Team
Jerome A. Chazen – Founder and Chairman (1927–2022)
Jerome A. Chazen was the Founder and Chairman of Chazen Capital Partners. He also served as Chairman Emeritus of Liz Claiborne, Inc., and was one of the four founding partners who established the company in 1976. He was largely responsible for the innovative sales, marketing, distribution, and licensing strategies that became integral to Liz Claiborne’s success and enduring brand.
Mr. Chazen believed that thinking globally and remaining attuned to worldwide developments were essential to building a successful consumer-driven company. He emphasized that an organization’s greatest challenge is the preservation and continuation of its core philosophy and values, both domestically and internationally, as it grows.
He served as Trustee Emeritus of Columbia University and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School, as well as Chairman Emeritus of the Museum of Arts and Design. He was the founder and benefactor of the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of Global Business at Columbia Business School and served as a Trustee of the National Jewish Center of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives at Queens College.
Mr. Chazen, together with his wife Simona, built a remarkable legacy of philanthropy, cultural support, and family. He is survived by their three children, seven grandchildren, and a growing extended family. He was a passionate art collector and lifelong jazz enthusiast.
David F. Chazen – Managing Director
David Chazen is the founding partner of Strategic Equity Investors, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm. Previously, he founded, built, and sold several companies in the consumer sales and marketing sector, and served as President of The Good Stuff Company until 2013.
In addition to his professional work, Mr. Chazen is actively engaged in philanthropy and organizational leadership. He is a director of the Chazen Institute of Global Business at Columbia Business School and serves on the board and Advancement Committee of High Jump, a Chicago-based educational nonprofit. A founding member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Aspen Chapter, he also serves as membership chair.
His involvement in the Aspen community includes serving as a Lifetime Trustee of Jazz Aspen and as a board member of Theatre Aspen and Aspen Film. He is also a member of the Socrates Society of the Aspen Institute and is on the grant committee of the Giving Network of the Aspen Community Foundation. Mr. Chazen holds a B.S. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is an avid runner, having completed 28 New York City Marathons—and counting.
Sid Banon – Managing Director
Sid Banon is the CEO of Tigapo, a cloud-based digital payment platform focusing on the coin-operated machine market. Previously, Sid was a co-founder of The Good Stuff Company, a manufacturer of licensed toys and games. Sid was also a co-founder of Win Stuff, a national operator of skill vending machines. Additionally, Sid has been both an active and passive investor in a variety of commercial and residential real estate ventures over the past 20 years. Sid held various corporate positions in audit, finance and accounting at Sony Corp. of America, Gulf & Western, and Citicorp. Sid received his BS in Accounting at the State University of New York at Albany, and is a non-practicing Certified Public Accountant.
Eric Chan – Controller
Eric Chan has served as the controller for Chazen Capital Partners since 1997. He has extensive experience in accounting, taxation and portfolio management. Eric has worked in both his native Hong Kong and the U.S. for a wide variety of industries including construction, film and entertainment, luxury retail, food distribution, garment manufacturing, and electronic manufacturing. He worked as an assistant accounting manager for GlaxoSmithKline in Hong Kong and worked as an accountant for Tyco Toy Inc (now owned by Mattel) in NYC. Eric transferred his accreditation from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) to the US to obtain his BA in Accounting at Queens College and passed his American CPA examination in 1995. In his spare time, he is an avid tennis player and occasionally plays tournaments on the weekend.