Professional Position: President/CEO
Company: ERA Team VP Real Estate
Location: Chautauqua, NY

A family connection compelled William Soffel, a successful real estate broker, to join in the fight against Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His paternal grandmother Anna Jane Soffel battled ALS for three years until she died from the disease in 1987.

“I have seen firsthand how devastating this disease is, first with the loss of my grandmother, and then with the loss one of my staff member’s spouse,” Soffel said of his personal experiences. “It is important to me to continue our family’s commitment to the work of the Association, started by my father who served as a national trustee in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Soffel served his original term on the ALS Association Board of Trustees between 2011 and 2020, then continued as a volunteer member of Association committees until his re-election to the Board in 2023.

Soffel is President/CEO of ERA Team VP Real Estate, which he founded in 1990. Based in Chautauqua, NY, the firm specializes in resort, residential, and commercial real estate sales, and vacation rental management, operating offices throughout Western NY and Northwestern PA. In 2022, Soffel’s business was honored by the ERA Real Estate Network as the winner of the Gene Francis Award, given annually to the Top ERA affiliate in the nation.

A graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Soffel received his B.S. in business administration and marketing. He and his wife Kari live in Bemus Point, NY on Chautauqua Lake, and are the parents of five grown children. He says his greatest personal accomplishment has been raising his children and grandparenting with Kari, and his greatest professional experience has been serving as a volunteer member of the community fighting for a treatment and a cure for ALS.

In addition to serving on the National Board of Trustees of The ALS Association, Soffel also currently serves on the board of the Upstate NY Leadership Council of the ALS Association.