop new strategies. In addition, she plans to incorporate the same technology into her nonprofit work, where she hopes to continue helping minority groups succeed and enjoy transformational economic change. Ms. Bedoya attributes her own success to her growth mindset and tenacity. Her desire is to leave a legacy in the financial industry of being a pioneer who harnessed the power of technology to drive change in the future.