Lisa and Chuck Noski have funded the Noski Family Scholarship for CSUN accounting students. Photo by Lee Choo.

Charles “Chuck” Noski ’73 (Business Administration), M.S. ’95 (Accountancy) ’07 (Honorary Doctorate) was 17 years old in 1969 when he embarked on what would be a lifelong relationship with CSUN, then known as San Fernando Valley State College. Working two to three part-time jobs as an undergraduate, Noski earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1973. He returned in the 1990s to earn a master’s degree in accountancy, and CSUN awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2007.

The lessons he learned at CSUN helped him gain the business acumen that would lead to a brilliant career: Following nearly 20 years with “Big Four” accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, Noski went on to hold senior executive positions at AT&T, Bank of America, Northrop Grumman and Hughes Electronics.

On Feb. 5, Noski was named by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) to its 2019 Class of Influential Leaders. CSUN’s David Nazarian College of Business and Economics’ accreditation by AACSB International places it among the top 5 percent of global business degree-granting institutions. The college’s accounting, finance and financial planning programs are regularly ranked among the nation’s best by experts in those fields.

In its fourth year, the association’s 2019 “Influential Leaders Challenge” recognized 33 alumni — and the business schools that prepared them — who personify the role as a visionary figure or change agent. Each of AACSB’s 831 accredited institutions were invited to nominate up to two of their outstanding alumni for consideration. The 33 honorees hail from 13 countries around the globe.

In recent years, Noski also has served on the boards of directors of a number of leading companies, including Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, ADP, Avon Products and Booking Holdings. In 2002, the CSUN Alumni Association honored Noski as a Distinguished Alumnus, and in 2011 the CSUN Foundation Board of Directors recognized Noski as an Emeritus Director for life following his many years of service on that board. He also serves as chairman of the board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees the bodies tasked with establishing private sector accounting and financial reporting standards in the U.S.: the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).

Noski was also appointed in January as one of three inaugural members of the recently formed Independent Audit Quality Committee (IAQC), created by Ernst & Young LLP. Senior leadership of Ernst & Young will be advised by the IAQC when dealing with important aspects of the firm’s business, operations, culture, talent strategy, governance and risk management that affect audit quality.

What Noski remembers most about his own education at CSUN are the relationships he built with his professors.

“They had been out in the real world,” he said in a 2016 interview with CSUN Magazine. “They could help prepare you for the competition and business environment you’d encounter. They were great teachers — they were not only very adept with the subject matter, but they knew how to communicate it. They really cared about their students, and that showed inside and outside the classroom. To this day, I still stay in touch with some of those professors.”

But what he is most grateful for are the opportunities his CSUN education afforded him.

“When I think about the chance to give back to CSUN and its students today,” he said, “I really come back to the word ‘opportunity.’ We’re all different. We all have different strengths, different weaknesses and face different challenges. We come from different backgrounds. But what we all deserve, I think, is an opportunity.”

Noski and his wife, Lisa, have been actively involved with CSUN for many years, supporting a variety of educational and other initiatives, including The Soraya. In 2015, they created the Noski Family Scholarship, which annually helps four accounting students at CSUN.

Chandra Subramaniam, dean of the Nazarian College, lauded Chuck Noski for the AACSB international recognition, and he applauded the couple as steadfast supporters of CSUN and its students.

“Chuck Noski understands the value of an outstanding education in business, and he understands the path of our hardworking students. Like the faculty, staff and administration at CSUN, he is a partner in our students’ success and a respected leader in national and international accounting.”

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