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Mr. Michel J. Goguikian

Mr. Michel J. Goguikian

Mr. Michel Jean Goguikian was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where he lived until  he traveled with his family to Colombia in 1971, where his father was assigned Ambassador of Lebanon to the Andean region, based in Bogota, Colombia. After obtaining his M.B.A. from the University of Texas in 1981, he embarked on an international banking and business career living in many countries around the globe. He currently resides in Venezuela.

Mr. Goguikian’s philanthropic interests started over 17 years ago, first in Venezuela then abroad. These activities include the setting up in 2001 of Universia Venezuela, an arm of Universia.net, to support higher education by promoting greater integration between universities, between students and faculty, and between academia and the corporate world. He currently chairs Universia Venezuela, which includes amongst its active members 95% of Venezuela’s universities, and 80% of their student bodies and faculty. He also chairs Bancrecer a leading microfinance institutions he created back in 2005.

He has also been part of a number of philanthropic initiatives in the US. In 2008 he established The Goguikian Foundation in Lebanon in honor of his late father, Ambassador Jean M. Goguikian.