NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alexander (Alex) Navab, an experienced global private equity investor and former Head of Americas Private Equity at KKR, today unveiled the formation of a new private investment platform and announced the appointment of seven inaugural leaders to the firm.
The firm, named Navab Capital Partners (“NCP”), will specialize in private equity investing across upper mid-cap to larger enterprises in North America and will seek to build better businesses by incorporating growth-oriented and value creating initiatives. NCP will apply a thematic-driven approach and leverage its domain expertise to invest across a range of industries, including Healthcare, Technology, Media, FinTech, Financial Services and Consumer.
“We have assembled a team of experienced leaders as we build a next generation platform in the alternative investment space. I am excited to announce our inaugural leadership group and look forward to continued growth of our firm over the near-term,” said Navab, who is Founder and CEO.
Navab Capital Partners has corporate philanthropy as a key component to its mission and believes private equity today has an opportunity to apply a differentiated model that includes “doing well by doing good” at its core. The firm has established a philanthropic foundation that will supply financial and human capital to its initiatives. “Our shared vision is that a private equity firm can create value and also act as a catalyst to make meaningful and measurable differences in the communities in which it operates,” said Navab. “This experienced, entrepreneurial team is thrilled to work together and build a firm that delivers on this promise.”
The following appointments were announced today:
Robert (Bob) Berlin joins as a Partner after working at The Baupost Group for ten years and brings wide-ranging private investment experience across consumer, value-add industrials, technology services and financials. A subset of his private investments includes Arby’s, Archroma, Bakkavor, Central Pacific Bank, Innovia and PDC. Prior to Baupost, Berlin was a Partner at J.H.Whitney & Co. and also has held executive level finance and strategic roles with technology-related companies.
Ram M. Jagannath joins as a Partner from The Carlyle Group where he was a Managing Director in Carlyle’s flagship US Buyout fund, focused on healthcare. During his twelve years at Carlyle, he worked broadly across the healthcare sector, including general healthcare services (payors and providers), pharma and pharma services, medical products, diagnostics, healthcare information technology, and tech-enabled healthcare services. He was a member of the teams which invested in One Medical Group, Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Healthscope Ltd., and HCR ManorCare. Prior to Carlyle, Jagannath worked at Genstar Capital and Thomas Weisel Capital Partners (now known as Tailwind Capital).
Annette K. Rodriguez joins as a Partner from Warburg Pincus where she was a Managing Director, responsible for investments across consumer, retail, healthcare, industrials and business services. A subset of her investments includes Gabe’s, TriMark, Neiman Marcus, Scotsman Industries, Outset Medical, Silk Road Medical, Consolidated Precision Products and Wencor Group. Rodriguez was at Warburg Pincus for eleven years and previously worked at JPMorgan Partners (now known as CCMP Capital).
Mark Schroeder joins as Partner and Chief Financial Officer, bringing over four decades of experience to the firm. Schroeder was formerly a Senior M&A Partner at Deloitte, leading global private equity transactions in North America, Europe and Asia. Previously, Schroeder was with the Financial Accounting Foundation, and most recently, served as a senior advisor to management and the Audit Committee of Uber Technologies.
Michael A. Gaviser joins as Managing Director, Head of Capital Raising and Investor Relations, bringing over twenty-five years’ experience. Gaviser was formerly at KKR, leading the firm's global registered products efforts, including fundraising, new product development, marketing and distribution. Prior to joining KKR, Gaviser was at Alliance Bernstein as Senior Managing Director and Head of Global Alternative Sales and Client Development.
Bhavna Vashisht Katkar joins as Managing Director, Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Human Capital. Katkar brings twenty years of financial services experience to the firm across business operations and human capital. Katkar was most recently with KKR for nearly ten years, where she led Private Markets Human Capital for the Americas. Previously, Katkar worked at Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley.
Georgia Levenson Keohane joins as Managing Director to lead Environmental, Social and Governance initiatives and to serve as President of the firm’s philanthropic Foundation. Keohane brings more than two decades of experience in social impact across the private, nonprofit and public sectors, most recently as Executive Director of the Pershing Square Foundation and Professor in the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Petershill private equity seeding program is a strategic partner in the development of the firm.
About Alex Navab:
Alex Navab is the former Co-Head and Head of the Americas Private Equity Business at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and has over 30 years of experience in financial services and private equity.
Navab joined KKR in 1993 and held several leadership roles at the firm, including member of the Management Committee, Chair of the Americas Private Equity Investment Committee, Chair of the Americas Portfolio Management Committee, and Head of the Media and Communications Team (2002 – 2008). During his leadership of the Americas Private Equity business (2008 – 2017), KKR committed over $14 billion of capital through the Americas dedicated private equity and growth funds, in over 50 companies across a wide variety of industries. KKR’s Americas Private Equity platform had over $36 billion of assets under management at the time of Navab’s departure. Prior to KKR, Navab was with James D. Wolfensohn Incorporated from 1991 to 1993 where he was involved in mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance advisory work. From 1987 to 1989, he was with Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he worked in the Investment Banking Department.
Navab was born in Isfahan, Iran and is Hellenic-Iranian-American. At the age of fourteen, he and his family left Iran and took refuge in Greece during the 1979 Revolution. Following two years of dislocation, the Navabs immigrated to the United States and started a new journey.
Navab is actively involved in philanthropic, educational, community and national organizations and serves on the Board of Directors of Fidelity National Information Systems, Inc. (“FIS”) and of Cornerstone Capital Group. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at New York-Presbyterian Hospital; a member of the Board of Directors at The Robin Hood Foundation; a member of the Columbia University Board of Trustees; a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at Harvard Business School; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; a member of the Executive Advisory Council at the George W. Bush Presidential Center; a member of The Hamilton Project Advisory Council; and on the Executive Committee at The Hellenic Initiative.
About Navab Capital Partners:
Navab Capital Partners (NCP) is a values-driven investment firm with decades of expertise and a forward-looking vision on the markets, industries, businesses, and communities in which it invests. The firm’s aim is to create value by identifying opportunities across a variety of industries including Healthcare, Technology, Media, Financial Services, FinTech and Consumer. For additional information about Navab Capital Partners, visit the firm’s website at www.navabcapital.com.
