PRIOR EXPERIENCE
Cerberus Capital Management
The Carlyle Group
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
EDUCATION
Harvard Business School
Cornell University
Hootan Yaghoobzadeh
Co-Founder
Hootan is a co-founder and Managing Director of Staple Street Capital where he jointly oversees all aspects of the firm's investment activities.
In addition to jointly leading the overall operations of the firm, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh has had primary responsibility for and has led the following transactions at Staple Street Capital: Delaware Valley Floral Group (a distributor of fresh cut flowers and related supplies); Garden State Bulb (a value-added distributor and marketer of bulbs and related products); Eastern Dental (a dental support organization or DSO); Ivy Technologies (an aftermarket lifecycle solution service provider for electronic equipment); Larkspur Storage (an operator of self-storage centers); Dominion Voting Systems (an election tabulation solutions and services provider); ABC Group (an injection and blow molded automotive parts manufacturer); Mid-States Supply (a pipe, valve and fitting distributor); Ironline Compression (a natural gas compression solution provider); and Aaroma Holdings (a chemical and natural ingredient value-added distributor). In addition, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh served as a board member in Dick Clark Productions, a television production company which was partially owned by Six Flags.
Mr. Yaghoobzadeh has made appearances on CNBC and other national broadcasts and has been chronicled in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios and other national publications for the instrumental role he played as the lead board member/chairman of Dominion Voting Systems. A Staple Street Capital portfolio company, Dominion was the victim of a disinformation campaign in which Fox News and other parties spread damaging lies about the Company. In support of a management team under siege from this disinformation campaign, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh spearheaded and oversaw a series of defamation lawsuits against the responsible parties. Mr. Yaghoobzadeh assembled the legal team, established the objectives for, and approved and helped set and execute the legal strategy of not only seeking justice and compensation for the damage caused to Dominion, but also creating accountability and exposing the truth about the lies that were spread by these bad actors.
Prior to founding Staple Street Capital in 2010, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh was a Senior Vice President at Cerberus Capital Management where he focused on private equity and special situation investing across multiple industries including retail, automotive, industrials, and financial services. At Cerberus, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh was responsible for executing and overseeing investments and serving on the board of directors of multiple Cerberus portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Cerberus, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh worked in The Carlyle Group's U.S. Buyout team. At Carlyle, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh focused on leverage buyout transactions across numerous industries including information technology, aerospace and defense, environmental services, and telecommunications and media.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Yaghoobzadeh worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette on merchant banking, restructuring, M&A and leveraged-loan transactions.
Mr. Yaghoobzadeh received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduated from Cornell University, and was a visiting student at Oxford University.