SHIRIN BEHZADI

Chairperson and Founding Investor

Shirin Behzadi is a seasoned entrepreneur who successfully built industry-dominant companies and facilitated successful exits. Most recently, Shirin was the Chief Executive Officer of Home Franchise Concepts (HFC), which recently celebrated its 27th year as the top-selling family of direct-to-consumer brands in the home-related goods & services space. HFC’s four brands (Budget Blinds®, Tailored Living®, Concrete Craft®, and AdvantaClean®) are supported by more than 1,700 franchise territories operating in more than 11,000 cities in North America. Shirin managed and coordinated a nine-figure majority buyout of HFC in 2015 by Trilantic Capital Partners. Under her leadership, HFC grew into one of the largest and most respected franchisors in the country, on track to reach record systemwide sales in hundreds of millions in 2019, a fantastic increase in roughly 3 years. In July 2019, the Company was sold once more, which provided exceptional returns for all investors in the company in a short less than 4 years. On International Women’s Day 2019 (March 8th), Shirin was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine online. Last year, Shirin received the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2018 Award in the Direct to Consumer category in recognition of her leadership in innovation, financial performance, and commitment to her company and community. These awards come during a season of professional recognition for Shirin, including a cover story in the Franchise Times, selection as a presenter at the Strategic Growth Forum, and the subject of a profile story in Entrepreneur magazine. Shirin has really come a long way since she was a 17-year-old immigrant who put herself through college by working at a gas station.

DUSTIN LESTER

VP of Finance and Operations

Dustin grew up in Orange County and attended Chapman University – earning degrees in Economics and Accounting. After graduation he began his career in San Francisco and later would go on to accept an opportunity with Capstone, a hedge fund in New York City. During his time in New York, he learned of the project started by his close friends Kai, Sam and Amin – BOMANI Cold Buzz. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Dustin always had plans to one day come in at the ground floor of a company and BOMANI’s purpose closely resembled that of his family’s past ventures – challenging accepted norms. To Dustin, BOMANI is an opportunity to apply his skillset towards a meaningful purpose – introducing a health conscious alcoholic beverage that is convenient for the consumer.

Quick Facts:

Favorite time to drink BOMANI?

Out on the lake or at a festival

Favorite music?

House music – always a good time for house.

Passions?

Assembling a quality Spotify playlist, traveling the globe, a pepperoni pie at John’s of Bleeker.

Shawn Golhar

Managing Director – Barclays

Shawn PM Golhar is a Managing Director, Global Head of Policy Advisory Banking (PAB) at Barclays. Shawn advises the bank’s investment banking and markets clients on opportunities and challenges presented by shifts in public policy, regulation, and other government-related matters. He also co-covers key investment banking clients that have a nexus to government and policy-related issues. Shawn is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on an advisory committee at the US Export-Import Bank (Council on Climate and Energy Transition Business). He also serves on the boards of BOMANI Cold Buzz, Enquire AI, and the Future Caucus, a non-profit. Active in the community, Shawn was awarded the Barclays Global Citizenship Award and has co-founded or led various non-profits. Previously at Barclays, Shawn was in M&A investment banking (Head of Strategic Public Policy Advisory), Head of Public Policy Research, developed and led client outreach in the Public Policy Group, and was a public finance investment banker, where he worked on nearly $30 billion of senior and co-senior managed deals in California. He began his career as a consultant with Deloitte & Touche LLP. He completed his undergraduate studies at Rutgers University and the London School of Economics and received his Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Shawn was a frequent contributor to Bloomberg, CNBC, and others.

Kelly O’Connor

Co-Founder and President of StageLight Group

Kelly is the Co-Founder and President of StageLight Group, which consists of her diverse investment holdings as well as a media, experiential events & creative development arm. Investments and projects under the StageLight Group umbrella include SCALE MVMT, HitRecord, BOMANI and Zipster as well as numerous real estate holdings and award-winning NYC restaurants.
Prior to starting StageLight, Kelly was a Partner and Executive Director of Business Development & Strategy at SkyBridge Capital. A member of the firm since 2010, she was instrumental in growing the firm’s assets to $14B and co-managed the firm’s new business & brand activation strategy; external affairs & relationships; media & communications initiatives; and geographical expansion efforts worldwide. In addition, she was an Owner and Executive Producer of the SALT Conference where she was directly responsible for all facets in developing, managing, and executing the 2,000-person award-winning thought leadership event and leading its 60+ person team. Prior to joining SkyBridge, Kelly was an Editor at John Wiley & Sons. An award-winning content producer, Kelly has also ghostwritten, edited, and packaged hundreds of non-fiction books and published articles, including 3 New York Times bestsellers and 12 best-selling publications. She has created and led the editorial direction, strategic partnerships and event execution of premiere thought leadership conferences throughout the world, including SCALE MVMT and SALT.

Kelly received a Master’s degree in Organization & Leadership from Columbia University. She also earned a B.A. in English Literature from Wagner College and graduated summa cum laude.

Mike Gottlieb

Global leader of Ernst & Young’s Restaurant

Mike Gottlieb is an assurance partner and the Global leader of Ernst & Young’s Restaurant practice. Mike began his career in the restaurant industry as a restaurant operator—an invaluable experience that gave him an insider’s perspective on this unique industry. Thanks to his previous experience, Mike is able to view restaurant companies from the operators’ perspective, a key to understanding their significant challenges, whether it be digital transformation, real estate decisions from site identification to construction cost management and structuring of leasing arrangements; operating efficiencies in dealing with labor matters, food costs, and utilities costs; human resource matters related to current compensation structures to retirement plans and vehicles to regulatory compliance; or effective income and employment tax planning to minimize the overall tax burden. Mike has also advised dozens of restaurant companies in connection with initial public offerings and other strategic and financial transactions.
A 32-year Ernst & Young veteran (20 years as partner), Mike manages services, including assurance, advisory, real estate, transactional, human resources, and operational services, to several restaurant clients ranging from quick-service restaurants to full-service dinner houses. His clients have included Applebee’s, Baja Fresh, BJ’s Restaurants, Bloomin’ Brands, California Pizza Kitchen, Chipotle, Claim Jumper, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Rockies, Del Taco, Denver Nuggets, Garden Fresh, Hillstone Restaurant Group (Houston’s Restaurants), In-N-Out Burgers, IHOP, Johnny Rockets, Kona Grill, La Salsa, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Rams, Noodles & Company, Oakland Raiders, Perkins & Marie Callender’s, Mimi’s Cafe, Mendocino Farms, Panda Restaurant Group, Patina Restaurant Group, P.F. Chang’s, Real Mex, Ruby’s Diner, San Diego Padres, Sagittarius Brands, Santa Barbara Restaurant Group (Elephant Bar & Grill), Shake Shack, Shakey’s Pizza, Smith & Wollensky, Vicorp Restaurants, Wingstop and Yard House Restaurants.

Mike was involved with the initial public offering of the following companies: California Pizza Kitchen, Chipotle, Del Taco, Noodles & Company, Kona Grill, Perkins & Marie Calender’s, PF Chang’s, Real Mex, Shake Shack, Vicorp Restaurants and Wingstop.

Mike received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Southern California. He is a Certified Public Accountant in California and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants.