Leadership & Board of Directors

sr Vice president & chief of corporate affairs, communications & sustainability

Sonya Higginbotham

Sonya Higginbotham is the senior vice president and chief of corporate affairs, communications and sustainability of Worthington Enterprises. She is responsible for the company’s internal and external communications, brand strategy, government relations and sustainability efforts, as well as its philanthropic activities as president of The Worthington Companies Foundation. Higginbotham became SVP of Worthington Enterprises in December 2023 after the successful spin-off of Worthington Industries’ Steel Processing business into a separate, publicly traded company where she led the change management office and brand development of both Worthington Enterprises and Worthington Steel. She is also co-executive sponsor of CARE, a working parents and caregivers employee resource group at Worthington.

Higginbotham joined Worthington Industries in 1997 in the corporate training and development department. In 1999, she was named community relations coordinator where she helped form the Company’s first corporate communications department. In the following years, she grew the department and her responsibilities. In 2007, Higginbotham was named director of corporate communications, and in 2018, she was named vice president of corporate communications and brand management.

In 2011, Higginbotham was named to Business First’s 40 Under 40 list and in 2014 received Otterbein University’s Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement. In 2023, she was selected to participate in Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program, and she was named a “Woman of Influence” and “Community Champion” by Business First in 2024.
 
Higginbotham is active in the community and is currently serving as chairperson of the Community Shelter Board and as the second vice chair of the advisory board for the Salvation Army of Central Ohio. She is a member of the board of trustees of Otterbein University and is on the One Columbus Board of Advisors. Higginbotham served on the board of Junior Achievement of Central Ohio for 10 years. She is past president of the Columbus Chapter of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries, past trustee of the Westerville Library and delivers Meals on Wheels to the elderly in Columbus.
 
Higginbotham is a graduate of Otterbein University with a bachelor’s degree in business & organizational communications and Franklin University with a master’s degree in marketing. She is married to husband, Carl, and together they have two children.