Cincinnati Business Leader and Philanthropist Sandra Heimann to Address UC s Spring Graduates

Sandra Heimann, vice president of American Financial Group, vice president of American Money Management and vice president of Great American Insurance Company, will address graduates at the University of Cincinnati during

ceremonies at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., Saturday, April 27, in Fifth Third Arena.

Heimann will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the afternoon ceremony. The honorary degree represents the highest award from the University of Cincinnati.

Heimann was one of the first women in Cincinnati to become a corporate officer. She began her career in 1959 and became American Financial Corporation Assistant Secretary in 1961 and secretary in 1967. At that time, American Financial had assets of $40 million and earnings of $750,000. Today the company has assets in excess of $35 billion and earnings of nearly $500 million.

Heimann served a nine-year term on UC’s Board of Trustees from 2003-12 and was elected chairperson for the last two years of her term. She has served on numerous boards and search committees across the university including the Board of Directors for UC Health; advisory board of the UC Medical Center Fund; the UC Foundation Board of Trustees; and the UCATS Board of Trustees.

She was instrumental in starting UC’s Carl H. Lindner Honors-PLUS program in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business in 1997. The program builds the area’s best young business minds by combining a demanding business curriculum with cooperative education experience, intensive study abroad and other options, all designed to graduate future business leaders for the region. She and her husband, Robert, also funded a Chair for Alzheimer’s Research and Education at the university, sponsored a Heimann Scholarship within the Lindner Honors-PLUS program and are members of UC’s George Smith Society and Circle of Honor.

Her dedication to the City of Cincinnati includes service on the Board of Trustees for the Tri-State Foundation (1987-2012), Drake Planetarium (1985-2012) and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (2002-11). She is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Cincinnati Zoo Foundation and also has served on the Board of Directors for Hospice of Cincinnati and the Bethesda Foundation.

Heimann attended UC and both her husband and daughter, Paige, are graduates.

UC Commencement Information