Omeed Malik
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board
Omeed Malik is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Since 2018, Omeed has served as the Founder and CEO of Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to high growth venture backed companies and institutional investors. Omeed is also the President of 1789 Capital, an investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Growth (“EIG”) economy. From 2021 to July 2023, he served as an officer and director of Colombier 1, and since July 2023 has remained a non-executive director of PSQ Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PSQH) following the consummation of Colombier 1’s initial business combination. Prior to starting his own firm, Omeed was a Managing Director and the Global Head of the Hedge Fund Advisory Business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2012 to 2018. Omeed was also the founder and head of the Emerging Manager Program within the Global Equities business. In this capacity, Omeed was charged with selecting both established and new hedge funds for the firm to partner with and oversaw the allocation of financing/prime brokerage, capital strategy, business consulting and talent introduction resources. Before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Omeed was a Senior Vice President at MF Global where he helped reorganize the firm’s distribution platform globally and developed execution and clearing relationships with institutional clients.
An experienced financial services professional and securities attorney, Omeed was a corporate lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP working on transactional matters in the capital markets, corporate governance, private equity and bankruptcy fields. Omeed has also worked in the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Omeed received a JD, with Honors, from Emory Law School (where he serves on the Advisory Board) and a BA in Philosophy and Political Science, Cum Laude, from Colgate University. He holds FINRA Series 7, 63, 3, 79 and 24 registrations.
Omeed is a Contributing Editor and minority owner of The Daily Caller and was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Centennial Society Member of the Economic Club of New York. Omeed was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant leadership and financial experience.
Joe Voboril
Co-President and Chief Financial Officer
Joe Voboril is our Chief Financial Officer and Co-President. Since 2018, Joe has served as the CoFounder and Managing Partner of Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to high growth venture backed companies and institutional investors. From 2021 to July 2023, he served as an officer and director of Colombier 1. Since January 2023, he has also been Head of Research of 1789 Capital, an investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding EIG economy.
Joe was a public market investor at different hedge funds from 2002-2015 where he constructed and risk managed public equity portfolios, in roles ranging from analyst to portfolio manager, and CIO. Despite being a generalist, his areas of focus were in Consumer, Tech/Media/Telecom (TMT), and Financial Institutions. During that period Joe invested into public equity businesses, with a core focus of identifying companies that have surpassed an inflection point.
At Bank of America from 2015 to 2018, Joe co-created the Hedge Fund Advisory group and managed the internal vetting effort of investment managers for Bank of America’s Emerging Manager Program. He also led the banks’ Separately Managed Account (SMA) Initiative, which assisted Pensions, Endowments, and Fund of Funds in optimizing the financing of their multi-manager portfolios.
Joe is a graduate of Colgate University with a double major in Philosophy (honors) and Political Science. He was a member of the Track and Field team. He holds Series 7, 63 and 79 licenses.
Andrew Nasser
Co-President and Chief Investment Officer
Andrew Nasser has served as our our Co-President and Chief Investment Officer since inception. Since 2023, Andrew has been a Partner at Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to high growth venture backed companies and institutional investors. Over his career, Mr. Nasser has reviewed hundreds of investment opportunities for blank check companies in a variety of technology-enabled sectors, including software, mobility, industrial technology, energy storage, data analytics, education technology, social networking, digital marketplaces, and payment processing. He was a special advisor to Colombier 1. Previously, from 2018 to 2021, Andrew led business development for the Churchill Capital public listing investment vehicles as an investment banker with its sponsor, M. Klein and Company, a boutique merchant bank and strategic advisory firm. Mr. Nasser led or facilitated target sourcing, transaction execution, investment decisions, private capital fundraising, due diligence assessments and investor engagement for five blank check companies, including four Churchill Capital-affiliated entities and for Colombier 1. These included, among others, automotive manufacturer Lucid Motors, data analytics firm Clarivate Analytics, and values-aligned digital marketplace PublicSq. He has also advised companies publicly listed by Churchill Capital and Colombier 1 subsequent to their mergers on capital markets, financing, strategic investments, partnerships, and acquisitions. Prior to joining M. Klein and Company in 2018, Andrew worked for Citigroup Global Markets in their technology, media, and telecommunications investment banking group. Andrew has previously worked as a consultant for Deloitte and PwC. Mr. Nasser is a CFA charterholder, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a master’s degree in business administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Jordan Cohen
