Shiraz brings valued executive leadership along with financial, entrepreneurial, business development, and marketing experience to Sustainable Capital Finance.
Shiraz began his professional career working for LaSalle Bank/ ABM AMRO as a Retail Management Associate, in the Chicago Financial District. It was here that Shiraz gained experience managing bank relationships with small to medium-sized businesses and gained an understanding of the working capital needs of his clients. Shiraz was later promoted to the commercial division of the bank where he served as a credit analyst and commercial banker for middle market to large corporate clients. It was in this position that Shiraz gained invaluable credit analysis and corporate finance experience, providing the ability to assess and mitigate risk. Shiraz proposed several hundreds of millions in credit for bank relationships and provided risk mitigation strategies for Loan Committee approval.
Shiraz left the banking world and became a shareholder and Vice President at SEO Design Solutions (SDS); a startup specializing in search engine optimization and internet marketing, located on the “Magnificent Mile” in Chicago. Shiraz was responsible for business development and managing access to the capital markets, working with SDS’ investor base. SDS achieved immediate success, gaining key clientele, including several in the Fortune 100. With the founder of SDS focused on improving the product offering and administrative automation, Shiraz was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer. In this position, Shiraz successfully grew SDS’ profitability while instilling a corporate culture within the company.
After successfully taking the company to new heights, Shiraz decided to rejoin the financial and startup worlds and founded SCF. With experience in project finance and access to the capital markets, Shiraz partnered with Dan Holloway and DV Patel to form the necessary foundation for launching a successful solar finance company.
As the CEO, Shiraz currently serves as the primary communicator, decision maker, leader, and manager.
Shiraz holds a BA in Business Management from Millikin University.
In 2018, Shiraz was recognized as one of the “Top 10 CEO’s in Finance” by the FiNext Awards & Conference. In 2019, US Business News named him the “Best Financial Services CEO 2019 – Northern California”.
Shiraz followed his lineage into the energy industry, as his father had a successful career in the design and construction of power plants, globally. He’s eager to create independence from “dirty” power in the US and feels that affordable financing will give commercial energy consumers access to sustainability.
In his free time, Shiraz enjoys playing tennis, staying active, travel and rooting for his hometown Chicago sports teams. He attended the infamous “Bartman” Cubs’ game…just ask him…or maybe you shouldn’t