Career Path of a Managing Partner at Cedar Crest Capital
Kazem's career path deviated from the traditional investment banking route to private equity, instead choosing management consulting at Deloitte after realizing a program at Syracuse University, while "amazing," lacked operational insights. This unconventional approach, focusing on private equity consulting, ultimately led to an investment team role at The Najafi Companies, demonstrating that a direct trajectory isn't always necessary for career success.
Private Equity, Investment Banking, Management Consulting, Career Paths, Non-traditional career
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kazem Harfouche
Managing Partner
Cedar Crest Capital
Arizona State University (ASU) - W. P. Carey
Finance
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Finance
Video Highlights
1. Kazem's career path was non-traditional, highlighting that there isn't always a single prescribed route to a specific career.
2. He prioritized gaining operational knowledge of companies by choosing management consulting (Deloitte) over the more common investment banking route into private equity.
3. His experience shows that related work experience can provide the necessary skills for a desired career, even if it's not the typical path.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college and any internships or jobs you had before your current role?
The career path was non-traditional. I'm currently working in private equity. Unfortunately, we don't have much recruitment in private equity directly out of college.
Traditionally, you go through investment banking, which leads to private equity. We have a great investment banking program at ASU called the IVUS program. While I was in that program, I realized it's amazing and will get you to PE long-term, but it won't teach you the ins and outs of company operations.
So, I decided to do management consulting after ASU. I was in New York working for Deloitte Consulting, focusing on private equity consulting. The work and the learning I was getting made a lot of sense.
This led me to my next step: private equity on the investment team at The Najafi Companies. It was a lot of great experience and learning. It shows that while people often think there's a specific trajectory to a certain career path, that's not necessarily the case.
As long as you're in a related field, you can teach yourself everything you need to know for any job.
Advizer Personal Links
cedarcrestcap.com