Ben Navarro

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Ben Navarro
Born1962/1963 (age 60–61)[1]
Williamstown, Massachusetts, US
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Rhode Island
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder and CEO, Sherman Financial Group
SpouseKelly Navarro
Children4, including Emma Navarro
ParentFrank Navarro

Benjamin W. Navarro (born 1962/1963) is an American billionaire businessman, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sherman Financial Group, LLC, which owns Credit One Bank.

Early life

He is one of eight children of Frank Navarro, a college football coach who posed for the Norman Rockwell painting The Recruit.[2][3] He was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, when his father was football coach at Williams College.[4]

He grew up in Westerly and Chariho, Rhode Island.[5] He lived in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated from Princeton High School, when his father was coaching the Princeton University football team.[4]

Navarro earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Rhode Island.[1]

Career

Navarro worked for Goldman Sachs for three years, before joining Citigroup in 1988, rising to vice president and co-head of mortgage sales and trading.[1]

He left Citigroup in 1997, and in 1998 founded Sherman Financial Group, a global diversified investment services company.[1] In 2005, Sherman bought a small bank and renamed it Credit One Bank.[6]

Credit One Bank, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a technology and data-driven financial services company. Credit One is one of the top 10 largest Visa credit card issuers in the United States with over 12 million cardholders across the country.[7] In 2018, Credit One was named the "Philanthropic Business of the Year - Private" by Vegas Inc. for its philanthropic efforts in Affordable Housing & Homelessness, Employment Services, and Financial Education.[8]

In 2021, Navarro founded Beemok Hospitality Collection, a hospitality company consisting of hotel, restaurant, and entertainment properties throughout the Southeast. The collection originated in October 2021 with the acquisition of their flagship property, the Charleston Place - the largest hotel in Charleston at 434 rooms.[9] Other notable properties in the collection include The Cooper, a 225-room luxury hotel being developed along downtown Charleston’s waterfront; The Riviera Theater, a registered historic landmark Art Deco theater in downtown Charleston; and Hotel Domestique, a luxury hotel in Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina.[9]

Navarro has an estimated net worth of about $3 billion.[2][4]

Sports interests

Navarro owns the Live To Play Tennis Club in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, which has hosted three USTA national junior tennis championships, and six International Tennis Federation women's pro circuit tournaments.[10][11]

In 2018, he was a bidder for the Carolina Panthers NFL sports franchise. He ultimately lost to David Tepper.[2]

In September 2018, he bought Charleston Tennis LLC, owners of the Charleston Open women's tennis event, through his company Beemok Sports LLC.[10]

In 2022, Navarro funded extensive renovations to Credit One Stadium, a 20-year-old city-owned facility, as a gift to the City of Charleston.[12] The newly-renovated stadium debuted on April 2, 2022 for the 50th annual Credit One Charleston Open, the largest women's only tennis event in North America.[12]

Personal life

He is married to Kelly Navarro, they have four children and live in Charleston, South Carolina.[2][10]

His daughters, Emma and Meggie Navarro, are involved in tennis. Emma is a collegiate tennis player at the University of Virginia. She has a career high WTA singles ranking of 194 achieved on March 21, 2022 and won the NCAA division 1 women's singles title on May 28, 2021 as a freshman.[13][14] Meggie is committed to play collegiately at UVA.[15]

Philanthropy

Navarro's philanthropic ventures are focused on education and mental wellness.

In 2008, he founded Meeting Street Schools, a South Carolina-based network of one private and three public elementary and middle schools serving an entirely under-resourced demographic.[16] Meeting Street Schools were founded upon the belief that all children deserve an excellent education regardless of their geographic or socioeconomic circumstances and now serve over 1,800 students.[17]

In December 2020, Navarro announced the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund wherein he pledged to supplement the cost of higher education for any Charleston County high school students who also qualified for the Pell grant and the State's LIFE scholarship, ensuring college opportunities for hundreds of South Carolina high school graduates each year.[18][19]

In 2020, Navarro, in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina, founded Modern Minds, a new type of mental wellness center that uses holistic health strategies to help adults living with anxiety or depression.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Executive Profile: Benjamin W. Navarro". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Potential Panthers owner Navarro is a low-profile billionaire". espn.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Getting to know Panthers owner candidate Ben Navarro". 247sports.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "Billionaire's row: A deep look at the potential bidders for the Carolina Panthers". wbtv.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Ben Navarro Bio - Sherman Financial Group". sites.google.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Community Reinvestment Act Performance Evaluation" (PDF). OCC.gov. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  7. ^ "Corporate Fact Sheet - Credit One Bank" (PDF). Credit One Bank. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  8. ^ "About Credit One Bank". Credit One Bank. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Charleston Place owner share first details about 'multi-million-dollar' renovations". The Post and Courier. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Courier, James Beck Special to The Post and. "Charleston billionaire Ben Navarro buys Volvo Car Open women's tennis event". postandcourier.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Home - LTP Tournaments". LTP. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  12. ^ a b "The Renovation". Credit One Stadium. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Emma Navarro". WTA Tennis. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Emma Navarro". Virginia Women's Tennis. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  15. ^ "Virginia Tennis Board". Virginia Tennis Board. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  16. ^ Hartsell, Jeff. "Meet Ben Navarro. He bid for NFL team, owns Volvo Car Open and is changing schools". The Post and Courier. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  17. ^ "Our Schools". Meeting Street Schools. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  18. ^ Hicks, Brian. "Ben Navarro to give $20K a year to Charleston high school grads to help pay for college". The Post and Courier. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  19. ^ "Editorial: Navarros' gift could be life-changing, for our entire community". The Post and Courier. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  20. ^ Sausser, Lauren. "SC businessman Ben Navarro and MUSC launch new approach to mental health treatment". The Post and Courier. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
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