Jahm Najafi

Mr. Najafi has been the CEO of Najafi Companies since 2002. Najafi Companies is an International private investment firm based in Phoenix, Arizona, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, and holdings in sectors including sports, consumer, media, technology, and real estate. The firm makes highly-selective investments in companies with strong management teams across a variety of industries, often in areas undergoing rapid technological transformation. Najafi Companies funds its investments with internally generated capital, not through a fund. Free from the restrictions of a fund, the firm is able to move quickly and decisively when investing, and with no requirements to return capital to outside partners. Najafi Companies is able to make investments that create maximum value for the long term.

He was a partner and COO of Pivotal Group from 1990 to 2002. He worked at Salomon Brothers Investment Banking, now a division of Citigroup, from 1986 to 1990.

Mr. Najafi earned his Masters in Business Economics from Harvard University after earning his B.A. in Economics and Development Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He is Vice Chairman for the Phoenix Suns and a Governor on the board of the National Basketball Association. He serves on the Smithsonian Institution’s National Board. He is active with the Chief Executive and Young Presidents’ Organizations Gold. Additionally, he served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona State University’s Committee for Design Excellence, the Board of Directors for the Phoenix Symphony and Phoenix Metropolitan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the University of California, Berkeley Foundation Board, as well as other civic organizations. He is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Arizona, which is a pooled, philanthropic fund that “invests” in emerging nonprofit organizations in a manner analogous to a venture capital fund investing in an emerging business.