Sarkis Izmirlian
Chairman
Sarkis Dikran Izmirlian is a successful long-term global investor with over 25 years of experience managing a portfolio of investments across a variety of industries in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. These holdings include real estate, commodities trading and processing, agricultural equipment manufacturing (as the leading manufacturer globally of cotton ginning and oil seed processing equipment), intralogistics, and financial services. Mr. Izmirlian is Chief Executive Officer of many of the businesses in which he invests, creating their value-enhancement strategies and overseeing their implementation.
Some of his real estate investments have included agricultural land in Argentina and Eastern Europe, shopping centers in the United States, commercial offices such as MORE LONDON, the thirteen (13) acre office complex fronting London’s River Thames and Tower Bridge with 3 million square feet of offices (with London’s iconic City Hall, Ernst & Young, and PWC amongst its many other prestigious tenants), and hotels such as the Hilton London Tower Bridge and Baha Mar in The Bahamas. Among his current endeavors are the development of substantial mixed use projects in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami, Florida and large-scale agriculture farming in Armenia.
Mr. Izmirlian began his professional career at the global financial services firm J.P. Morgan, developing his foundation in investment strategies, and assessing global opportunities for building long-term value. Capitalizing on this expertise, Mr. Izmirlian then joined the Izmirlian group of global businesses, which were established in 1902, working his way through the organization and eventually succeeding his father to lead and direct investment strategy and management.
An active philanthropist, Mr. Izmirlian is a member of the board of a variety of non-profit and philanthropic organizations. Among these, he is the chairman of the board of the Izmirlian Foundation, a 30-year old family charitable organization that serves an important role in preserving and developing the nation of Armenia, the Izmirlian family’s ancestral homeland. The Foundation undertakes initiatives focused on education, healthcare, tourism, and economic development, as well as technology and innovation initiatives.
Consistent with Mr. Izmirlian’s commitment to education, he serves on the board of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and is a trustee of The Taft School in Watertown, CT.