Chief Operating Officer
Jordan Cohen, who has served as our Chief Operating Officer since inception, has since 2020 been a Partner at Farvahar Partners, a boutique investment bank and broker/dealer which acts as an advisor and liquidity provider to high growth venture backed companies and institutional investors. Jordan is also the Chief Operating Officer of 1789 Capital, an investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding EIG economy, since January 2023. Jordan was a strategic advisor to Colombier 1 from 2021 to July 2023, and he also served as the President, Chief Financial Officer and a Board Member of Ceres Acquisition Corp (“Ceres”), a Canadian special purpose acquisition company from 2020 to 2022. Ceres announced a $1.844 billion merger with Parallel, however the transaction was mutually terminated by the parties and Ceres ultimately wound up its affairs. Prior to joining Farvahar, from 2009 to 2020, Jordan was the Managing Director of Sierra Bonita Holdings, a family office where he was responsible for evaluating, structuring and managing a multi-strategy portfolio in the consumer and TMT verticals. Jordan was also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PLAYLIST, a lifestyle fitness brand, from 2015 to 2020. Jordan has 18 years of experience investing in, and working with, companies in the consumer, technology and wellness industries. Jordan began his career as a corporate attorney at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LP, working on a broad range of transactions, including but not limited to complex M&A, capital markets, restructurings and other private equity transactions. Jordan received a Bachelor of Science & Management in Finance from Tulane University where he graduated magna cum laude and a Juris Doctor with Honors from Emory University School of Law, where he was an Editor of the Emory Law Journal.
Chris Buskirk
Director
Since January 2023, Chris Buskirk has been the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of 1789 Capital, an investment firm that provides financing to companies in the budding EIG economy. From 2016 to the present, he has been the publisher of American Greatness, a web magazine focused on restoring American prosperity and vitality. Between 1996 and the present, he has founded, built and sold multiple finance businesses including in insurance, reinsurance, specialty lending, and tax-credit financing, including JAS Intermediaries/Diversified Risk Management Holdings, a diversified insurance and risk management business; Nexteco Energy Capital and Crucible Energy Partners LLC, which financed renewable energy installations through a combination of conventional and tax credit financing; America’s Cash Express, a consumer-facing lender providing both secured and unsecured loans to both prime and non-prime borrowers; and Steadfast Holdings, LLC — a family-owned investment vehicle that serves as a platform for investments across sectors but with a focus on innovative, entrepreneur-led growth companies. For over 15 years he has been an investor in growth stages companies across the financial services space as well as in real estate, digital marketing, consumer brands, and media, including Rumble, Inc (NASDAQ: RUM), an online video platform and Patriot Mobile, a mobile phone company. He is the author of three books, most recently “American & The Art of the Possible: Restoring National Vitality In An Age of Decay”, which describes problems undermining American prosperity and explains how to restore American growth and broadly shared affluence. Mr. Buskirk is a graduate of Claremont-McKenna College. He was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his significant investment experience and background in a wide variety of industries.
Ryan Kavanaugh
Director
Ryan Kavanaugh is one of the most accomplished, prolific and honored executives in entertainment industry history. Using an intelligent financial model of film finance, and dubbed the creator of “moneyball for movies”, he produced, distributed, and/or structured financing for more than 200 films, generating more than $20 billion in worldwide box office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations, holding the distinction of being the 25th highest grossing film producer of all time, including Fast and Furious 2-6, 300, Social Network, Limitless, Fighter, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, and Mama Mia! Ryan and/or his films and shows have been Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony nominated.
Ryan also originated a number of “first of their kind” deals including the creation of Marvel Studios where Kavanaugh pioneered an innovative finance deal for post-bankruptcy Marvel, creating the studio and finance structure which led to Marvel Cinematic Universe. He went on to create the SVOD (streaming) category with Netflix, an agreement that boosted that company’s market capitalization significantly.
