Farzad Naimi
Mr. Farzad Naimi is Founder and CEO at NAIMIgroup, overseeing and leading its operational arms: RONA Investment, FARZAD Studio, and Nima & Farzan Philanthropy. Built on three cornerstones—Create, Grow, Share—NAIMIgroup is a foundation unlike any other, investing in innovative ideas that challenge us to think outside the box and have the potential to not only reshape, but also improve the world we live in.
A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Naimi brings over twenty-five years of successful Silicon Valley startup leadership, including 4 IPO exits.
Mr. Naimi began his high–tech career at Centex Telemanagement as the head of technology and led Centex, a startup at the time, to its IPO which preceded its subsequent acquisition by MCI. He continued his career as Executive Vice President and COO at Prestige International, Japan’s largest Customer Relationship Management organization, witnessing its successful IPO in Japan. Following his career at Prestige, Mr. Naimi co–founded Genesys Labs, a leader in delivering real-time customer interaction software solutions. Genesys went public in 1997 and was subsequently acquired by Alcatel for $1.6 billion in January 2000. Mr. Naimi participated in a start up, VisaNet do Brazil, funded by Visa International and four major banks in Brazil. Since then, VisaNet do Brazil has become the largest e–commerce and retail banking group in Latin America and had a successful IPO in June 2009, the largest IPO in the world that year, raising nearly $4.3 billion.
Mr. Naimi has been the co–founder and chairman of several other companies including IQLabs, an enterprise software company specializing in real time IT infrastructure provisioning and management, and Sentek, a profitable global system integrator with clients such as American Express, Master Card, Visa and other major financial institutions. Most recently, Mr. Naimi was co-founder and CEO of LiteScape Technologies and continues to sit on the Board of LiteScape and several private high-tech companies. Mr. Naimi joined the Board of PARSA Community Foundation in 2009.
As a member of adjunct faculty at Golden Gate University, Mr. Naimi taught MBA courses in its School of Industry and Technology. Mr. Naimi is actively involved with Entrepreneurship Programs at Stanford University, Golden Gate University and the National University of Singapore.