Reyaz A. Kassamali is an independent board director, accomplished principal investor, and senior executive with over 25 years of experience across North America, Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and India. He specializes in finance, strategy and governance and is well-versed in buyouts, recapitalizations, and turnarounds, corporate strategy, finance, and governance. With deep sectoral expertise in consumer, retail, and technology—including IP-driven models such as licensing, franchising, and royalty platforms—Reyaz has played a leadership role in dozens of complex transactions and operational transformations.

As the CEO of The Kassamali Group, a global merchant banking and strategic advisory firm, Reyaz advises companies and investment firms on growth strategy, brand building, operational turnarounds, omni-channel distribution, deal structuring, and fundraising. His clients include family offices and institutional investors around the world. He has also served as an independent or non-executive board director for multiple organizations including Zelus Team Sport Ltd., a global Nike licensee headquartered in the UK.

Earlier in his career, Reyaz held senior leadership roles at major firms including:

• Concord Music Group, as Senior Advisor for Rights Strategy & International Business Development
• Playboy Enterprises, as Senior Licensing Executive and Interim Managing Director for India, Middle East, and Africa
• Authentic Brands, as co-founding Interim President
• House of Marley, as Interim President
• Hilco Consumer Capital, where he focused on brand investing and intellectual property monetization
• Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), one of Canada’s largest pension funds where he was part of the Direct Private Equity Group’s leadership team.

Reyaz also served as an operator with K Franchise Systems, the master franchisor for CaliBurger in Canada and Washington state. After raising over several million in seed funding, he led daily operations, opened the brand’s first locations in the U.S. and Canada, sub-franchised several sites, and set up the supply chain and franchising system.

Before his executive career, Reyaz worked in investment banking at Financo in New York and Wasserstein Perella/Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in New York, London, and Tokyo, where his team led Wal-Mart’s $2B+ acquisition of Seiyu. He began his career as a corporate M&A attorney at Latham & Watkins in New York and London.

Reyaz holds a BA (magna cum laude) from Yale University, an MA (Hons.) in Law from the University of Cambridge, and a JD (cum laude) from Harvard Law School. He has also completed certification programs in Negotiation Mastery and Technology Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. He is NACD.DC certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors and has completed his certification in Cyber-risk Oversight from CERT, the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Reyaz has also served in nonprofit leadership roles, including as an Advisory Board Member for Peace First and on the Steering Committee of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle.

Reyaz lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife and daughters.