SOCi CEO Afif Khoury Named CEO of the Year by San Diego Business Journal

Khoury recognized for turning bold vision into breakout growth, transforming SOCi into a global AI innovator and local marketing category leader

SAN DIEGO — May 8, 2025 — SOCi, Inc., the leader in AI-powered marketing solutions for multi-location businesses, is proud to announce that Cofounder and CEO Afif Khoury was named CEO of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal in the Private Large Company category. 

Khoury’s recognition marks the culmination of a decade-long vision to transform how multi-location enterprises manage their local marketing. Under Khoury’s leadership, SOCi has grown to more than 500 employees across six countries, surpassing $100 million in annual recurring revenue—a rare feat that places SOCi in the elite “Centaur” category achieved by less than 1% of venture-backed companies. This CEO of the Year award reflects not only Khoury’s sustained track record of high-growth execution, but his success in turning a bold vision into an AI-powered reality that is redefining the future of local marketing.

Khoury’s leadership has earned consistent accolades, including being a 3-time finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, a named honoree on Great Entrepreneur’s Top 50 Generative AI Entrepreneurs list, and a 2-time designee on the SD500 list of Most Influential Leaders. He has also driven SOCi to be the G2 Leader in its space, a 7-time honoree on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America list, and recognized by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2024. 

“We are on the cusp of an AI revolution that will fundamentally reshape how brands operate at the local level,” said Afif Khoury, CEO of SOCi. “SOCi is leading the charge of harnessing the power of AI agents to turn complex marketing challenges into autonomous, scalable solutions. This recognition is a reflection of the extraordinary journey we’ve taken to build a category-defining platform in one of the most complex and dynamic areas of marketing.”

Today, SOCi is delivering on Khoury’s foundational vision with Genius AI™—a proprietary engine powering a suite of Genius Agents™ that function as a digital workforce for multi-location marketing. These intelligent agents automate high-impact tasks across search, social, reviews, ads, and more, giving brands the ability to execute with the speed and precision of 1,000 local marketers. As SOCi continues to scale, it is setting a new industry standard for how enterprise brands drive visibility, engagement, and growth across every location they serve.

To learn more about SOCi’s suite of Genius Agents, visit www.soci.ai/genius-ai/.

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About SOCi

SOCi is the leader in AI-powered marketing solutions for multi-location businesses. With its proprietary Genius AI™ and suite of Genius Agents™, SOCi provides a first-of-its-kind, AI-powered digital workforce capable of handling the workload of 1,000 local marketers™, empowering brands to achieve unmatched digital visibility, strengthen customer engagement, and scale faster than ever before.

SOCi is recognized by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, and is trusted by nearly 1,000 top brands—including Ford, Ace Hardware, Kumon, Liberty Tax, and more—to automate and optimize local marketing tasks across all locations. Founded in 2012 and backed by leading strategic investors, SOCi is transforming how multi-location brands manage and scale their marketing efforts. Learn more at www.soci.ai or contact us at [email protected].