Ryan then launched a sports agency from the ground up, known today as Independent Sports & Entertainment, which under Kavanaugh’s leadership grew to become the 2nd largest sports agency in the U.S. with over 2.5 billion dollars in player contracts.
He also created a television production company, now known as Critical Content, producing hit shows like Catfish on MTV and Limitless on CBS, which he sold for $200 million. Prior to its sale the company had 40 television series on air across 19 networks.
Ryan has built and or invested in numerous successful tech and biotech companies including funding PreCash, renamed Noventus, which sold earlier this year for over $300 million. Ryan seed invested in ZetaRX, which later reversed into a shell vehicle, Juno, the largest biotech IPO of 2014, and recently lead the acquisition, merger and re-launch of the social media and music app, Triller.
Ryan has earned several achievements and awards, from Variety’s Producer of the Year Award to The Hollywood Reporters Leadership Award, from Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Most Influential People in Business to Forbes’ Future 400, Billion-Dollar Producer by the Daily Variety and the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Vanity Fair.
Since 2017, Ryan has served as Co-founder of Triller, one of the three fastest growing social media apps. In November 2020, he started The Fight Club, which launched with the record-breaking Tyson-Roy Jones Jr Pay Per View event becoming the 8th highest grossing PPV event. In 2017, Ryan also launched Proxima, a holding company set up to build media, technology, and related entities, and in 2016, Ryan served as Chief Executive Officer of Relativity Holdings, a media, sports, television and content company. Since 2017, Ryan has served as Chief Executive Officer of Knight Global, a family office.
Given his passion for animals, Ryan is also active in a pet food brand, Dog for Dog, who donates dog food to local and national shelters for each product purchased to save dogs from being euthanized. He also served on the boards of several charitable foundations including the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation and Cedars-Sinai’s Board of Governors and served as the Chairman of Art Of Elysian for almost 8 years amongst others.
Michael Seifert
Director
From 2021, Michael Seifert was President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board and the Founder of PSQ Holdings, Inc., a marketplace of patriotic businesses and consumers, which consummated a business combination with Colombier 1 on July 19, 2023 and was renamed “PublicSq. Inc.,” and Colombier 1 was renamed “PSQ Holdings, Inc.” (NYSE: PSQH; “PublicSq.”). He retained the same positions at the combined company following the business combination. Prior to founding PSQ Holdings, Inc., Mr. Seifert served as the Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator from 2019 to 2021 at Pacifica Enterprises, Inc., a real estate and asset management group, where he led the marketing department. In 2019, Mr. Seifert was the Associate Director at JH Ranch, a non-profit organization, and served as the City Director for Tuscaloosa, Alabama at JH Ranch from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Seifert holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from Liberty University. He was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to his industry experience and public company background.
Candice Willoughby
Director
Candice Willoughby has over two decades of capital markets and investment management experience, serving in senior roles and consulting for multiple hedge funds and investment banking firms worldwide. Ms. Willoughby currently serves as an advisor to hedge funds for capital partnerships with institutional investors. Prior to that, from 2020 to 2022, she led the Client Strategy group for the launch of Brookfield Asset Management’s multi-manager hedge fund platform. Before Brookfield, from 2014 to 2020, she served as Head of Business Development at BeaconLight Capital, a global long/short equity fund where she oversaw Marketing and Investor Relations. Ms. Willoughby came to BeaconLight from UBS where she was an Executive Director in US Equity Sales covering long only accounts, hedge funds, and Asian sovereign wealth funds. She joined UBS after covering European equities as a senior salesperson in New York and London for ABN Amro and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Ms. Willoughby started her Wall Street career in equity research at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, following Specialty Chemicals and Fertilizers. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a minor in East Asian Studies and is fluent in Mandarin. Ms. Willoughby currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Penn Libraries and the Trustees’ Council for Penn Women. In addition, Ms. Willoughby is a member of the Endowment Committee for the Webb School of Knoxville and serves as a Trustee for the Knoxville Museum of Art and is a member of the Executive and Finance Committee. She was selected to serve on our Board of Directors due to her significant investment, research, sales and advisory experience in a variety of institutional settings.